Jan’s efforts to achieve agreement across the whole group were fraught with difficulties. At one point she was ready to give it all up and accept that a consensus was not going to be possible. It was then that she hit on the idea of using assertiveness as a way of tackling the situation. At the next group meeting she explained the basic ideas underpinning assertiveness, particularly the notion of seeking ‘win–win’ situations. She was then able to use this as a basic framework for helping the group identify possible ways of achieving an assertive balance. The group struggled with the idea at first but then began to make major steps forward.