In school, a 70 percent was a low C. One point lower and it was a D, which would not have flown in my house. We live in a world where 90 and above is an A, 80s are Bs, and a C feels “average,” but actually below average. So what do you do when you discover that in community work, 70 percent is actually excellent, about as good as it gets?

Consensus in a community is hard. The problem comes when people don’t realize that 70 percent agreement is a win and treat it like barely passing. I have seen it too many times: a city floats a proposal, feedback is mixed, the negative voices get loud, and the project dies. No progress, nothing done.

What if people understood that getting 70 percent of the community on board is like getting an A?

From a class video on strategic planning at the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute, Scott Hutcheson (Purdue University) describes three groups: pioneers who lean into change, pragmatists who want problems solved and dislike conflict, and soreheads/laggards who seem happiest when they are unhappy. In most communities, the tension is between the pioneers and the soreheads. The pragmatists, the majority, are the key to getting things done.

A dean once told his faculty: the first third will join you, the middle third can be pulled in by that first group, and the last third will never come along. If you secure two thirds, the holdouts often follow because they do not want to be left out.

So what can we do? Start with education. Recognize and encourage the forward thinkers, but ask them to help bring others along. See the uncertain not as obstacles, but as neighbors we need to cultivate. At the same time, accept that roughly 30 percent may never agree. Do not measure success by converting them. If you do, you will miss how well you are doing with the 70 percent who matter most.

Also remember: loud naysayers can distort the room. Your job is not to dismiss them but to keep the middle engaged, informed, and in healthier conversations. Do not let constant negativity poison the work. Surround yourself with people who see the need and will help. Keep inviting the middle to your side. Keep telling the story until the job is done.

You cannot stand still, communities either grow or decline. Those who fight to keep everything the same, God bless them, do not preserve the status quo; they contribute to economic atrophy. Love them, but do not let them set your direction, and do not let them pull the middle with them.

Good luck. You will need it, and a thick skin, because in community improvement, a C is often as good as you are going to get.