Hawke pursued a consensual leadership style, committing a significant amount of time to chairing lengthy Cabinet meetings, and granting a significant degree of autonomy to ministers. Members of the Cabinet were encouraged to challenge one another's policy proposals in Cabinet, which whilst causing often time-absorbing debate, also led to conclusions being adopted only when they had the support of a clear majority of ministers; in this way, Hawke was able to avoid what was often cited as the unwieldy nature of the Whitlam Government. Numerous ministers stated that they believed Hawke's consensus style and details-oriented chairing style was his greatest asset as Prime Minister.