Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Making changes in our decisions

[Casey Morrigan (cjmorr]

Here at Two Acre Wood, we have an agreement that it takes 4 people (out of
our 14 households) to revisit a consensus decision.  We did not have this in
place when I joined the group 5 years ago, but adopted it soon after.  I was
glad, because the group was exhausting itself in revisiting decisions over
and over, or having one absent member re-raise an issue cuz they weren't at
the meeting where it was made.  I was reading Sharon's post about
sociocracy, and her thoughts that revisiting a decision doesn't hurt.  I was
remembering my felt experience about revisiting decisions all the time.  It
was like wallowing in mud!  It was so difficult.

Right now we are thinking of revisiting how we do "decision boards."  One
person saw that the process was not working that well.  She took initiative
to propose a change and is in the process of finding a few others who want
to reopen.  I haven't heard for sure yet but I think they've got four to go
along with it.  We had a little confusion after we saw the proposal - who
were the four others?  Committee first and then the general meeting?  or?

Also, one other thing we try to do is that if there is someone who really
feels strongly about an issue, we try to make sure we schedule the
discussion at general membership meeting where they can attend.  (then a
group gets to discuss whether it is a good idea or just codependent to
include those who haven't made time in their schedule to come to the
business meetings.)  Especially if there is no true time pressure.  But it
is related to the "threshold for reopening" issue.  If you are going to make
decisions that stick, perhaps it is a good idea to extend yourself as a
group to include as many individuals as possible in the initial decision.

Casey Morrigan
Two Acre Wood
Sebastopol, California

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