Re: Consensus and time pressure
From: Tree Bressen (treeic.org)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:45:48 -0700 (MST)
Hi Becky,

Part of the way I understand consensus is that the group tries to create a
proposal that addresses the concerns and needs of all involved when
making the final decision.  There are ways of doing this which maximize
the chance of this happening.  We've adopted a 3 step process where you
start by hearing the concerns and needs of people before creating a
proposal.  Theoretically, this sounds great but for various reasons, we
often overlook this step.

I think the other replies people already sent in to this were good. I'll add that your description makes me suspect your group is handling things in plenary/full meeting that should actually be in committee. Plenary meetings shouldn't need to go into so much detail. I suggest having a committee host a discussion circle for those who want to delve into the details or have major concerns to address, then bring a mostly-finished proposal to community meeting.

My question is, Do other communities experience a tension between those
who want to follow the process and those who want to get decisions made
quickly?

I would say that *all* communities experience tension between process & product, working out all the details ahead vs. just getting it done, moving slow and moving fast. I think it helps if groups can learn to see these as roles that every community holds, rather than personality issues.

Cheers,

--Tree



-----------------------------------------------

Tree Bressen
1680 Walnut St.
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 484-1156
tree [at] ic.org
http://www.treegroup.info

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