Decision-Making Process [was Group Think - Three Meetings]
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 06:20:32 -0700 (PDT)
On 5 Jul 2011, at 1:32 AM, Norman Gauss wrote:

> The three meeting process suggested by Laird Schaub has been deemed as
> potentially exhausting in our community, especially for relatively minor
> proposals. 

Our decision-making policy is posted on our website - link below.

We have levels of decisions only major decisions have to come to a meeting. 
Most decisions are made by posting them on email to see if there are any 
objections. If there are no objections or the objections can be resolved in 
discussion with the objector, the decision is made. 

We usually post the decision for 4-7 days. We don't have a predetermined time 
but it has to be a reasonable time for everyone to read the posting. Over a 
holiday, for example, would be longer. This is the sense of the team posting 
the decision and someone else will raise the point if a time period is too 
short or too long. We tend not to be rigid about that stuff.

The problem with time periods or "discuss three times" is that they are based 
on arbitrary numbers with no reference to content. As cohousers can't we do 
better?

What is a discussion? You had 5 minutes available and that counts as once? The 
second time three key informants were not available? That's twice, regardless 
of the quality of the discussion? You have a discussion with everyone present 
and there were no further questions but it was the first discussion so you have 
to wait to make the decision?

If over time your decision-making group has found that it takes three meetings 
to make a decision, then using that time frame as a guide is a good one. It's 
been tested. It works. But in this case you have a basis on which to determine 
the number — it isn't arbitrary. Since Laird has lots of experience, it may not 
be arbitrary for the groups which he facilitates or in which he participates.

Dynamic governance stresses content and quality of decisions. Yes, you want to 
move forward but not forward at all costs. You want to move forward with the 
best decision you can make at the moment. This means including evaluation of 
decisions and altering them when more information indicates a better solution. 
Sometimes a decision has a built in deadline, sometimes not. In best of all 
possible worlds, the decision becomes obvious in the course of discussion.

Decision — Implementation — Evaluation. Amend Decision. Most decisions can be 
very quick.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org





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