Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Consenus and Practical decision making

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

Rob Sandelin <floriferous [at] msn.com>
is the author of the message below. 
It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> 
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Try it and see. Try delegating these decisions to a small group and see
what happens. Pay attention to who comes and who does not. Often by trying
things out people learn that, if it is really important, almost everyone
will show up anyway, but at least t his way you give people the OPTION of
not attending if they really don't want to. Sometimes at Sharingwood,
"small" group stuff gets more people than a general meeting! Depends on
the issue. 

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood Cohousing
www.sharingwood.org

----- Original Message -----
From: aamato [at] worldbank.org
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:28 PM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: Re: [C-L]_Consenus and Practical decision making



Ellen,
I tend to agree with you about delegating, however, we have the problem that a
few of our members insist that many of these issues are so important that a
discussion by the full membership is necessary to hear everyone out and come to
true consensus.  A discussion circle or team meeting discussion is not enough.
We sometimes override these people, then they feel disgruntled and unheard.  We
have tried listening to them apart from the full meeting and they appreciate
that but still say it is not enough. Only a full hearing at a meeting will do.
Do you or anyone else have any further insights?
Anna Amato
Takoma Village
Washington, D.C.

<<
Ellen Orleans wrote:
Becky, you wrote <<It's not uncommon for people to want decisions to be
made in a
timely manner.>>  This is true.  To make this happen, I say delegate,
delegate, delegate.  By delegating decisions to teams you gain at least
three benefits.

1) You often reach decisions more quickly and efficiently.

2) Those people who are truly concerned with a decision's outcome can
join the team or subcommittee making the decision. That way, the process
doesn't drain the larger group's energy by forcing members to sit
through debates on matters they don't particularly care about.

3) Your community builds trust. Members learn that most of the time a
team or committee will make a decision that works well for the group,
that most everyone can live with. As trust grows, community work can be
spread out. This spares community energy and lifts sprits.

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