Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: handling conflict

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 2/16/04 3:55 PM, "don i arkin" <shardon5 [at] juno.com> wrote:

>       In particular I want to second what Sharon said about talking to
> people who have generated emotionally charged confrontations that
> resisted initial attempts at resolution, outside of the meeting or
> possibly even taking a recess in the meeting to get to the bottom of the
> intense reaction.  Usually the actual topic at issue is not sufficient to
> explain these outbursts.

Years ago when I was learning parliamentary procedure in a women's forum in
Albany, New York -- year of the woman as I recall -- the woman who was
officiating used a technique that Bella Abzug practically threw her hat in
the air over. She said, "The chair senses chaos on the floor and requests a
recess to confer."

She got it and descended from the podium to talk to the lesbian contingent
that was literally about to riot over an abortion plank issue.

I have no idea what she said but they calmed down and resumed their seats,
saving hours of time in the meeting I'm sure. Bella loved it.

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

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