Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: decision-making process

[Richart Keller (richart.keller]

Thanks for clarifying that.  Even within communities with deeply-seated
common values and a culture of willingness to listen, it takes learning and
practice and patience to find the most suitable ways to deliberate and
reach agreement in different contexts.  And those ways evolve over time
with changes in understanding, needs, personalities and the distribution of
power.

Building a community, like parenting, takes time and effort, a willingness
to listen, learn, and grow as our understanding and level of maturity
changes.

While some common agreement on structure of deliberation and
decision-making is essential, that structure needs to allow room for, even
promote, the evolution toward a community based on love and an appreciation
of differences.

The quality of decisions is one indicator of community success.  I.e.   the
measure of a successful decision is the extent to which it meets 3 tests:
does it
1) achieve the desired result, 2) strengthen relationships within the
group, and 3) does it respect or improve the decision-making process?

Rick

Sent from my droid.
On Sep 18, 2014 6:12 PM, "Eris Weaver" <eris [at] erisweaver.info> wrote:

>
> Thanks, Rick, for the shout-out!
>
> Yes, most cohousing communities use consensus for the plenary decision
> making. I highly recommend that groups get TRAINING in consensus, whether
> it's from me or Tree or Laird or whoever else. It takes learning,
> commitment, and practice to use it well. Also, there are several different
> "flavors" of consensus and it is helpful, in the consensus training, to
> work
> out exactly how YOUR community is going to use and interpret several
> components of consensus.
>
> Even groups that use consensus for most big things may use other
> decision-making methods for some kinds of decisions. Consensus, while a
> wonderful, deep, connecting tool, is not the ONLY tool, and is not
> appropriate for every group, need or situation. (This has been one of MY
> big
> learnings over the years.) To expand on this would take more time than I
> have at the moment.
>
> (California folks: I'm doing a consensus & community building workshop in
> the Bay Area soon, contact me back channel if you want more info.)
>
> ------------------------------
> Eris Weaver, Facilitator & Group Process Consultant
> Founding member, FrogSong cohousing in Cotati, CA
> eris [at] erisweaver.info . 707-338-8589 . http://www.erisweaver.info
>
> "On days when you have no ideas at all, the best thing you can do is start
> doodling." Charles M. Schulz
>
>
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