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

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Rick!   I really love this!  

An excellent guide for evaluating one’s decision making process.  Altho’ how do 
you measure #1 “strengthen relationship” and #2 respect or improve the 
decision-making process?  I guess number 2 might be measured by the length of 
time it takes from proposal to decision, the number of drafts, the number of 
meetings, the number of concerns or objections to be resolved.  Hmm.  I don’t 
know that these would be the measures but yes. #2  could be more easily 
measured. 

But how to measure/evaluate #1?  Fewer fist-fights?  :-)

In any event … I do love where you are coming from in looking at 
decision-making and its role in building community.  

Thank you!

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church VA
703-688-2646


On Sep 18, 2014, at 11:36 PM, Richart Keller <richart.keller [at] gmail.com> 
wrote:

> 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
>> 
>