Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Revisiting Consensus

[Raines Cohen (coho-L]

"Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] email.msn.com> wrote on 12/23/99 9:06 PM:

>Roger asked:
>
>This discussion, however, is incomplete without discussing how to revisit a
>consensus decision.  By the time an actual decision is made, many folks have
>a lot invested, both in time and emotion, in that decision.  The last thing
>they want to do is to open up the discussion again.  But what if that
>decision turns out to be wrong, or needs tweeking, or affects the community,
>or even an individual, in some unforeseen way?  How can we get folks to let
>go of their stubbornness long enough to consider changing a difficult
>decision?

This came up recently at East Bay Cohousing... where the development 
committee had acquired new information about the potential for treating 
dues as investment and crediting them back to members' purchase prices, 
but the people committee had already brought to the group and achieved 
consensus on membership policies including (paraphrasing) 'treat all dues 
as spent funds' - i.e. no credit-backs or anything of the sort.

So we proposed, then adopted a policy for reconsideration of items 
involving at least 3 households bringing an item up... and looking at the 
original decision and discussion and presenting new information. Some 
wanted it looser, some stricter... but it'll likely evolve as we come to 
understand our needs better and trust one another and the decision-making 
process itself.

>One the easiest ways around this is to instill in the group a sense of
>experimentation, be willing to try it out and see. You will have to make
>many decisions based on little information and it is good to let a period of
>time elapse, gather together what you have learned, and then revisit the
>decision. So, setup the decision as a trial, we will try this for (x months)
>and then this decision expires and we have to renew it. This "sunset clause"
>allows many people who are afraid of the consequences to be assured that the
>decision is not permanent and they can try it out for awhile. This is a very
>common compromise when you are stuck on a decision that people are afraid to
>make. A good facilitator can encourage and cheerlead the group to allow the
>group to try it out, for awhile and see what you learn.

The trick here is to be explicit about 'sunsetting'... for instance, when 
I visited Sunward CoHo last June, I caught a portion of the discussion in 
the midst of renewing a pet policy, but they didn't have the original 
policy's exact text on hand, and weren't sure whether, in the absence of 
consensus on a 'renewal', whether policy would revert affirmatively or 
negatively in some areas.

Raines

Raines Cohen <coho-L [at] raines.com> <http://www.swansway.com/>
Enjoying relaxing holidays at home

  Member, Old Oakland [CA] Cohousing at Swan's Market
Where the Swans Marketplace merchants have opened and affordable-rental 
tenants are moving in, but we're still 2 months out.

  and Member, East Bay Cohousing [no site yet] <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
Which adopted a policy on site selection process and is moving to 
twice-monthly meetings... and is up to THREE paid member households!