Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: the importance of clearly defined process & power

[Ed Stauff (edward.stauff]

On 2 Feb 2002, at 11:56, Maggi Rohde <maggi [at] intranet.org> wrote:
> (Hi, Ed!)
> Do you, or anyone else, have suggestions regarding resources for 
> helping a new group come up with a fair, simple decision-making 
> process?  Examples would be helpful -- is there a good handbook?  
> Would you recommend having a professional come in at the beginning 
> and doing a workshop with all participants?

Hi, Maggi!

No, I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions for resources, other than to 
check out what other groups have done.  I don't know of any professionals, 
but that shouldn't imply there aren't any.  A workshop would probably be a 
good idea, if you can get one.

I think one of the biggest problems in coming up with an effective 
decision-making process is striking a balance between the needs, rights 
and responsibilities of the individual, and those of the group.  On the 
one hand, the good thing about consensus is that (in theory, at least) it 
not only prevents the "tyranny of the majority", but ensures that every 
individual can make their needs known, and the group is obligated to at 
least make an attempt to meet everyone's needs (that is, make decisions 
that everyone can live with).  On the other hand, if every member has the 
right to block a decision, you run the risk of having a "tyrrany of the 
*sshole"; that is, one member who insists on blocking decisions for 
questionable reasons.  Hence, we sometimes have consensus-minus-one to 
protect against such situations.

However, the problem that concerns me more is putting too much power in 
the hands of a committee (or circle or team or whatever you call them).  
It's easier for one person to dominate a committee than the whole 
membership.  And the whole point of having committees is so that every 
decision doesn't have to be brought before the whole membership.  So it's 
very important to circumscribe exactly what powers each committee has, and 
to have a clearly defined process whereby a committee which has 
overstepped its bounds can be brought to task by the whole membership.

The fact is, in every group there are a few individuals who seek to obtain 
and hang onto power (the power to make decisions for the whole group).  It 
doesn't matter whether their motivation is selfish or honorable; allowing 
one person to hold too much power is antithetical to the spirit of 
consensus, and (IMHO) to the spirit of cohousing.  Everyone empowered to 
make decisions on behalf of the community must ultimately be accountable 
to the whole community, and the community must have the power to reverse 
any decision made by an individual or committee, and even to remove that 
individual from power, or dissolve the committee and reform it.

There, I've blathered on long enough.

Yours in community,

-- Ed

+---------------+---------------------------------+------------------+
| Edward Stauff | Software engineer, bibliophile, | "Specialization  |
| ed [at] mewsic.com | musician, lexophile, cohouser,  | is for insects." |
| Fitchburg, MA | ferroequinologist, woodworker,  | -- Lazarus Long  |
|     WA1ZBR    | husband, dad. (Order varies.)   | (R. A. Heinlein) |
+---------------+---------------------------------+------------------+
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