Cohousing-L Mailing List: processing proposals with circles

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

>At Cambridge Cohousing we have found that except for simple proposals and
>"emergency" measures it is almost never a good idea for a committee to come
>to a meeting with a full blown proposal.  At the least we try to have a
>session on the subject at the General Meeting where "Hopes and Concerns" are
>expressed and recorded. 

At RoseWind Cohousing we have made very good use of the "discussion 
circle" format Rob Sandelin introduced us to some years back. It's been 
treated here before, but I'll summarize how we use it. (It was of limited 
use till most of us were living on site.)

If a committee or task force wants to come up with a proposal, they can, 
and often should, schedule a Discussion Circle on the topic. This can be 
quite early in the process, to brainstorm and collect ideas and concerns 
and help shape a draft proposal, and/or it can be later, with a drafted 
proposal as the focus, although sometimes that proposal gets completely 
replaced with something different. Now and then, a committee will have so 
thoroughly heard and incorporated input, that the resulting proposal gets 
much support. No decisions are made by discussion circles. And discussion 
in general meetings is still appropriate. But a lot gets handled in 
advance this way.

Often a discussion is scheduled after a (6pm) community meal, from 
715-830/9 pm. 

Advantages are that people who don't care about (pet policy/playground 
location/redefining quorum, etc) don't have to sit through debate and 
discussion, and all those with big concerns get to vent them. By the time 
the proposal comes to the whole group, there is still discussion, but 
usually all the major controversies have been ironed out and it's about 
fine tuning. Now and then some new problem surfaces even at the big 
meeting, and it's sent back to committee. More often, the proposal can be 
changed little or not at all, and approved at the meeting. 

Sometimes Discussion Circle input is also used by a committee for 
non-proposal issues. For example, we have a "common house operations" 
committee that is empowered to set policies for CH use, meal accounting, 
house rules, use fees and such. But we want to make those decisions with 
a good sense of the group, so we use this as a sort of "focus group". 

Now and then we also have a Sharing Circle. This is not about resolving 
any issue, but about getting to know each other better. Topics have 
included a 3-meeting set about health/illness, and dying, another about 
communication styles (how do  you prefer to get information- email, 
phone, face to face? what about people visiting you at your house- no, 
call first, drop in?) I expect we'll have one about kids' behaviors and 
interactions between nonparents and kids. Even after years together, we 
always learn more about each other in such circles. 

Lynn at RoseWind
Yesterday there was egg dyeing, and this Easter morning there were 
children and grandchildren hunting eggs in the sunny grassy field. The 
mood was one of excitement, but there was none of the greedy stampede 
that characterizes the town egg hunt: it was quite sweet and fun. Then a 
potluck breakfast, with a half-dozen middle-aged men engrossed in "bocce" 
lawn bowling, laughing on the north lawn of the CH . Some "bunny" even 
left chocolate eggs in my mailbox!


Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com

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