Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Individual vs. the group in consensus process

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 4/23/2003 10:15 AM, "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com> wrote:

> Let me put this another way, a group of people that only
> consider, and primarily negotiate from their own interests are unlikely to
> be successful using consensus process. Their decision making process will be
> a series of slow and painful negotiations with every persons self interest
> issue, and this may often end in roadblock when two or more opposing self
> interests collide.

But this definition of self-interest is a straw man. A person whose
self-interests are considered in opposition to the group is not in a group.
To require that people _not_ consider their own interests is to deny the
needs of the individual, and to deny their own intelligence in the process.
A group needs the intelligence of each member of the group in order to have
a strong collective intelligence. Too many times I've heard too late, "Well
I thought that wasn't a good idea but the group was all going in the other
direction and it seemed like everyone knew what they were doing."

A good decision comes from understanding the interests and needs and ideas
and opinions of each person in the group and finding a workable solution.

I see consensus is a process, not a thing. It's a process of understanding
and working through each persons interests, in relationship to each other,
in the context of what is possible. All these interests have to be addressed
or they fester under the surface.

In Sociocracy this is handled by keeping the focus on the "argument",
meaning the decision to be made. What is the decision, what needs does it
have to address, and what can be said for and against each possibility -- in
the context of understanding that we need to move forward. What is the best
we can do at the moment to address all this need?

Objections are seen as good because they require the group to address all
concerns and thus make a better, more long lasting decision that will have
the full support of all members of the group.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L