Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: quorum

[Eris Weaver (erisw]

Lynn Nadeau said:
> And yet, when there is a decision requiring a quorum, our 
> Facilitation team has ended up twisting arms and calling in favors, to
get 13 
> households to show up. They are sick of this and want us to 
> reduce the quorum requirement... 

> Why don't people come? 

I would be really reluctant to decrease the quorum -- major decisions
*really* need the input of the entire community that is going to be
living with the results!

We have extremely high attendance at our meetings, despite the current
mode of overwhelm (we all moved in between September and November and
there is still lots of final landscaping, warranty issues, finish work
on common spaces, etc. being done so people are overworked and
stressed). Our Facilitation team (of which I am founding member and
current chair) works really hard to keep meetings short and focused, so
that people know that they are only going to be asked to come and deal
with important things in as short a time as possible. (Our committee
spends as much time OUT of meetings planning, evaluating, building
skills, etc.  as we do IN actual meetings.)

(Do I remember correctly that RoseWind has high participation at sharing
circles and other sorts of community events? In other words, is this an
issue in many areas or just for the form known as "business meeting"?
The two scenarios would require different "interventions", I think.)

Have you asked people why they don't come? (Besides "I have other plans"
-- I personally don't buy arguments about other plans, travel, etc. --
we all make choices with our time and if people consistently choose to
prioritize other things there are reasons somewhere.)

It is possible that people don't come because:
1. They trust that the rest of the group will make good decisions
without their input. (In which case maybe this isn't a bad thing.)
2. They don't really care that much about whatever the issue is that's
being decided. (Is it something really crucial? What would happen if
there was no quorum and nothing happened?)
3. They are burnt out on meetings -- maybe they need to be even less
frequent?
4. There is something about the way meetings are run that people are
unhappy with. (Too long, poorly organized, whatever)

Would be happy to discuss this with you backchannel if it would be
helpful.

*******************************************
Eris Weaver                 erisw [at] sonic.net
Cotati Cohousing

"Let the beauty we love be what we do."
        -- Mevlana Jelaladin Rumi

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