Cohousing-L Mailing List: Some learnings about group decisions

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

When large groups try to make small group decisions, many people get
frustrated and waste a lot of time. For example, its dumb to decide what to
plant in the community garden in a general meeting, too many people do not
care about how many rows of carrots there are, and those that do, are
annoyed to have to explain their work to people who will never do it.
 
When we agree to fund something that needs to be done, but forget to enroll
people to do the work, the thing does not get done, even if the money is
available.
 
Being a successful leader means being able to hear and withstand others
criticism of your ideas, and then modifying your ideas to include others.
 
The more community members hear and talk about an idea before a meeting, the
more productive the conversations at the meeting can be.
 
The root word of consensus is consent, which means, give permission. It does
not mean, I agree. It is normal to give permission to things you might not
fully agree with, in order for the group to move ahead and learn what it
needs to know.
 
Almost all decisions are temporary, they will be changed sometime in the
future, so don't worry about it if its not perfect. 


Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood, Snohomish county, WA
Two, count em, two rentals available at once.


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