Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Delphi Method [was Consensus, Majority vote, blocks

[Muriel Kranowski (murielk]

Another option for getting more/better/more honest input than large-group 
rounds is to start (after an intro by the proposal sponsor or a 
facilitator) by dividing into groups of 4 or 5 people who will discuss the 
issue for perhaps 10 minutes and then write down their opinions and ideas 
during a short write-it-down round. The idea of a 2nd round just for the 
write-up is that people's opinions may have changed in the course of the 
10-minute discussion, which I guess makes it somewhat Delphi-like.  Then 
they report back to the whole.

A potential problem is that whoever does the writing down and the reporting 
back might stress the responses they agree with and downplay opposing ideas 
from their group. On the plus side, it should take less time overall and be 
less trying to one's patience than a full-group round, and the pressure to 
conform to a majority opinion that seems to have jelled before you get your 
late turn is greatly reduced.

It's then up to the facilitator(s) to take those individual ideas from all 
the groups and collapse them into a small number of truly distinct 
opinions, which takes some skill, and they'd better not take too long or 
people will start to disappear.  But then the large group can clearly see 
the full range of opinions and deal with them.  This can also make a 
meeting somewhat more engaging because of the mix of activities.

    Muriel
    Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg, VA
where a house concert will take place tonight in our CH, rescheduled from 
its original private-home venue across town due to a bigger-than-usual 
expected audience, because we have a good relationship with the folks who 
run that house concert series.