Cohousing-L Mailing List: consensus blocking

[Fern Selzer (fernselzer]

I know this topic has been around before, but our community is  
experiencing frequent blocking by an individual who  explains it in  
terms of her own wants and needs, not the needs of the community.  We  
have been working around this and it has been taking a lot of extra  
time and creating frustrations in our attempts to make decisions.   
Yes, consensus takes extra time, but when one person predictably  
blocks almost every proposal unless it doesn't affect her at all, our  
community is wanting to clarify the "blocking" choice in our decision  
making.

I am asking for direction from any groups who have clear (written)  
policies about how to handle blocking or determine whether the block  
is legitimate when a group is getting bogged down with a lot of  
blocking.  Could you please send this part of your policy to me, or  
tell me where to find it if it's posted somewhere?

I am familiar with the article on blocking on the cohousing website  
and our community has already worked a lot on this, including  
professional facilitation, now, we are trying to develop a policy.
Thanks to any one who can help us in developing our guidelines.

Fern Selzer
New Brighton Cohousing
Aptos, CA