Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Preference voting and Consensus Made Easy is this week

[Martie Weatherly (mhweatherly]

You are absolutely right that for choices of opinion, say the color of 
something, or should we limit guest room nights to 3 or 4, voting is better. 
Take a vote and call it that.

Use consensus for times when you want creative collaborative energy to solve a 
problem that affects everyone, such as do we salt the winter ice for safety or 
not to protect the environment? Then be sure the group is making that shift 
from competitive to collaborative energy and really honoring all points of view 
to create the best solution for the whole community at that time.

This is absolutely not the domination of the majority, or unanimity or 
compromise. It is coming in looking for agreement and being curious and 
creative together.  And celebrating the solution that everyone is 100% behind 
implementing. Then consensus will be a celebration, not a power struggle.

Martie
Liberty Village, Frederick MD
Consensus & Process Coach
coachmartie.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Aug 14, 2022 9:21 AM
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
Subject: [C-L]_ Preference voting and Consensus Made Easy is this week

> On Aug 13, 2022, at 7:20 PM, Martie Weatherly wrote:
>
> Most people think consensus means *everyone* comes together *every time* a
> decision needs to be made about *everything*, big or small.

> In fact, some decisions need what&rsquo;s called &ldquo;voting&rdquo;.

Martie, do you introduce preference voting or ranking in your workshop? We are 
still testing different methods of express and tabulating preferences but it 
has been a good way for people to participate in decisions without having to 
work out a consensus of everyone. But it also isn&rsquo;t the domination of the 
majority.

People express their preference for each option sometimes by ranking the 
options from 0-5 or rating each one with points. In rating a member could give 
an equal number of points to one choice or three. It&rsquo;s a much better that 
forcing people into a yes/no position which is basically a winner-loser 
situation.

We are currently ranking color options for new mailboxes. There are 4 colors 
available: 2 light and 2 dark. The leading preferences at the moment are the 
two darker colors. People can adjust their rating until the survey closes so 
even if they prefer a light color, they have a chance to weigh in on the two 
darker colors.

We are using Google Forms to do weigh the options. I&rsquo;m also working with 
Sean Davey to set something up with Mosaic &mdash; which now has a tagline: 
Software Powering Community.

It is so much easier than hours of discussion when there is no 
&ldquo;right&rdquo; solution and no values to sort out that it also allows time 
to do a second round after eliminating the least popular choices. In theory 
this kind of ranking or rating gives everyone their first or second choice. It 
means the options that everyone can live with have a chance, not just the most 
flashy.

Sharon
&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
Sharon Villines, Washington DC

We don&rsquo;t agonize, we organize. &mdash; Nancy Pelosi

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