Class of ’16 Update 10/21

As we are approaching many large decisions, our class has realized that we are struggling in creating effective group decisions. As a result, we read Consensus, by Peter Gelderloos, and practiced using his techniques of decision- making in our cohort. We divided our class into small groups and assigned roles to each member. Roles included a facilitator, a timekeeper, a note taker, a stacker, and general participants in the discussion. With this, we discussed what would be the most beneficial method of coming to decisions within our cohort.

In discussing the methods of consensus through the actual use of Gelderloos’ suggestions, we were able to see how his principles may or may not work for us. Deliberating forced us to reflect on our previous discussions and the strengths and weaknesses of our class in order to develop a structure that would allow us to create consensus as we move forward. Many of the discussion points that came up in our class included:

  • A process of voting on decisions that will be based on levels of interest rather than majority rule.
  • How to equally spread participation in class discussions.
  • How to continue our discussions outside of class so that they do not have to end when our time does.
  • The methods of creating a respectful and understanding community within the members of our cohort.

In practicing and discussing consensus, we were able to reflect on the way our class structure has been going and collaborate on how we hope to move forward. Taking the time to develop a method of communication and decision-making should make us a stronger and more effective cohort as we continue with our exploration of Honduras and the development of our project.

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The need to focus on developing a way to efficiently make decisions and come to consensus was recognized by many of us in the past few weeks. We felt the need to eliminate indecisive and inactive trends forming in the way we operated our discussions. The goals of the project are to:

  • encourage productive dialogue

  • create a process so that group members know how to raise issues

  • create an environment of trust where everyone is heard

  • make it easier for people to act on any ideas they have

Many aspects of our process are a combination of parliamentary procedure and the ideals of the small-group “Consensus” model for decision making outlined by Kieth McHenry, the cofounder of Food Not Bombs, in our reading by Peter Gelderoos.

 

-Erin & Christian

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One Comment

  1. Posted December 11, 2013 at 3:32 pm | Permalink

    Thanks Christian and Erin. I look forward to many productive discussions and decision-making processes in the future!