The four of us in charge of NLC can't have a short meeting. Every time we meet, the time flies by and before we know it the early morning hours are staring us in the face and we realize we'll have to continue the discussion at a later meeting. I think each of us would admit that the time flies by so quickly because we are all excited about the projects we're planning (fingers crossed on our summer 2009 production and fundraiser goals). That said we cannot always expect to have the time for a five hour meeting nor can we expect to always be in agreement about everything.For that last reason we have decided to operate using Consensus Decision-Making. Bonnie has experienced this process, but it will be my first foray into this method.
At my non-profit we rely upon Robert's Rules of Order - which is time effective but usually results in fractures on really difficult decisions. This leads to dissension among the community and can mean that we are defeated by our division. Of course, consensus decision-making is most likely not practical for an organization as strapped for time as my nonprofit is during the General Assembly. That said, I'm very excited to give it a try in Night Light Collective. It may take some time - but it appears we're all willing to give that.
-Suzanne
ps - I'll admit that wiki may not be the best place to use as a resource, but I'm counting on Bonnie to post the official site:)
5 comments:
nice flow chart.
i like flow charts, but not as much as I like venn diagrams!
Don't underestimate decision trees.
i wouldn't jelly my morning biscuit without first consulting Robert's Rules of Order.
i've found that when using RRO, my hands, eyes, mouth and stomach reach consensus 98% of the time about whether to engage in biscuit eating, and the 2% rate of impasse always turns out to be cause for renewed camaraderie and a hearty laugh (assuming blood sugar has not dropped prohibitively low).
http://www.consensus.net/ is the web page for formal consensus. Yay for more flow charts!
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