Category: Consensus


“Let’s Take a Vote”

“Let’s vote on it, and if that’s what the group wants to do, I’ll sign off”.  Everything inside me screamed NO, this is so NOT how we stay in community with each other! This is plain wrong. If we take a vote, then we have winners and losers. And one potential loser now has declared... Read More

Consensus Doesn’t Mean Unanimous

Q: How many communities out there have switched from a unanimous decision-making process to one where there is a real desire for every voice to be heard but if a community becomes stuck and a unanimous decision cannot be reached another method is employed. Response: Firstly, the consensus process is not about reaching unanimous decisions.... Read More

Consensus Rules

Most of us join a cohousing community with little experience of consensus. We find the ideas of shared decision-making quite appealing, but we don’t really know how to do it. So we read books and blogs and attend conferences and workshops and we try to find our way. Somewhere along the line most groups write... Read Mo

WebChat#6: Facilitation Techniques

In our most recent WebChat, Alan O’Hashi shared techniques for facilitation in consensus cohousing groups. His approach is to shift from the transactional methods common in the greater culture, to methods focused on transformation. Watch the video at this link: https://youtu.be/ZQnz8X_7DME Alan gives detailed explanations and interesting stories that demonstrate four major strategies for fac

WebChat #4 Introduction to Consensus

Thanks to Yana Ludwig for an excellent WebChat introduction to consensus. You can read a short summary below and see the full session at this link: https://youtu.be/Uvbia2QJjEk Yana gave us a brief introduction to consensus and reminded us that this is just a beginning. Becoming skilled in consensus is a journey over years. As a... Read More

Laird’s Blog – Groundhog Day in Plenary

I had a phone conversation with a good friend the other day, who needed someone to vent with about a frustrating experience she’d recently had as an outside facilitator. The group had been struggling with a delicate issue that brought out the more strident and challenging sides of a handful of members and my friend... Read More

Bored with Consensus

I was recently selected to join a nonprofit board and attended my first meeting via teleconference. Although the bylaws stiplated that decisions would be made by consensus (I’d done my reading), the meeting was full of calls for votes, motions, and seconds. Uh oh. Had I wandered into the wrong meeting? Unfortunately, I hadn’t. I... Read More

The Power of Consensus

I recently gave a tour of FrogSong, my cohousing community, to a group of local university students. During my talk I shared this story about the power of consensus decision-making. Even though this event happened fifteen years ago, I still choke up in the telling. Quick background: Consensus, as we practice it, draws heavily on... Read More

What Is a Block?

Personally I object to the use of the word “block” as synonymous with “objection” and this entry explains some of the reasons why. What is a block? This is not a facetious question. If this is the word people want to use, what does it mean? From the accounts on the Cohousing-L email discussion list... Read More