Don’t they need training?  Well, yes, in an ideal world everyone participating in decision making, or even just living in community would take some time to learn how it all works, to develop some skills, and to grow a little toward their best self. I’d love to offer that course, but so far we haven’t seen evidence that folks would sign up for it.  We tend to think we’re good people (which we are!) and that being a good person and living with good people is enough to make for harmonious community life. Sadly, this is less true than we’d like it to be.  

What would I cover in a meeting participant’s course?  Well, lots of things, but here’s a starter list. 

• Consensus or sociocracy norms – We’d cover vocabulary and typical decisions making processes. For example, we’d talk about the difference between a stand aside and a block and when to use each, how objections are useful and when to use them.  
• Curiosity – We’d talk about how important it is to enter into disagreements with curiosity and assumption of good intent rather than judgement and defence. We’d explore why that’s hard, what gets in the way, and how to overcome those hurdles.
• Courage and vulnerability – We’d explore the courage it takes to show up and say what you think without a lot of the power moves that we’re used to. We’d explore the vulnerability of asking for what we want and letting our neighbors respond and why it’s so much easier to couch requests in entitlement and fairness than mere desire. 
• Supporting the process – There are so many ways that a participant can support a facilitator in keeping the process moving forward while hearing the ideas and needs of everyone in the room.  We’d work through those and how to use them without interfering in the facilitation.  
• Self-censoring, in a good way – We’d consider thinking about what’s going on with ourselves before we start talking to the group, when to run things by a friend and get some feedback, what’s really useful to say in a meeting and how to say it concisely so it’s most likely to be heard. 

It turns out I do teach that stuff.  It’s a lot of the same things that make good facilitators.  If you are thinking you’d like to support your facilitators more, be a more effective meeting participant, help your community have better meetings, but you aren’t sure how, join the Facilitator Training course, even if you don’t think you will ever facilitate a meeting. There will be plenty there for you to take back to your community whatever your role.

Interested in developing your facilitation skills? Join us for our 6-week Facilitator Training. From February 13 – March 20th, we’ll cover the structures that make meetings run well and the artistry of creative planning and intuition that build safety and connection. The course will be full of opportunities for participation and will meet you where you are. Learn more and register here.