Consensus Decision-Making Workshop

Consensus Decision-Making
Grove Community School - Parent Council Training Workshop

Agenda
Introduction
Who's Here?
Consensus Basics
Dialogue for Consensus
Techniques for an Efficient Council
Tools for Effective Community Engagement
Community Meeting Scenario
Next Steps
Parents can talk to grade reps (OPTIONAL)

Introduction
Workshop Goal: Skills building among parents
Plan to create a Parent Council

Introduction
Jason Diceman
&
Simone Arsenault-May

Who’s Here?

What is Consensus?
Democratic form of group decision-making that works best in small groups (less than 15).
Process: Creative and cooperative discussion of ideas and opinions.
Goal: Find the best solution that everyone can live with.
Equal opportunity to participate.
Promote the growth of community and build trust.

What Consensus is Not
Not necessarily unanimous agreement with 100% enthusiastic satisfaction.
Not voting on competing options (e.g. Robert’s Rules).
Not debating or bargaining to win your view.
Not going with the lowest common denominator.
Silence interpreted as consent.
Not just going along with ‘the leader’.

Your Definition
Your group will create and agree upon your own working definition of consensus, and when and how other kinds of decision-making will be used e.g. voting, delegation.

Basic Steps of Consensus
Introduction: Presentation of issue to be addressed.
Clarification: Questions and information gathering.
Dialogue: Discussion of ideas and opinions towards the formation of a proposal.
Address Concerns: Ask for concerns with proposal and seek solutions.
Call for Consensus: Each member states their level of support for proposal.
If lacking support, further dialogue is likely required.
Option to use alternative decision-making (e.g. delegate, vote).
Shelve the decision to be addressed at a later date.

Levels of Support

Using Alternative Decision-Making
Conditions for using other forms of decision-making need to be determined in advance.
Participants should be sincerely seeking consensus, not sabotaging in order to force a vote.
When the decision at hand is very subjective it might be better to delegate.
When urgent decisions are required it may be better to delegate.

Dialogue for Consensus
Role Playing Dialogue vs. Debate:
What should be our special lunch day menu?

Tips for an Efficient Council
Hard working and cooperative individuals
Experienced meeting chair person
Consistent use of a discussion email list (e.g. Yahoo Groups, Google Groups)
Up-to-date documentation on the web(e.g. Google Sites, WikiSpaces.com)
Simple web tools to help schedule meetings (e.g. Doodle.com, MeetingWizard.com)

Methods for Community Messages
Email list / e-newsletter
Up-to-date website
Take home letters
Posters
Bulletin Boards

Techniques for Community Engagement
‘One-window’ contacts
One person and set of contact details responsible for managing communication to and from the council
Promotes consistency and group accountability
Speak w/one voice - avoid conflicting messages
Online Surveys (e.g. SurveyMonkey.com)

Techniques for Community Engagement
Forums
Open House Events
Study Circles

Dotmocracy Sheets

Dotmocracy Wall

Community Meeting Scenario
DEMONSTRATIONUse Dotmocracy sheets to recognize agreements concerning:
What should our policy be for what students can take to school?

Next Steps
Slides to be posted at www.cooptools.ca/groveworkshopsept29

Consensus Decision-Making Workshop

by Jason Diceman on Sep 30, 2009

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