Issue 4, June/July 2014Dear reader, Welcome to the June/July issue of our newsletter focussing on Consensus and Decision Making. I have just returned from participating in the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America's summer conference held at the Hartsbrook Waldorf School in Hadley, MA. LeadTogether offered a workshop that was attended by 20 enthusiastic and talented school leaders. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know and explore deeper aspects of collaboration with colleagues from across the continent. In the coming month, we will be sharing some of the work that came out of these sessions and some other resources shared by the participants. LeadTogether is continuing to grow and we appreciate your participation. If you are a new subscriber, take a look at our past issues on the themes of Collaboration, Sustainability and Organizations as Living Entities. You can find a link to past newsletters on the Home Page of our website. Michael Soule LeadTogether
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This month’s newsletter focuses on the art of decision-making and particularly the practice of consensus decision-making.
The lead article was written in response to three recent conversations we had with various board members. In one, a colleague asked: “As a new board member, I hear consensus referred to but I don’t really understand what it means. None of our board members has much experience or training in consensus. How do we know when we should push through to consensus or when a majority vote is appropriate?”
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When a faculty or board needs to make decision of major significance, how does the group assure that the decision is well considered and supported by everyone who needs to be involved? Shared decision making can be a challenging area for a Waldorf school. It involves building agreement for decisions and creating clarity around decision making authority and processes. A good decision is the result of both having the organizational culture and structure that supports timely and thorough processes, and assuring that various groups and individuals, who have the authority to make decisions in their respective areas, understand and follow those processes. Read more.
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Often, when groups first begin to use consensus, most if not all decisions are made by the group as a whole. Groups come to understand that this is what it means to function by consensus. Over time, however, most groups begin to look for ways to function more efficiently. Frequently, they turn to the use of committees and mandate groups.
It is important to understand that consensus and the use of mandating are not mutually exclusive. The two can be used together. In fact, a mandate group is simply a specialized type of committee, with its mandate framed in a certain way.
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This is an excerpt from “School Renewal, A Spiritual Journey for Change” by Torin Finser.
Understanding the importance of framing issues can lead us to the best ways to reach decisions in a group setting.
A decision is a form of free human action. When a human being actively searches out and grasps a concept or intuition thereby bringing it to full consciousness, a self-sustaining decision can arise.
Individuals, not groups, make decisions.
Where do decisions come from? For me at least they have a mysterious quality. It is hard to determine what is really happening in the moment in which an individual makes a decision.
There were certainly important element of preparation, but the second in which one realizes a decision there’s a magical element at work. There’s an intuitive quality to the act, and intuition is connected to the will, the motivational aspect of our constitution. It is as if we were to dive into the lake of decision and really know what we have come to only a split second after we emerge on the surface.
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The following are excellent resources to learn more about the why and how of meeting process and facilitation for consensus decision-making. All of these articles are available in the LeadTogether resource collection. Read more.
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