Group decision and communications process

From ICWiki

Some Challenging Questions for New Communities

Who are members?

• What is the process and qualifications to become a member?
• Most communities require people to attend a minimum number of functions and be approved by the members.
• Some communities have found that Investment = Commitment and require a non-refundable investment to weed out the "just looking' folks from the serious. $100 will clearly identify the real committed from the onlookers.
• If members will need to invest several thousand dollars eventually , a hundred bucks is really not very much money. Make this a non-refundable investment.

How are decisions made?

• Who gets to make them?
• Consider starting with a 3/4 majority vote. Learn about consensus before you commit your group decision making to it.
• Allow only members to vote but allow anyone to offer ideas and opinions.

How will meetings be run

• Who gets to talk, when?
• Having someone hold the role of facilitator helps enormously.
• Maybe some facilitation training from a process consultant would be useful?

How will conflicts be handled/resolved?

• When we don’t agree how will we work it out?
• Holding lots of parties and rituals together will grow bonds and make conflicts easier.
• Family counselors could be a mediator in a dispute, or identify other people in advance who could help the group make a tough decision.

How will records be kept?

• Who takes notes, how are they distributed and to whom?
• Start by taking turns at note-taking, encourage those that are good at it.
• At the end of the meeting:
  • Assign any tasks to specific volunteers with dates due
  • Read quickly through the notes about any decisions made so what is in the notes is accurate and agreed to.

How will new members be brought up to speed?

• Record your decisions in a decision document and hand it out to new members.
• When you get to about a dozen people assign new members a "buddy" who explains the processes and history.