RM writes:
Last night at the meeting, we decided that we need to set up a couple more subgroups that can do some research on a topic and report back to the group (via meetings and mailing list). The group can then digest this information, ask questions, request more research, etc, and then hopefully make decisions together and move forwards.
Something that is required before we can really make much progress at all is to put some kind of framework in place for actually making these decisions. Are we aiming for complete consensus on every decision? That would of course be ideal but may not be practical. What are the alternatives? How do other similar groups take decisions? Who gets a vote? (Only paid-up members? One vote per person or per household?) How many of us need to agree before a decision can be passed? What timescales would be reasonable for consultatation? How can we resolve conflicts and promote consensus? There are lots of differents structures, methods and formats out there for conflict resolution, so we need to assess which of these might be suitable for the needs of our group.
I volunteered to be a member of a subgroup looking at this topic. So far I am the only one, so I am looking for more people to join me. We thought ideally each subgroup might have about 3 to 5 members. So if you are interested, please get in touch with me.
I believe the idea with all the subgroups will be to keep all our work as open as possible, so that any other interested K1 members can keep track of how we are doing. So summaries of our research should be posted here on the google group, and also minutes of any meetings that we have.
I thought we could try to form our decision-making subgroup in time for the next meeting on the 18th of March so as many of us as possible can have a chat together then, and then try to do some research and present some findings to the group in the meeting after that, whenever that is (sorry I don’t have the new meeting calendar with me at the moment).
Some people have already mentioned that they have access to various bits of information about decision-making and conflict-resolution methods. If so, please could you try to post some information to the group. That would be really helpful.
Looking forward to hearing from lots of keen people!