Consensus and Facilitation Training

Sat & Sun, June 6-7 – Easton Mountain Center, Greenwich, NY (near Albany, NY)
9:00 am – 5:30 pm
To register: 800-553-8235.
www.eastonmountain.com.

This two-day workshop offers theory and practice for members of forming or existing intentional communities (including ecovillages and cohousing neighborhoods), nonprofit groups, and other organizations. It focuses on how consensus works — and how to make it work well for your group!

Besides learning the benefits of consensus, you’ll see different consensus methods which seem to work especially well for intentional communities and nonprofit groups. You’ll understand the important relationship between your group’s mission and purpose, membership process, and decision-making method. You’ll learn the purpose of and etiquette of blocking, and how your group can reduce the likelihood of frivolous, personal-issue, or too-frequent blocking. You’ll understand the relevance of strong agendas, and how you can empower yourself by crafting clear, well-written proposals. You’ll learn the many different tasks of a facilitator, with opportunities for practice.

First Day - Consensus Basics: Power & Decision-Making in Community. “Consensus Walk.” Summary of the Consensus Process. Trust. "Information is Power" –Minute Books & Decision Logs. “Board Game” Decision-Making, Membership Process, and Mission & Purpose. Three Decision Options. Gradients of Agreement. Pseudoconsensus. About Blocking. “Women (& Men) Who Block Too Much.” Exercise: “Principled Blocks.” Solution-Oriented Meetings to Prevent “Tyranny of the Minority.” Four-Choice Method to Assess Gradients of Agreement. Strong Agendas and Good Meetings. The Effective Meeting Participant. Meeting Agreements. “A Proposal’s Progress.” To Propose or Not to Propose. The Life of a Proposal. How to Make a Proposal. “Drafting a Proposal.” Abuses of the Proposal Process. Consensus Resources.

Second Day – Facilitation Basics: Five Principles of Facilitation. Roles of the Facilitator. Facilitation Taboos. Levels of Facilitation. What a Facilitator Does. “Stacking.” Sticking to Agenda Contract. “Cross-town Buses.” Ground Rules. Levels of Agreement. Exercise: “Levels of Agreement.” Public-Private Scale. Where Do We Draw the Line? “When Someone Speaks Too Long.” “Summarizing Practice.” “Short Facilitator Practice Scenarios.” “Challenging Meeting Behavior - Role-plays.” Evaluations.