Activity of the fortnight: How to make decisions successfully?
By rob hopkins 25th January 2016
Format: Activity / Guide
People: All of your group
Time: 1 hour
Resources needed: This activity sheet, a place to meet
This is also a guide that is useful to print out and store in a folder about your group, to refer to in the future and to show new members of your group.
Why do it
It is great when a group runs smoothly and everyone understands how it operates, which is why it is so important to decide how your group makes decisions. Doing this early on means that confusion and conflict can be minimised as everyone understands how decisions are made and feels included in that process.
There are several different ways of making decisions and it is often about finding the right one to fit the situation. It is also important to consider when you will make a decision, if it is a big decision that is going to impact on people who aren’t at the meeting then you may want to change the date of the meeting to allow people to attend. People will be far more supportive of a decision they have been involved in, even if they don’t agree with it, than a decision they were not involved in. Decision making processes are not only useful in deciding what to do, more in depth processes can really help you to discuss and shape the proposal you are deciding on as they allow people to highlight their concerns in a positive way.
How to do it
Split the group in 2 – 3 people groups and ask them to read through the different forms of decision making, ask them to think when it is best to use the different types of decision making. Do this for 15 minutes and then come back together and share your thoughts. There may be other types of decision making processes that people in your group, know about and now would be an opportunity to share those with the group.
The aim of the activity is to decide on:
- which forms of decision making your group would use
- when they would be used
- who needs to be involved
Contents:
1. The different forms of decision making
2. Who makes the decision?
3. Types of decision making
4. Spontaneous Agreement
5. Majority Voting
6. Consensus Building
7. Consent decision making
8. Behaviours that help decision making
9. Behaviours that don’t help decision making
10. What if a meeting is finding it difficult to make a decision?
1. The different forms of decision making
Different cultures have different forms of decision making, the following are some that we see used in Transition. It is important to use the right type of decision making process for the type of decision you are making, for example you probably don’t want to use a consensus decision making model to set the date of the next meeting, when spontaneous agreement will achieve that fine, alternatively wouldn’t want to use spontaneous agreement for major decisions affecting your group.
2. Who makes the decision?
Sometimes it can be more important to consider who makes the decision rather than the decision making process. If you have a person in the group who has a lot of knowledge around the subject of the decision then it may be better to ask them to come up with a proposal to the group, or give them the power to make the decision. Sub groups can also be set up to decide on issues around a specific topic. There is an element of trust to this process. Some groups have a rule that major decisions can only be made if a certain amount of people are present.
3. Types of decision making
4. Spontaneous Agreement
This is a quick way of getting minor decisions made and it is something that we all regularly use without even thinking about it. It is where a solution is favoured by everyone and agreement seems to happen automatically.
Good for: Small issues such as deciding when to have a break in the meeting, setting meeting dates and so on. It is not a good decision making process if a discussion is needed.
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Strengths:
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it’s fast and easy;
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everyone is happy;
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it unites the group.
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Weaknesses:
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may be too fast;
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the issue may actually needs discussion;
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people staying quiet may not mean agreement.
5. Majority Voting
One or more proposals are put to the meeting, with time for questions and discussion.
Voting is a simple process where people vote for the option they most prefer, or vote for or against (or abstain). This can be a show of hands or secret ballot.
Good for: When there are two distinct options and one or the other must be chosen, when a decision must be made quickly. Can also be used if consensus cannot make a decision. It’s not good if those who “lost” the vote will be genuinely badly affected by the outcome, if this is the case then it may be better to carry out a consensus or consent decision making process.
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Strengths:
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it is a fast process;
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everyone has an equal say in the process;
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can get good results if a good discussion precedes the vote.
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Weaknesses:
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it can be too fast, people can vote without knowing the full implications particularly if there has been no discussion before the vote;
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some people will not get what they want, can cause a split in the group;
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the show of hands method may put pressure on people to conform.
A variation: Majority vote on a range of options
A variation of this where you have lots of options to choose from is to allocate people a set amount of votes, say three each that they then allocate to the different options. The votes are then added up for each option. Again it is good to precede this with discussion of the options.
6. Consensus Building
Consensus building involves everyone clearly understanding the situation or problem to be decided. All the information surrounding the decision is provided and people then discuss it in depth, putting across their views to the group. Then the group works together to jointly develop solutions that everyone is happy with. It requires people to listen to each other, be patient and engage in healthy debate. Consensus generates a decision about which everyone says, “I can live with it.”
Good for: Making decisions that will impact the entire team and when it is really important that people are supportive of the decision, especially when their effort will be needed to make that decision happen. As it can be a lengthy process, it should be used for major decisions that justify it.
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Strengths:
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it is a collaborative process that can unite your group team;
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people are all given a chance to state their views;
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they work together to come to a decision that is shared which means that it is likely to be followed through.
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Weaknesses:
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it can take up a lot of time;
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it can result in decisions being made that are weak due to compromises;
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it can be difficult to carry out if people don’t feel comfortable putting across their view or find it difficult working in groups.
For a full guide to carrying out consensus seeds for change short guide to consensus see here.
7. Consent decision making – developed by members of the Transition Movement
This is a process that aims to make a proposal acceptable to the whole group by working through a consent process. Consent puts the emphasis on the proposal itself and using the collective wisdom of the group to shape and develop it. Ideally you have a facilitator who understands the process well and it can help to practice it as a group so everyone understands it.
Good for: Making decisions that will impact the entire team and when it is really important that people are supportive of the decision, especially when their effort will be needed to make that decision happen. As it can be a lengthy process, it should be used for major decisions that justify it.
The consent process:
A few terms you need to understand:
· Proposal: This is the action that the person is proposing that the group agrees to and acts on, e.g. We should setup a food growing group?
· Facilitator: The person who is running the consent process, ideally they would be neutral in regards of the proposal being put forward.
· Proposer: This is the person who is presenting the proposal to the group, often they have created the proposal or have been involved in its creation. They need to have knowledge of the proposal and be able to respond to questions on it.
· Rounds: A round is where the facilitator offers everyone in the group an opportunity to respond. People do not have to respond as they may have nothing to contribute, the key thing is that they are given the opportunity. It helps if people sit in a circle, or at least where everyone can see each other, to enable this to happen well.
The process is as follows.
1. The Proposer presents their proposal to the meeting –
· It’s good if they have sent information about their proposal around before the meeting so people have already read it.
2. Round 1: Clarifying the proposal
· The facilitator gives everyone in the group an opportunity to ask for more information, this ensures that the proposal is clearly understood by everyone.
· This is not the time to start discussing the proposal, that comes later.
3. Round 2: Responding to the proposal
· The facilitator gives everyone in the group an opportunity to say what they think about the proposal and give the Proposer an opportunity to respond.
· Once you have given everyone an opportunity to respond then the whole group can discuss it.
· The aim of this is to use the collective wisdom of the group to help shape the proposal to make it stronger.
· With all this information the Proposer can then withdraw or change the proposal if there is a need to.
4. Round 3: Objections to proposal
· The facilitator gives everyone in the group an opportunity to object to the proposal.
o An objection should not be based on wanting something else, it should be a valid objection to the proposal.
· Objections are seen as a GIFT as they help make the proposal the best it can be.
· If there are objections then ask the group if there is a way to change the proposal so that it would be accepted, again allowing the collective wisdom of the group to shape the proposal.
· All objections should be treated this way.
· When all objections are removed the facilitator asks everyone if they have any new objections, if yes the objections process starts again.
· If no objections then the decision is approved by the group.
5. Celebration and reflection!
· Celebrate you have passed a decision as a group!
· At the end of using this process it can be useful to ask people how they found it in order to further develop it.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Consent Decision Making
Strengths:
- It is a collaborative process
- It allows for the collective intelligence of the group to be used to make a decision, solutions come from the group as individuals are thinking more about the interests of the group;
- the decision is made by the group which means that it is likely to be followed through
Weaknesses:
- It can be a long process;
- it requires people to accept decisions they may not want.
8. Behaviours that help decision making
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Being sensitive when developing and presenting proposals, so that people are clear how this has happened and who has been involved.
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Listening to others’ ideas politely, even when you don’t agree
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Repeating the main points made by another person in your own words before you respond, especially if you’re about to contradict their ideas
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Praising others’ ideas & building on others’ ideas
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Asking others to critique your ideas, and accepting the feedback
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Being open to accepting alternative courses of action
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Making a distinction between facts and feelings.
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Staying calm and friendly
9. Behaviours that don’t help decision making
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Interrupting people in mid-sentence.
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Not acknowledging the ideas that others have put on the table.
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Criticizing others’ ideas, as opposed to giving them useful feedback.
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Pushing your own ideas while ignoring others’ input.
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Getting defensive when your ideas are assessed.
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Sticking only to your ideas and blocking suggestions for alternatives.
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Basing arguments on feelings not substantiated by evidence.
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Getting overly emotional; showing hostility in the face of any disagreement.
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Getting over rational, and refusing to acknowledge that an issue is charged.
10. What if a meeting is finding it difficult to make a decision?
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Stop and have a break. Sitting in silence together and inviting everyone to pay attention to what’s happening inside them, to see what they can let go of for the sake of moving forwards can help people out of reactivity.
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Remember what your shared purpose is, and think about the decision in relation to the core purpose of the group.
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Is there enough information to make a decision or do you need to postpone and find out more. Sometimes it’s not possible to know what the right decision is – if not perhaps any solution will do.
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Separate out feelings and rational ideas. Sometimes un-expressed feelings can the way of moving forward. For example, people need to express their sadness that something that’s been done in the past won’t continue before they can support a new idea.
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Are the right people here to make the decision? You may want to make sure the people most informed or most affected are present. But sometimes people can attempt to block decisions by not turning up to the meeting. Be clear about how many are needed to make decisions in your group, and that decisions can be made without everyone being present.
This support resource was produced by Transition Network to see all our support resources click here.
This document is released under a Creative Commons licence. We’d love your feedback on this exercise. How useful was it? Any experience through using it that you’d like to share?