Decision making at NVC camp

Notes for a workshop.

Opening questions:

• What is your experience of decision making that works?
• Is large meeting of fifty people too big for effective speaking and listening? 

General points

1. Democracy - drawback is it allows dictatorship of the 51% majority - the worst way to take decisions apart from all the other ones (Churchill)
2. Sociocracy – consensus – allows for veto (paramount objection) – drawback is can be easily sabotaged by tiny minority 
3. Good example of sociocracy in action: NVC Certified Trainers exclusion of Independent Trainers from network, which was made by round robins of phone calls by, and only by, those half dozen who were passionately concerned with the matter. 
4. Vision: the importance of members of camp understanding the vision that underpins the day to day decision making – this needs preparation by the core team / founders and attention on or before day one by the attenders. (See eg Quaker business method.)
5. Quaker business method – its strength lies in the common Quaker faith and practice of the members and that they are trying to discern God’s will, not each their own agenda. 
6. Experts v non-experts: everyone takes part in policy decisions but only ‘experts’ take part in technical decisions (eg repairing the electricity). 
7. Experts v non-experts: Green Party has focus groups of interested non-experts who take time to prepare and study agenda items and make recommendations to conference on the topic (in addition to proposers and opposers) 
8. Hierarchy of cell groups / soviets, etc, feeding up to core team / council of reps, etc 
9. Graded votes: warmer and cooler not just yes and no; not just thumbs up or down but also thumbs up 45 degrees, thumbs horizontal and thumbs down 45 degrees – while it can indicate strength of objection (eg paramount objection) it’s still difficult for facilitator to judge the outcome.
10. Family decision making: hierarchy (adults/children); from each according to ability to each according to need; care and control; there are as many examples of success and failure as there are families.