Topics for Mini-lessons on Consensus Process

Some groups, including the board, occasionally make time for a mini-lesson in consensus topics at meetings. The intention is to help the entire group become more skilled in the process. These are some potential topics for future lessons.

• Beyond the stack: other ways facilitators guide conversation
• Understanding others' concerns (Basically, listening techniques. The quick moral of this one is: the point is less to defend your point and "win" than to understand the other's position and concern and make sure it's addressed.)
• Preparing to present
• What's a clarifying question?
• Pulling together an agenda (whose responsibility, how to add things, how to structure one)
• Subcommittees (when to create them, giving authority, reporting back, dissolving them - or not)
• What to do if you don't feel understood
• Capturing conversation in the minutes
• Brainstorming (when it's appropriate, basic groundrules)
• Stand asides vs. blocks
• When to call the question
• Basic flow of consensus decision (see QIS cards)
• How to extend a meeting (or not!)