Intro to Formal Consensus Oct 24th

Introduction to Formal Consensus Facilitation, October 24th 2009

Do you want to...
...help your group make decisions?
...turn creative differences into an advantage?
...eliminate political struggle?
...give everyone a voice?
...get time-efficient decisions that make sense?

Formal Consensus is a system that a group can use to make decisions. It offers a quick way to get the best creative decision a group can invent. It does not require unanimous agreement, and it turns conflict into a resource. It was developed for use by large groups that do not know each other well, but need to work together. Formal Consensus is used by businesses, intentional communities and activist groups on several continents.

By the end of the day, participants will know the basic steps of the Formal Consensus process, have a chance to practice using the method, and have extensive discussion of real-life examples. Your questions about your own organisation(s) will be welcome.

Nathaniel White trained with the author of the Formal Consensus manual, C.T. Butler, in 1997. He uses the method in his paid and voluntary work, and contributed to the most recent version of the manual. Nathaniel says, "Formal Consensus is the best decision-making system I've found for drawing out the creative intelligence of a group. It also happens to allow its participants to empower themselves, to increase the value of diverse group perspectives, to draw out (rather than suppress) unconscious information, and to create shared ownership of decisions (and thus more commitment to effective execution) among the full group. Although I have seen very skilled consensus decision-making in groups that do not use Formal Consensus, many of those groups can't easily pass on what they do because they have skills -- not a system." This class is charged on a sliding scale, from £5 up. The suggested price for the fully employed is £40.

The class will be held at Lewes Werks (47 Western Road, Lewes -- adjacent to the Black Horse Inn and on the 28/29 bus route) from 10am to 4pm on October 24th, 2009. Please register ahead to confirm your place - 07766 093015 / ntw@integrityunlimited.co.uk

I look forward to seeing some of you there!

Sincerely,
Nathaniel White