House Business Meeting
Each group is unique and continuing to evolve. I wish you the best in finding what works for your group.
The Business house meeting often involves seeking to balance different opinions around what to do and making decisions So, civility is critical for the house meeting to work.
In addition to the Business meeting, I suggest having Discover meetings. Discovery meetings are a way to prepare for and help Business meetings go more smoothly and effectively.
Suggestion for degree of organization:
1 – 5 people don’t need much structure
5 – 15 people definitely need a consistent structure
over 15 people is reaching point of having sub committees and more structure
Sections:
- Structure of house meeting
- Explanation
- Two Key Roles
- Surveys
- Feelings Go Around
- Decisions
- Personalities
***** Structure of house meeting
1 - Opening
2 - Officer reports
3 – Discussion of proposals and collection decision
4 - Check out, up to one minute to say how meeting went for yourself
***** Explanation:
---- 1)Opening
Its purpose is to create a foundation for beginning the group, creating a container. Some possible ways to do a check in is giving people a moment to say how he/she/they is doing or to say is there is anything blocking them from being present or etc.
----- 2)officers
Its purpose is to create space for key roles to update the group. Some examples are finance, membership, maintenance, etc.
Officers reports immediately after check in and before discussion / decision is to insure there is meeting time available for any issues these key roles bring up.
----- 3)Discussion of proposals and group decision
Consider using an agenda, maybe the agenda for discussions. This provides focus and purpose for group time.
Consider requiring one person present the motion, then 1 or two people to second that for discussion and making a decision. Because this a group decision, not individual decision on how to use group time. And this prevents one person from controlling the group thru talking the loudest and or fastest.
For discussion items, I suggest including a time limit, which can be changed by group decision
For decisions,
- when X number of people motion to decide on proposal, Proposal is read aloud by meeting Scribe
- Scribe asks person(s) who proposed proposal is that correct
- If yes, house votes/decides on proposal
- when x number of member vote yes, motion passes.
The group could wait until the end of the meeting to ask does anyone motion to vote on a proposal.
The group could leave the timing open to whenever a person motions and get one or two people second that
----- 4) closing
Its purpose is bring the meeting to a close.
One way to close a meeting is to ask, “how did the meeting go ?”. This is about improving the effectiveness of meeting thru hearing what is and isn’t working for the meeting.
And or have a moment of silence
----- Quorum:
Requiring a minimum number of house residents to be present for an official meeting to occur and or for making a decision on a proposal
Without a Quorum, it is easy to ignore those who do not show up for meetings.
Quorum pushes the group to find out why people are not showing up for meetings and to make adjustment
***** Two key roles:
----- Scribe
The purpose is to provide a written record of decisions and attendance. The Scribe records number of Yes, NO and Stand aside votes. This way the group is clear about which proposals passed and didn’t and which house members were present for that decision.
Scribe states the proposal and ask its creators if that is correct. This can reveal any misunderstandings or confusion about what is being proposed.
The Scribe does not write down individual opinions or how individual votes.
Because
-- individuals speak for themselves
-- people’s opinions change over time
-- the Scribe is a human being, therefore can not understand and record everyone’s opinions perfectly.
-- If there is legal action, the minutes could become a legal document. Do you want the Scribe speaking for you in court ? Do you want to speak for yourself ?
-- A person reads the minutes months after they are written. Do you want to defend the Scribe’s interpretation of what you said ? Do you want to speak for yourself ?
----- Facilitator
Purpose is to help meeting go as smoothly, efficiently, effectively as possible.
Tools for an orderly discussion:
Stack – facilitator calls on people in order of raised hands. People don’t have to scream or talk over each other to be heard. Facilitator goes in order of raised hands, not their personal preference.
Talking object – only person holding the object can talk, the object is passed around for different people to talk
Keeping group on track – When person speaks off topic, create a new topic to be discussed later in the meeting or at another meeting. The personal who strayed off topic is given a chance to talk “it” thru having another topic to discuss.
***** Surveys:
4 possible surveys for quick finding out where the group is around the proposal, use the ones that are helpful in the moment
--- Straw Poll
Your position on proposal at this moment is
Each person chooses one option, NO or YES or Undecided or Stand aside
Give each person up to 30 seconds to say if they would vote Yes or NO or Stand aside or Pass and up to 30 seconds to say a little more about how he/she/they see the decision affects their experience living in the house.
Or, each person is asked to choose from one of 4 possibilities to get a better understanding of their position
for those who vote “NO”, ask if
-- not a big deal for me
-- difficult and could live with it
-- might move out
-- pass
For those vote “Yes”, ask if
-- not a big deal
-- want it, very helpful for me
-- need it, might move out if it doesn’t pass
-- pass
for those who vote “undecided”
-- need more time to think about and or get more information
-- split, 50% yes and 50% no
-- pass
for those who vote “stand aside”
-- conflict of interest
-- not ready to vote
-- pass
Purpose:
This is about finding where everyone stands in terms of yes,no, stand aside before deciding.
Sometimes, a group can get so caught up in debate, no one realizes everyone is ready to vote yes.
Sometimes, some people may not be aware of how serious this decision is for other members
This can provide critical information for how to move forward.
--- Survey 2
Are you clear about the four basics ?
1 – Which person or people will implement proposal
2 – What they will do
3 - With which community resources
4 - When or for how long
Purpose:
If these basics are not clear, there is a high chance there will be big problems with implementation
--- Survey 3
What degree of impact do you see this having on your experience with group ?
How many say none ?
Low ?
Medium ?
High ?
Pass ?
Everyone has option to speak up to one minute, answering this question, “Is there something around the impact that you want to share that will help the group make a decision ?”
Purpose:
This is about evaluating how much time to spend discussing proposal. In general, the greater the impact, the more time needed for listening to gather all required information to make an informed decision.
--- Survey 4
To what degree do you experience your concerns being heard around this proposal ?
How many say high ?
Medium ?
Low ?
None ?
Pass ?
Everyone has option to speak up to one minute, answering this question, “Is there something the group has no heard that you want to share that will help the group make a decision ?”
Purpose:
This is about evaluating have we heard enough to make an informed decision. The more people say unheard, the more likely the group is missing critical info for making an informed decision that will work out.
***** Feelings go around:
It person says what he/she/they are feeling in 1 – 3 words or passes. After everyone has had a turn, do it again. I suggest 5 rounds.
Focus on feelings in physical body, instead of going into concepts or using the time to make speeches.
The purpose of the feelings go around is to awaken our human inter-connection. Whatever our disagreements, all humans share having feelings/emotions.
Do this go around 5 times. Each round helps to deepen people connection to what we have in common.
***** Decisions:
I have discovered that the key is not the particular decision method. The key is how people treat each other before, during and after making a decision. People can act with compassion or un-kindly when using any decision making method.
When I was in a house that used majority vote to decide. I noticed, when we were getting along, a caring and compassion approach naturally arose. We looked for solutions that worked for all or as many as possible or how to support the one(s) having trouble with the decision. When we were not getting along, decisions were a power struggle.
I saw another house use consensus. It worked for a while, until everyone couldn’t agree. Since everyone could not agree, no decisions could be made, including accepting new members as people moved out. Fortunately, there was a house sharing group nearby, who took ownership of the house and recruited new members and taught them how to run the house.
***** Personalities:
I could be completely wrong about this.
Loud, aggressive personalities may thrive in free flowing, non-organized spaces
Quiet, passive personalities may thrive in ordered, structured processes.
Which personalities thrive in your group’s way of doing things ?
Which personalities sink in your group’s way of doing things ?