Excerpted from an article by Cathleen Kneen,
The Ram’s Horn, No 138, June 1996
. . . there are essentially four positions on any proposition:
- I think this is great, let’s do it.
- It’s not a bad idea, do it if you like.
- I don’t think much of the idea but I won’t stop you if you want to go ahead.
- I think this is absolutely wrong.
. . . . if any one person in the group takes position 4 – “I think this is wrong” – we have not reached consensus.
(Of course, if one person consistently and repeatedly takes this position, we have probably reached a consensus that they are in the wrong organization.)
We have also not reached consensus unless the majority of the group take position 1 and positively support the proposal. Otherwise, realistically, it won’t happen anyway.
