I spent all day yesterday at the Green Party of Minnesota biennial convention. The purpose of the convention was to discuss and approve changes to the party’s constitution and platform, elect coordinating committee members, and elect national party representatives.
In true Green fashion, we burned an hour reaching consensus on approving the agenda.
For me, the most interesting part of the day’s business was dealing with the platform proposals. An initial list of platform proposals, coming out of the March caucuses, was compiled and distributed at the endorsing campaign last month. The list was extensive and even with duplicates removed, we had four full pages of proposals—each distilled into a few lines—to consider.
We used a fascinating process that I had never experienced before to quickly determine whether or not we had consensus on each proposal. The process is called the fist of five, and here’s how it works:
As each proposal is read by the facilitator, members of the group individually express agreement or blocking concern with a simple hand signal:
- One to five fingers are held up to express the degree of agreement or support for the proposal, with five waving fingers representing the most enthusiastic support and one finger representing very mild agreement.
- A clenched fist with no fingers extended represents a blocking concern.
If any fists are seen among the group, the proposal is blocked and the group immediately progresses to the next proposal.
Very efficient and highly recommended if your business or organization uses a consensus-based approach to decision-making.
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