Decisions, decisions…

Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash

Every group, no matter how small, must agree on a way of governing said body. If it’s just me, I make all decisions. In a partnership, one has to negotiate. In a family, organization or corporation, city, state, nation, well it gets more complex. One thing that makes our group both unique and wonderful is that we have seven writer/directors who have creative control over the project. We have been intentional in our decision making process and agreed to an informal consensus process. For us, this means that when issues get complicated, we talk and hear each other out and then work out a solution that all can be okay with. Ideally, everyone loves every decision, but that may not always be realistic. We also have to factor in that some decisions may be time bound, meaning that we have to make them more quickly than is easy for our process. So if we had to, we would revert to majority rule in the event of decisions that needed to be made within, say 24 hours.

For us, having been in many spaces and workplaces within and out of the industry in which our voices weren’t always heard and/or respected, this decision making process is empowering and healing. We know that not only our concerns but our best ideas will both be heard and considered by the group. So far, that has only improved the project, which keeps getting better, richer, more interesting and fully developed as we go along. 

How do you make decisions in your partnership, family, community? How do you ensure that your own, as well as everyone else’s, voices are heard and given consideration?