decisions are a process

A while ago I completed the Decision Making Intensive workshop by AORTA. Making a decision as a group often takes incredible patience and no small amount of skill. I've been in groups that stumble to a resolution even where our values and goals are well-aligned. AORTA's five-week course could have gone even longer for all the insight they had to share with us.Their process is perfect for a linear thinker like me. A facilitator would guide the group through each step of the process. Skipping a step or trying to do two steps at once will make everything harder. I'll try to summarize the democratic decision making process they shared with us. They offer a free zine if you want a bit more detail about each step.Identify and learn about the problem. All participants should understand exactly what we're trying to solve for. What do we want to be different after we make a decision?Generate possible options. The group should come up with many ideas to solve our problem. There are no wrong…