Collective Decision Making
How communities make decisions through discussion and consensus.
Important decisions are made collectively through extended discussion until consensus emerges. Elders guide but do not dictate. Everyone with standing in the matter has voice. This process values inclusion over efficiency.
We talk until we agree. It takes time, but the decision belongs to everyone.
Consensus decision-making creates stronger community buy-in.
Oral Tradition
Written about in
- What Aboriginal tradition says about kinship and sharing
Important matters are talked through until agreement emerges, with elders guiding rather than deciding. The process is slow on purpose, because the decision has to belong to everyone who must live with it.
- What Aboriginal tradition says about conflict with people close to you
Decisions are talked through until consensus emerges; elders guide but do not dictate, and everyone with standing speaks. The process is openly inefficient, and the trade named for that cost is that the decision then belongs to everyone.