Consensus: group decision-making & community organizing #6

 Saul Alinsky's rules vs consensus organizing

Conflict organizing does build consensus, but within a group that initially shares the interest of eliminating a specific grievance. Consensus organizing attempts to enlarge that consensus by working with the theory we learn about in Getting to Yes: digging deeply toward identifying the interests of all parties. Where there is overlap, and where the net result can be a win for all parties in some form, consensus organizing is more sustainable than the zero-sum approach of Alinsky's general model of conflict organizing, as effective as that is. 

The consensus organizing model overlaps conflict organizing quite a bit at certain stages. For example, if a goal identified by the community (not one assumed by the organizers) ultimately is at complete odds with those who decide policy--a government, a corporation, or an institution--then the methods of conflict organizing are identical to consensus organizing--quite adversarial. But the consensus organizing model is far better at openly exploring possibilities for win-win outcomes than the Alinsky model, in general.