Putting Step 7 into Practice

Putting Step #7 into Practice

1. Confirm in writing the final options for consideration. Designate each option with a letter, in alphabetical sequence, for easy reference. Then survey the group to see whether anyone would like clarification of any of the options. Resolve any uncertainties or differences in understanding about the choices being considered.

2. Review your shared hopes. The hopes you outlined and shared in Step #2 will help you align for action. Review these hopes before you begin to express preferences. Ask each participant in turn to read one hope aloud in sequence.

3. Allow a few minutes of silence for each person to reflect on the options and how they relate to the group's hopes. Give everyone time to let their thoughts settle and relinquish their inclination to control the outcome. Think about what you've heard from the other participants. Stay open to any new perspectives that emerge and allow your inner wisdom to guide you.

4. Ask each person to write down the option that best fulfills the hopes the group shares and to draw a circle around that choice. Encourage participants to focus on the group's shared hopes, not on individual agendas. The former will serve the greater good.

5. Below the circled choice, list any other options that would be acceptable and help fulfill your aims, albeit not as effectively as the first choice. Include any options that would be acceptable ways to advance your hopes so that there are alternatives in case the first choice proves unworkable. (See Figure 12.)

   
   Figure 12: Use secret ballots to capture each person's best thinking.

6. Use secret ballots. Fold the slips of paper on which group members have written their choices and submit them for tabulation. Now you're ready for Step #8, in which you'll map the solution spectrum and discover the results that are best for your group.

BE AN AGENT OF HOPE

Each person is a powerful instrument for discerning desirable courses of action. When participants tune their instruments to the hopes they share, they produce valuable wisdom. The secret ballots record the information so that you can gain the full benefit of this wisdom.