Editing Consensus decision-making (section)

==Tools and methods==
[[File:Consensus Cards.svg|200px|thumb|Front face, back face and embossing mask for colored consensus cards]]
* Some consensus decision-making bodies use a system of colored cards to indicate speaker priority. For instance, red cards to indicate feedback on a breach in rules or decorum, yellow cards for clarifying questions, and green cards for desire to speak.<ref name="Canadian Cohousing Network"/>
* {{anchor|Hand signals}}[[Hand gestures|Hand signals]] are another method for reading a room's positions nonverbally. They work well with groups of fewer than 250 people and especially with multi-lingual groups.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Haverkamp|first=Jan|date=1999|title=Non-verbal communication - a solution for complex group settings|url=http://zhaba.cz/materials/articles/nonverbal.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050223034845/http://zhaba.cz/materials/articles/nonverbal.html|archive-date=23 February 2005|website=Zhaba Facilitators Collective}}</ref> The nature and meaning of individual gestures varies between groups, but a widely adopted core set of hand signals include: wiggling of the fingers on both hands, a gesture sometimes referred to as "twinkling", to indicate agreement; raising a fist or crossing both forearms with hands in fists to indicate a block or strong disagreement; and making a "T" shape with both hands, the "time out" gesture, to call attention to a point of process or order.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zhaba.cz/uploads/media/Shared_Path.pdf |title=A Handbook for Direct Democracy and the Consensus Decision Process |access-date=18 January 2007 |publisher=Zhaba Facilitators Collective |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060714080721/http://www.zhaba.cz/uploads/media/Shared_Path.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://seedsforchange.org.uk/free/handsig.pdf |title=Hand Signals |access-date=18 January 2007 |publisher=Seeds for Change |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225024/http://seedsforchange.org.uk/free/handsig.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> One common set of hand signals is called the "Fist-to-Five" or "Fist-of-Five". In this method each member of the group can hold up a fist to indicate blocking consensus, one finger to suggest changes, two fingers to discuss minor issues, three fingers to indicate willingness to let issue pass without further discussion, four fingers to affirm the decision as a good idea, and five fingers to volunteer to take a lead in implementing the decision.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freechild.org/Firestarter/Fist2Five.htm |title=Guide for Facilitators: Fist-to-Five Consensus-Building |access-date=4 February 2008 |publisher=Freechild.org |archive-date=19 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219150200/http://www.freechild.org/Firestarter/Fist2Five.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Occupy hand signals|A similar set of hand signals]] are used by the [[Occupy Wall Street]] protesters in their group negotiations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52799991-75/park-pioneer-homeless-occupy.html.csp|title=Utah Local News - Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive - The Salt Lake Tribune|author=The Salt Lake Tribune}}</ref>
* [[First-past-the-post]] is used as a ''fall-back method'' when consensus cannot be reached within a given time frame.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Saint|first1=Steven|url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Rules+for+Reaching+Consensus%3A+A+Modern+Approach+to+Decision+Making-p-9780893842567|title=Rules for Reaching Consensus: A Modern Approach to Decision Making|last2=Lawson|first2=James R.|year=1994|publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-893-84256-7}}</ref> If the potential outcome of the fall-back method can be anticipated, then those who support that outcome have incentives to block consensus so that the fall-back method gets applied. Special fall-back methods have been developed that reduce this incentive.<ref name = "SCFC">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1007/s00355-010-0517-y|title = Some chance for consensus: Voting methods for which consensus is an equilibrium|journal = Social Choice and Welfare|volume = 38|pages = 43–57|year = 2012|last1 = Heitzig|first1 = Jobst|last2 = Simmons|first2 = Forest W.|s2cid = 6560809| url=https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_16387_1/component/file_16388/4618oa.pdf }}</ref>