Breaking Robert's Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results (Hardcover)

by Lawrence E. Susskind (Author), Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (Author)
Key Phrases: consensus building approach, project work plan, bicentennial committee, Robert's Rules, Historical Commission, Blaine Bicentennial Committee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This clear guide to non-hierarchal decision-making will be a boon for churches tryiing to find consensus in congregational affairs rather then the traditional solution of majority rule."-- Phyllis Tickle, author of The NIght Offices


Product Description
Every day in communities across America hundreds of committees, boards, church groups, and social clubs hold meetings where they spend their time engaged in shouting matches and acrimonious debate. Whether they are aware of it or not, the procedures that most such groups rely on to reach decisions were first laid out as Robert's Rules more than 150 years ago by an officer in the U.S. Army's Corps of Engineers. Its arcane rituals of parliamentary procedure and majority rule usually produce a victorious majority and a very dissatisfied minority that expects to raise its concerns, again, at the next possible meeting.
Breaking Robert's Rules clearly spells out how any group can work together effectively. After briefly explaining the problems created by Robert's Rules, the guide outlines the five key steps toward consensus building, and addresses the specific problems that often get in the way of a group's progress. Appendices include a basic one page "Handy Guide" that can be distributed at meetings and a case study demonstrating how the ideas presented in the book can also be applied in a corporate context.
Written in a non-technical and engaging style, and containing clear ideas and instructions that anyone can understand and use, this one-of-a-kind guide will prove an essential tool for any group desperate to find ways of making their meetings more effective. In addition, neighborhood associations, ad hoc committees, social clubs, and other informal groups lacking a clear hierarchy will find solid advice on how to move forward without resorting to "majority rules" or bickering over who will take leadership positions. Bound to become a classic, Breaking Robert's Rules will change the way you hold meetings forever, paving the way for efficiency, efficacy, and peaceful decision making.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195308417
• ISBN-13: 978-0195308419
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,293,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tool for developing effective communication, August 15, 2006

By	W. Graham (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Breaking Robert's Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results (Paperback)

This book has great value whether you are a business owner, politician or public agency staffer, an environmentalist, a facilitator, mediator or any other interested party. It provides a simple, concise and easy-to-understand review of the consensus building process. From a communication perspective, consensus building lends itself towards helping any party in a negotiation develop a greater understanding and wider range of solutions that may be available on any given issue.

The authors frame the limitations of "traditional" Robert's Rules for running public meetings. These traditional methods tend to offer binary decisions (yes or no) which often limit discussion, stifle creativity, and almost always leave someone feeling "left out".

They offer a simple, easy-to-understand and concise method to "break the chains" of communication such that more creative alternatives to issues or problems may be offered and discussed. Through a more creative and contributed process, interested parties can craft decisions based upon informed consensus which lends itself towards more lasting agreements.

The book also offers an excellent treatise on facilitation or mediation techniques. It is useful no matter "what side of the table" you may be in any given issue. A list of Key Terms at the end of each chapter offer an excellent way to reinforce understanding.

Five stars and a great contribution!

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not business as usual, August 23, 2006

By	Frank L. Park, Jr. (Gloucester, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking Robert's Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results (Paperback)

I've always been perplexed by the fact that we run our meetings according to rules dreamed up by a military engineer more than 100 years ago. Maybe Roberts' arcane procedures about what can be discussed by whom and when worked once upon a time, but they don't make sense either in the modern business world or for making important policy decisions today.

I'm not sure that the consensus building approach spelled out in this book will necessarily work in every case, but it's clear, straightforward, and practical. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has gotten sick of going to meetings only to see the will of the majority frustrated by some shrewed parliamentarian manipulating the rules. Susskind offers a constructive alternative for people who just want to get the right thing done.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Breaking Robert's Rules, March 8, 2007

By	N. RODRIGUEZ (FORT WORTH, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Breaking Robert's Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results (Paperback)

This book had valuable content. However, the book's organization was sometimes hard to follow. Also, it kept repeating the same points over and over. This made the book quite boreing.