Not long ago, in Botswana, I had the privilege of participating in Indaba, a Zulu and Xhosa method of decision-making that brings all interested parties into the conversation. Instead of a small group of leaders making unilateral decisions for the group, without any input from those affected, those affected get to participate.
The issue in this case was where to spend our limited funds on a project that was underway in order to achieve maximum impact. The elders (in our case the senior officials) sat at the front of the room while the rest of us were arrayed in a semi-circle facing them. We each got two timed minutes to speak, no more. In the spirit of fun, those who spoke for less than two minutes were loudly applauded. In this manner, the negotiations moved along quickly and most of the opposing ideas were resolved in a structured, simple way.
