Opinions and preferences
If there’s one thing that my family and friends can rely on me for, it’s an opinion.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines an opinion as:
A view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
But is everything that we have a view on actually opinions? Are some things mere preferences?
The OED defines a preference as:
A greater liking for one alternative over another or others.
Recently, I’ve been doing some introspection about my preferences. This is, in part, due to the work that I’m doing while on loan to Outlandish from my home co-op.
Outlandish use Sociocracy to make decisions, and the above diagram was part of my induction.
Sociocracy, also called dynamic governance, is a system of governance which seeks to create harmonious social environments and productive organizations. It is distinguished by the use of consent, rather than majority voting, in decision-making, and of discussion by people who know each other.
Wikipedia
What I like about Sociocracy is that it gives everyone a voice through the use of ’rounds’, recognises that emotion is an important part of decision-making, and (crucially) tackles preferences head-on.
This was particularly useful to me recently with some decisions we had to make about the colour scheme part of We Are Open’s rebrand. I realised that, while I’ll happily express an opinion on anything, these are usually based on mere preferences.
This realisation was more liberating than I expected it to be. As a result, I’ve resolved to check whether I’m expressing an opinion or simply a preference when interacting with others. I have a feeling that, most of the time, it will be the latter.
This post is Day 19 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com
