's far as collective decision making technique goes, I am all for what
Brook descibed in her post on Concensus.

Check out these facilitation techniques, in particular the one
on "Mutual Invitation". It's supposed to be really cool when people
agree to it and stick with it. Description:

"Mutual Invitation
This process is an alternative to participants speaking sequentially,
as in going around the circle in which they sit. The process also
removes the "power of voice" from the facilitator and places it within
the group. In mutual invitation, one speaker invites the next one to
add his or her contribution to the group. If the person who has been
invited to speak is not prepared to do so, he or she may "pass" the
invitation to someone else with the knowledge that the group will
return to him before the speaking is over. The mutual invitation
process enhances the participants' sense that they collectively own and
control their contributions to the dialogue."

- http://www.nps.gov/nero/greatplaces/dialoguetechniques.pdf