talk.kiezburn.org
Sun 19 Jan 2020 1:43PM

Consensual Do-ocracy - short definition

RH Richard Hodkinson Public Seen by 128

Kiez Burn is co-created through the principle of Consensual Do-ocracy:

You are able to make any decision regarding Kiez Burn, if

  • you have sought advice from experts on the subject and the people who will be affected by your decision,

  • you are willing to take responsibility for the actions & consequences coming from the decision or have the support needed to make it happen,

  • you got consent from other event realizers that are affected by your decision.

Introduction

Through this principle and its methods, we attempt to live the Kiez Burn principles. It is not easy. We fuck up, we make mistakes, we learn and we improve. We are not here to make a perfect burn with perfect individuals. We are here to grow, together.

This short definition is usually sufficient in enabling anyone to take on responsibility. Hundreds of decisions are taken at Kiez Burn. Examples include:

  • How to set up an efficient electrical power grid

  • Designing a shift schedule for rangers or welfare leads

  • How to make a fun & informative greeting experience at the gate

These decisions do not affect that many people and are usually taken by people who are already experts on a particular subject. For bigger decisions, please use the advice process.

Why we do this

The principle of consensual do-ocracy means the power to decide on an idea, should be with those who carry out the idea (a.k.a. realizers). Sufficient energy should be put into (1) exploring if this idea will truly benefit Kiez Burn as a whole, and (2) making sure this idea is consented to by other Kiez Burn leaders who would be affected by a decision on this idea.

By learning more about the topic and connecting with people that are dependent on a decision of the idea, they become the best qualified in the community to take on or take over a responsibility. They become leaders within temporary hierarchies based on the thinking that power should flow to those who need it, in order to carry out ideas.

Given the above, anyone should be able to propose an idea, improve on it, gather consent and then decide to carry it out. They are now responsible for the actions & consequences coming from this proposal or/and have the support needed to make this proposal happen & deal with the (unintended) consequences.

  • Usually, the short definition of consensual do-ocracy is sufficient to guide people from idea to decision. 

  • For bigger decisions, we found we need more structure, which is given by the advice process

  • In case of strong disagreement:

    • The conflict escalation process allows for individuals to stop a decision by making sure leaders listen to advice

    • A meeting can be called so to solve bigger disagreements between groups of people

Consent is defined here as “not having significant objections (to a certain proposal)”. If an affected person cannot accept the proposed action, they state their objections with reasons that can be understood by the others. The responsibility of all is to listen with the intent to understand and adapt the proposal to minimize possible risks. Consensing does not require agreement, affirmation or even preference.  Consent is reached by choosing the proposal with the least objections. The lowest level of objection — resistance — results in the highest acceptance. (source)

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walto Thu 27 Feb 2020 6:45PM

Here is also a super interesting source on what consent decison making actually is and how it relates to consensus or democratic decision making: https://www.plays-in-business.com/systemic-consensing-what-the-hell-is-this/

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walto Sun 23 Feb 2020 7:48PM

Interesting sources thanks to @Alina, also known as Milda! !

anyone else has interesting reads on the topic?

W

Poll Created Fri 21 Feb 2020 8:07PM

Let's make this better Closed Thu 5 Mar 2020 8:00PM

Outcome
by walto Sat 7 Mar 2020 5:20PM

updated the short definition in line with what as agreed in the meeting. 

Hi folks!

An initiative born from the realization that all of this advice process & this shot version just isn't good enough and needs some love and attention. In this google doc you can co-create on the new version of the advice process & short definition:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15WfrSqvrmhT2S6AAyrpMV1oSBpAn_uciqXFAh2vDeNU/edit#

Problems/Opportunities of the current short definition:

  • adopt new definition of consensual do-ocracy that adopts the accountability concept

  • potentially add in a line about "consentual" regarding the people that are impacted

Wonna read more on this, see the thread of continuous improvement.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Undecided 0% 177 S S DU L C JT T L RH VRS ARQ L K RN HH D S SK M BL

0 of 177 people have participated (0%)

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walto Sat 25 Jan 2020 11:28AM

I added a section on "Why we do this". It needs further refinement, but it is a start. I invite anyone to just make changes and then say in this thread what you changed.

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walto Sat 25 Jan 2020 10:47PM

Yes, it'd been amazing to follow in their footsteps and implement a lot of their learnings and tools last year. I hope we can now make it more our own this year.

DU

Alina, also known as Universe Sat 25 Jan 2020 4:03PM

um, yes, because Talk/Dreams/Realities are all tools pioneered by Borderland - to reflect THEIR own take on how to design and run Borderland. Amiright? :)

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walto Sat 25 Jan 2020 10:47AM

Thanks for the links. Good reading while travelling =)

Btw, you quote borderland a lot and I agree we can still learn a lot on how they do the online burn.

My impression: Kiez burn is very different from borderland in the sense that we are geographically concentrated, more offline, less online only. That is probably where our biggest potential for improvement is and we also have the most expertise: how to have great meetings that tie in well into our online world

DU

Alina, also known as Universe Sat 25 Jan 2020 10:18AM

p.s. ((AP-specific)) they are currently looking at neat alternatives to long threads full of loooong arguments, such as https://www.mindmeister.com/1405098387?t=L1XKVP7e6g or https://debatemap.app/ - check it out, interesting!

DU

Alina, also known as Universe Sat 25 Jan 2020 9:33AM

Also @waldo I am hanging out on Borderland Talk a lot. Things do not work there, too. We have to make sure that we remember that AP (and Talk) are an experiment and an imperfect tool.

Here is a quote from Hugi:

"Hugi · 11 hours ago
Also, let me say this:
AP shepherding is not easy, Talk is very imperfect and the whole AP system is still just a barely functioning prototype. But it's the best thing we have. It takes a while to get these things right. Pulling the proposal function out of the hat made things more complicated, as it often does. Live and learn."(https://talk.theborderland.se/d/Uhn4Y9cH/membership-prices-2020)

Just saying. Do-ocracy is a hard process to implement. I'd make a guess that 90% of our community are a bunch of lovely hippies who like to dance and have fun and participate IRL more than cruise Talk, Dreams or Realities and we can probably hope for better outcome from year 3 - or something. Not now.

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walto Sat 25 Jan 2020 10:44AM

I would disagree with your comments regarding realities. The tool proved very valuable last year for kiez burn. And from the survey it is clear a lot of people know it, a lot that is given how not super user-friendly realities is at the moment. Don't underestimate the kiez burn community, who is also more engaged than the borderland community (see dreams participation rates).

I would agree realities can be improved. There is a Kiez burn hackathon this weekend and there are things moving on the realities front. This will not go fast however.

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