Consensual Do-ocracy - short definition
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
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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)
walto Fri 24 Jan 2020 5:44PM
When realities.kiezburn.org is up and running, I will add a need regarding "guiding how-we-work-together", with sub-responsibilities. What I currently see:
- provide template for online discussins
- provide template for meetings (agenda + presentation)
Feel free to add further suggestions.
how we did meeting presentations in the past: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PMtmRiVb15VVpfAcTqzZ6kmW7Dv_Sk-xkiDOlFagfe0/edit#slide=id.g50bb0377f1_0_266
Alina, also known as Universe Mon 27 Jan 2020 6:38PM
thank you @waldo I would consider this. I need to think about it first (working on boundaries right now - preferring not to take on solo lead roles ;) )
walto Mon 27 Jan 2020 6:19PM
@Alina, also known as Milda! I added your suggestion regarding running do-ocracy workshops in Realities. Do you want to be the realizer for this? (does not mean you need to give the workshops, but does mean you would organize everything): https://realities.kiezburn.org/d606256a-0395-4d72-8de5-c5a7c9de8a67/b964f16b-0ae9-44ca-990b-d3f3b2776ea4
Alina, also known as Universe Sat 25 Jan 2020 4:01PM
thank you! I am not committing to anything yet as I can't have my lead fingers in too many pies (boundaries) but keeping my eyes on the thing/looking for ways to facilitate this process.
Point 3 elaborated
KB e.V. dedicates an internal session (or limited to 10 participants max) to strategise implementation of radical do-ocracy into the community
KB e.V. draws up a 3-year vision for what Do-ocracy means for us in year 2020, 2021, 2022. Crisp, short, readable for virgins/generation Insta burners.
KB e.V. assists (to a degree of possible) in facilitation of do-ocracy workshops for the community and one member of the Board commits to be present at each of the workshops in order to feedback hippie response back to Board
We <3 KB e.V.
walto Sat 25 Jan 2020 10:45AM
Sounds good. Happy to have you pull this as well! Could you elaborate on point #3?
Alina, also known as Universe Sat 25 Jan 2020 9:09AM
This is more clear guidance and less corporate vagueness - thank you ;) Hippie language also welcome as long as it's not confusing the serious matters :slight_smile:
I am the lucky participant of the Leadership programme and plan to use my new knowledge to lead our small community to do-ocracy glory via communications.
IDEAs for now:
1. Create a short and digestible "guide to do-ocracy" and send via email, FB, any channels we got - many times and starting NOW
2. Run a number of mini-workshops on the topic = face to face, analog communications. Use Burner Embassy for that. Record one session and make it available online for those who cannot be there.
3. We/I need a commitment and a clear direction from KIezBurn E.V. A vision cannot be cooked by a 1000 hippies on Talk. A clear direction, then we get community comments and make a decision via AP (for example), then we go go go.
4. Tools, we need tools! @cjyetman mentioned templates - that is a good example of what I was referring to in my first post.
5. Hope for the best and remember that it is all a big experiment (note to self)
<3
walto Fri 24 Jan 2020 7:01PM
Not enough hippie language? ;) Last year the board was super busy with founding the legal status of Verein + coordinating the successful event. This year, we plan to be more free, so will have time. This already shows in several initiatives, including the workshop on Sunday last week (of which you see the output here), the leadership training weekend, and hopefully much more.
How you can help:
- write here with ideas (like CJ did above)
- just do something that helps to spread the word
- make a proposal to further spread the word
Once I set up the Need & responsibilities in Realities, I would be happy for you to also volunteer for these more defined areas of guiding how-we-work-together.
What do you think?
Alina, also known as Universe Fri 24 Jan 2020 6:01PM
This sounds a bit corporatey-speakey to me ;) But yeah, I'm happy to support the board with ideas. What is the best way to do that?
walto Fri 24 Jan 2020 5:39PM
We welcome any suggestions to do better. It is an important topic the board wants to support the community on.
Alina, also known as Universe · Sat 25 Jan 2020 9:11AM
I love your ethos but the reality of Realities is that it is a complex tool that is barely used even by a 100 out of the 3000+ hippies of Borderland. We need something that speaks to all and in a digestible way. Do we have illustrators/designers/process designers in da house?