WE - decisions taken by & across circles

Which decisions:

• Joint Decisions that are clearly belonging and are relevant to your circle

• Shared Decisions that are clearly linked to one (or multiple) circle, where the overlap needs advice from other circles

Who decides: The circle that carries out the decision process, based on consent

Who’s involved: Mainly the people in the deciding circle (incl. facilitator) & anyone who is consulted for advice

There is different kind of decisions you might come across as a circle which we can broadly cluster in 2 categories:

	Inner-Circle Decisions	Cross-circle decisions
Type & advice	Decisions within the circle, following the principles of consent & objection to move ahead If you feel that a decision is strategic and has much impact on your circle as a whole The process should be owned/ facilitated by one of the circle members Advice is critical: who else has relevant information?	Decisions that cross the responsibility of one circle in a way that requires collaboration between circles Follow the principles of advice & consent to move ahead The process should be owned/ facilitated by one of the circles involved, who in the end also decide through consent You might need meetings &/remote communication to align between the circles. Focus calls are great for this Any critical objections of the circles involved need to be addressed
Examples	implementing a new communication process for the circle (people are directly involved in the execution) Creating your strategy for the upcoming months	Collaborating with a new partner for the circle (your circle & partnership support, possibly the board) Changing the dates of your program (the whole initiative circle & the board to align your agendas)

Where decisions are taken:

Meetings are not the only places where decisions might manifest. In general, it is important to harvest decision processes so everyone has the possibility to carefully read through the important information, ask relevant questions and raise objections. One way to do so is using Loomio, our decision-making tool. Whereas the tool is mandatory for ALL OF US decisions, circles can freely choose to use it in their processes as well.

What you should ask yourself:

• Do we need the whole circle involved?

• Is the decision as relevant as moving it into this stage of decision making? Do I need the opinion of all people involved? Why?

• Is it a closed, strategic question (Y/N) & who is in charge of a proposal?

• Is this a decision that can be made by our circle or do we need to include a wider / different circle in the process?