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Any further questions? Reach out to the team development team!
Decisions that are reversible and have little consequences
Decisions that are clearly linked to one (or multiple) roles you hold as an individual
Who decides: The one who carries out the decision process, based on consent
Who’s involved: Mainly the decider & anyone who is consulted for advice
There is different kind of decisions you are invited to take as an individual which we can broadly cluster in 2 categories:
What you should ask yourself:
Is it safe enough to try & move on?
Are there any critical consequences that might come out of this process?
Who else might have relevant information for me?
Are there any objections I haven’t acknowledged?
Basics & Processes to help us navigate through the jungle of decision making
Decisions enable the way our self-organized circles work and evolve over time. In most cases, decisions are complex and there is no easy, standardized process to go about them. Over the past years, we developed some principles, process elements and tools to support the journey towards more empowered & helpful decisions.
Get started: Make sure to get familiar with our principles, the basic process and some ground vocabulary for how we make decisions:
Get granular: Not every decision in the same in oikos. Some you can take on your own, others happen in circles or even with the whole oI team. The more people involved, the more energy you need in the process - like when going up a staircase! We therefore call the different kinds of decisions 'decision making stairs'. Here's your guide to understanding the differences & how to go about them!
Get advanced: We use Loomio as a tool to facilitate our decisions asynchronously. Learn more about how we use the digital tool here:
Joint Decisions that are relevant to the whole oI team, that have an impact on the organization as a whole
Decisions with strategic weight, where we need the wisdom of the whole
Who decides: The whole team, based on consent, carried out by clearly appointed individuals or everyone, facilitated through the use of Loomio
Who’s involved: The whole oI team (incl. facilitator) & anyone who is consulted for advice. Advice is needed from all parties directly affected & persons with expertise in the field
The 4-fold practice, re-loaded
Self-organized decision-making in oikos is complex. The 4 Decision-Making Stairs give a simplified overview of the different possible decisions making practices we follow
How to choose a practice?
We encourage individuals to make as many decisions on their own and in their circles as possible (1 &2). These decisions are fast and create momentum. We consider the reversibility and consequence of a decision before moving to another decision-making practice. The more people impacted, the higher we move in the decision-making stairs and the more advice we ask for. The highest possible stair represents decisions where the wider oikos community is involved. What you will experience is that you will use less energy in decision processes if you follow the stairs, both of your own and in the team.
In general, you can always ask for advice and also delegate a decision if you believe the decision falls under the authority of another role or circle.
If you are not sure what kind of decision process you’re about to enter, think about:
the questions that guide the decision
the scope of impact (long-term/short-term; few/many people involved),..
or ask your colleagues for advice which process would suit best :)
There is one exceptional case, legislative assembly decisions (see step 4 ALL OF OIKOS)
On leadership in taking decisions
Decisions require leadership from the decider in moments of drafting a proposal, including others in the process and/or handling objections. The decider must not have all the answers and it’s OK to say “I don’t know”. It is much more about inviting different perspectives and being open for critical objections. In the best case, the decider creates an environment in which all ideas find a space and collaborative decision-making can happen.
It also takes leadership in choosing the right decision-making process for an open question. The decider balances reversibility and consequences, and considers/asks for advice from relevant roles and circles. Choosing between group consent process, advice or community advice process is a trade-off between efficiency and group buy-in. Deciders choose the most suitable method based on the context, people impacted by the consequences of decisions, and urgency.
Principles, core process & vocabulary
For every decision taken within oikos International, these three decision-making principles should always be considered:
Take ownership and responsibility: People who hold the most information, feel the urgency or have to implement the consequences take the decision.
We are all in this together: The decision-maker is responsible for seeking advice. Everyone who is impacted by a decision is always welcome to offer advice.
Be brave and learn: Decision-making is encouraged at all times. Moving ahead and learning from a failed outcome of a decision is more valuable than circling conversations and indecisiveness.
In general, decisions in oikos follow a 3-step process:
Identifying the need for a decision
Preparing for a decision by forming a proposal & integrating advice & objections
Taking a decision based on consent
This process is slightly adapted or less or more formal, depending on the kind of decision (see stairs). When you are taking a decision in one of the stairs (Me, We, All of Us) you always follow this practice in a certain way.
Here’s a common language to talk about the way we take decisions. It will help us to create a shared understanding. This section introduces some fundamental vocabulary and ideas.
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:
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?
Decisions on..
Topics with an impact on the whole community oikos’ shape & future directions, with long-term impact on the future of the organization
Governance-related topics (need for community involvement acc. to constitution, Legislative Assembly decisions)
Who decides: The whole oikos community, based on consent, carried out by clearly appointed individuals or everyone. Sometimes, the decision requires a legislative meeting & official vote
Who’s involved: A decision facilitator (team) from oikos International & anyone who is consulted for advice. Advice is needed from all parties directly affected & persons with expertise in the field
1. Identifying the need for a decision (see process in Basics for decision making)
2. Preparing for a decision (see process in Basics for decision making)
3. Community Involvement: In a clear post outlining the critical issue & the proposal (eg. via email & oikosmos), the community is asked to give their feedback. It is important to stress the early stage of the involvement, give a deadline for the feedback and relate it to the specific context. At the same time, an invitation to be part of the decision in either a focus call or the legislative meeting is sent out. The post should be sent min. 5 days before a meeting is scheduled.
3. Taking a Decision
a) through consent in a focus call (see process in Basics for decision making) OR b) Vote- Legislative Meeting Decisions: According to the constitution, some decisions need a vote of the legislative meeting. The legal matters circle regulates the process of these meetings. It is also helpful to adopt several steps from the consent-based process for these matters.
Meet our decision making tool
Loomio is a remote, agile decision making tool that helps us to take wiser decisions without spending all our meeting times in discussions. It helps to increase transparency and inclusion, decrease meetings and emails, and make better decisions together. We use the tool mainly for (step 3), and the team is free to adapt the tool for their own individual purposes. Let’s explore & play! For more information, check out their 3min .
Key advantages of Loomio for oikos International
Consistency & central space: We want to establish a clear, standardized decision-making process to move things forward faster. Loomio offers a space for this.
Documentation (& Transparency): Loomio is a tool for documenting decisions and topics for discussion. It will give us more structure and everyone can always come back to it to double-check certain aspects. If a group member can’t attend a meeting, s/he will still be able to look at all the necessary information for a decision.
Speed: No need to wait for the next meeting to introduce a proposal!
Accountability: Everyone has the possibility to look into relevant decisions for them. S/he is accountable to make use of this space provided to voice opinions/objections.
Terms you should know using Loomio
Sense Check (function of Loomio): a function we use in threads for getting advice and first opinions in the decision making process.
Proposal (function of Loomio): a function we use in threads for taking decisions in consent & checking for critical objections. You might create several proposals to reach the final proposal you will agree upon
Step 1: Put your decision up in a thread!
Create a new thread & describe the context. Make sure to add tags to specify what kind of decision this is and at what stage the decision is. You have the option to attach links or documents to further clarify the topic & describe the context. Make sure to create threads within the 'oikos International team'. Click start thread to publish! This is not yet your proposal!
Step 2: Create your sense check or proposal
Important settings for our use of the poll function in Loomio
Choose between sense check or proposal
Options: create the options “Consent, Abstain, Objection”
Closing Date: Choose wisely so your group has enough time to react (keep in mind: most of us work voluntarily with flexible times)
Who can vote? : Choose the people who are supposed to vote. (all of us decisions = oI team)
Step 3: Take your teammates along, gather advice & revise the proposal
Once the thread is started and you have explained the subject matter, it is time for advice and hearing their perspective! Everyone who is supposed to contribute will be notified by Loomio via email. However, it is suggested to inform them separately in your next meeting and on discord.
Your group members will be able to leave comments & objections, ask questions, show agreement and more, in order to move the proposal forward.
It is your responsibility to rework the proposal on the basis of the advice you receive and also inform your group (via Loomio in the threat) what changes have been done. That means there ight be multiple proposals in one thread to find a final decision.
The proposal function of Loomio doesn’t necessarily have to be used to finish the Advice Process. It’s enough to refine the proposal and come up with the final one based on the advice without a voting process in the end.
Step 4: Share the outcome of the proposal
After the deadline is over, Loomio will ask you to share the outcome of the proposal with the team. Please do this as soon as possible after the proposal is closed & you came to consent.
Step 4: Close the Thread (not always applicable)
Thread: (Discussion) threads are where you go to discuss topics and make decisions. The thread context has special status within a thread. It’s always at the top, and it’s always visible on the page. It’s typically used to frame the discussion or decision and provide necessary context. To get some inspiration, check out Loomio’s “”.
Find the ‘start poll’ function & add an initial sense check or a proposal here. It is important to make clear whether you ask for advice & questions (early stage, we recommend using the sense check) or consent (later stage, actual decision making, proposal function), as this determines the answers you can expect. Check the definition of a proposal . Learn more here:.
It might be possible that the advice process on Loomio is enough for you to gather the information you need to rework the proposal. However, you can also have focus meetings with certain advisors or group members to dive deeper into the topic. Sometimes, it can be helpful to have an additional meeting about an upcoming decision, to sharpen a proposal or to take a decision together. (see). → Make sure to summarise the proposal-related discussions in the respective thread in Loomio afterwards.
If your proposal is part of a thread which is not going to be relevant in the future anymore, you can close it after the final decision is taken. This should be done once the due date for your proposal is over, all objections have been resolved, and you have communicated the final decision. Closing a thread is not the same as deleting a thread! If you close a thread, it means archiving it. If you delete it, it will be lost. Please only s, never delete.
Low scale - every day decisions
Role-centered decisions
Type & advice
Decisions that are safe to fail, without a major impact on whole oikos
Decisions that require your individual agency
Move ahead & go for it as an individual! This is what can make our work more efficient
Make sure to communicate your decisions properly in any case!
Decisions that are directly & mainly linked to a certain role, without a wider impact on your circle
Decisions in this field might be delegated to you from other people
Of course you can/should ask for advice, but you are the owner & executor of the decision
Examples
buying a Metro ticket during a strategy meeting or
deciding on the color of the flower we buy for the spring-meeting host
Deciding on the weekdays you want to work
Role in marketing/social media: deciding on the color of a poster or the social media planning for the following weeks
Writing a follow-up email with a partner you’re responsible for. You’re the expert & as the matter does not have critical consequences on the long term, you can decide on your own
Decisions taken by the whole oI team
Type & advice
Decisions made by the whole team following the principles of consent & advice
The process should be owned/ facilitated by one or a small group of team members. These owners make sure that the decisions are implemented once they are made
Preparing the decision with a proposal & a diligent amount of advice is helpful: who else has relevant information that should be consulted before a decision should be made? These are decisions that need a high amount of preparation and input as they impact a critical amount of people.
For larger decisions, advice can come through various channels, including one-on-one conversations, meetings, or online communication and loomio.
Use of Loomio: We use Loomio for ‘All of Us’-Decisions, as it allows us to step into clarity about the current stage of the decision. The advice process can be facilitated by Loomio, as well. A summary of all advice, and the final outcome of the decision should be added on loomio for reasons of documentation and transparency.
Examples
a new meeting structure for the international team’s monthly meetings
the development of a new program that changes how our initiatives wil work together
The general outline of the upcoming year
1.Identifying the need for a decision
Someone notices a problem/opportunity that requires a decision. S/he might be the right one to move the decision ahead or find other people to facilitate the process. This is about clarifying ownership of who is taking the decision and who is facilitating the process. Only this group needs to be involved in the following steps, besides further parties consulted for advice.
2. Preparing for a decision
..by forming a proposal & integrating advice & objections: The people preparing the decision deepen their understanding of the situation & form an initial, concrete and easy-to-understand proposal for all involved. With this initial clarity, they seek input through advice (e.g. in a meeting) & revise the proposal after hearing critical objections. Proposals should be revised until there is no critical objection left. The decision facilitators can use Loomio in this stage to receive advice, keep everyone informed & document the process.
3.Taking a Decision through consent
The final proposal is presented for a decision in consent, either in a meeting or asynchronous communication (on loomio, for example). oI Team members who don’t participate in the call/communication automatically abstain from the decision. A meeting that is called for taking a particular decision is a focus call.
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)
