Loomio/en
Discussions are held[1] on how to invite people usin Facebook to join Loomio. Itś a start.
One of the current discussions[2] is about the use of Loomio.
Loomio?
If you want to know more about Loomio, there's a wikipedia entry, a YouTube presentation video, or jump into the deep end and join our Permanent Assembly.
How?
Loomio's online tools[3]
- Start a group to collaborate with people on Loomio.
- Invite people to join your group.
- Start a discussion on a topic.
- Create a proposal to see how each member feels about it.
- Decide together - everyone can accept, abstain, refuse of block. This allows you to gather opinions.
Work in progress
The best use of a tool, online or offline, is drawn from individual and collective experience.
Besides the Permanent Assembly there are other works in progress on Loomio to discover, complete and improve the use of Loomio.
- Crew of Liège
- Crew BW who have a subgroup dedicated to the use of Loomio.
Holacracy with Loomio
Copied and translated from Taking Holacracy Governance to the Next Level[4]
Getting the process started
- In holacracy
- Regularly organizing governance meetings.
- On Loomio
- Create and use a governance subgroup.
If the group follows the Constitution of Holacracy, a mediator (facilitator) has to be appointed. The group could decide to perform that role collectively or let the proposer take up that role. This protocol can be indicated in the group description on Loomio.
Naming the tensions
je ne suis pas certain que «tension» soit une bonne traduction?
- In holacracy
- A host describes a tension (problem, improvement, systemic change). The person who makes the proposal can ask for a discussion in order to reach a proposal.
- On Loomio
- Starting a new discussion thread in a suitable group. Choosing a title, describe the context of the tension.
Clarifying the questions
- In holacracy
- Anybody can ask questions so to help a better understanding of a proposal. The person who makes the proposal can answer or indicate that she does not have an answer.
It's not allowed to abuse the clarifying questions for giving a personal opinion. The opinions, suggestions, reactions must be reserved for the #Reactions round. The mediator (facilitator) will remove any question that holds an opinion or that doesn't help to reach a better understanding of the proposal.
- On Loomio
- The members of the group receive a notification (by email) about the new discussionand can send in their questions as well as their comments. The person who makes the proposal can reply (using the reply button).
Proposal
- In holacracy
- The person who proposes submits a proposal to take away the tensions he or she encounters.
- On Loomio
- The person who proposes starts a proposal. This can be done immediately after creating a new discussion (with a title and a context), or this can be done later so to leave time for questions and answers. The person who submits a proposal chooses the delay before closing (the default is 3 days).
Reactions
- In holacracy
- On at a time each person reacts to a proposal as he or she sees fit. No response or interruption is allowed while a reaction is ongoing. All kinds of reaction are welcome, ranging from intellectual critiques to emotional outbursts. The only recommendation is that reactions cannot focus on one person in particular. Everybody has the right to react except for the person who submits the proposal.
- The reactionsare the ideal moment in the governance meeting for a person to express himself or herself freely. It's a perfect phase to furnish different perspectives and to suggest improvements to the proposal so that the person who makes the proposal can integrate these changes, if he or she wishes to do so.
- On Loomio
- A proposal automatically invites each member to express their position (accept, abstain, refuse, block), together with a short declaration (250 characters) about their reaction. This stage incorporates the objection round in holacracy. The person who starts up a proposal assigns a closing date, and the system notifies the members when that date approaches.
- The participants on Loomio can alter their position in the thread of questions / answers. The system registers the history of all changes and saves the actual state of responses.
Modify and clarify
- In holacracy
- After all reactions are finished, the person who proposes can optionally clarify his proposal, or can make changes based on the reactions received. He/she alone can do this, no discussion is allowed.
- Although the person who proposes can modify the proposal how he/she wishes, the goal is to find the best way to relieve the tension. It's not up to him/her to resolve all the concerns and the reactions received during the reaction round. He/she is not forced to include all improvements suggested by other participants.
- On Loomio
- Loomio summarizes all positions visually, with a list of condensed declarations following the reactions (votes) and a list of asked questions and their answers. The person who proposes has the option to take these under consideration.
- The person who proposes posts a Declaration of Result which is automatically send to all participants. This declaration indicates whether a proposal is accepted and the decision that follows, or that is hasn't been accepted and the discussion is abandoned, or that a new proposal shall be submitted.
Objection Round
- In holacracy
- One at a time, the mediator (facilitator) asks each participant if he/she has an Objection, in short, if they see «a reason why this proposal is wrong or would move the Circle back». The person who proposes also has an opportunity to raise an objection. If there is no objection, the proposal is adopted.
- If there is an objection, the mediator (facilitator) moves the discussion to a Step of integration which gives the opportunity to discuss the objection, to understand it fully and to extract its validity.
- On Loomio
- The objection round is built up from the Reactions (in which the participant expresses his/her position), because one of the four possible options is to Block.
The use of the block in Loomio and the objection come from the same tradition of decision-making based on consensus and both have the same goal. If a proposition is blocked, it will not pass.