Loomio
Fri 26 Apr 2019 4:11PM

We propose to change the CoTech Constitution to form a general decision-making” circle that meets virtually on a synchronous basis once per month.

AH Aaron Hirtenstein Public Seen by 95

During the last two days, a group of people from CoTech member coops have been looking at practical steps to improve CoTech's governance and structure. The full proposal is here: https://wiki.coops.tech/wiki/Sheffield_2019/_Cotech_governance.
This was presented to attendees of the gathering and received a widely positive response.

It is not a silver bullet, but hopefully a step in the right direction to allow the network to make decisions more effectively with a view to focusing more on collaboration, skill sharing and

We have deliberately left out details on how decisions will be made to focus solely on where/when decisions are made.

G

Graham Thu 2 May 2019 11:25AM

Thanks Doug. I understand the intention. I'm simply seeking to achive clarity about how it will operate in practice.

JC

Jonathan Cook Wed 8 May 2019 12:55PM

I hope this is decided; I agree it's a good move in terms of how decisions are made. There is one caveat I would add, echoing Aaron's point "I don't think major decisions will be raised and decided on in the same meeting, but more likely proposed one month and then taken to members before a decision the following month" - this is a small but important feature that we should build in as a rule, I think, to ensure that discussion (and democracy) can always reach the 'grassroots'. Otherwise the danger is that (however well-intentioned) the Decision Making Circle might act without reference to the wider membership. ('Group Think' is a real phenomenon, even among the nicest people, as in this case :) )

CLF

Chris Lowis (Go Free Range) Sat 11 May 2019 8:12PM

This sounds great to me - I really enjoyed being part of the discussion on the first day, and am excited to see this proposal come out of it. One of the things we discussed was having a "facilitator" and "secretary" role in the circle - the latter would be responsible for circulating the agenda and making sure that people had enough time to contribute to it.

Perhaps a circle meeting could be held in person at a gathering where appropriate, so any interested folks could observe and see how things are working?

JMF

James Mead (Go Free Range) Sun 12 May 2019 10:11AM

I fully support this proposal. Many thanks to @aaronhirtenstein and everyone at the Sheffield gathering for putting it together.

In the comments there's been a suggestion that proposals should be made in one month and only voted on the following month. Do we need as much as a month notice for proposals? Could we not use the same one-week notice we currently use for decisions on Loomio as described in the constitution by publishing the agenda a week before each meeting?

CCC

Chris Croome (Webarchitects Co-operative) Thu 23 May 2019 6:59AM

The first proposed call is on Wednesday at 4pm, see https://wiki.coops.tech/wiki/Sheffield_2019/_Cotech_governance#When

Where are we creating an agenda for the calls, on the wiki?

I'd like to add the suggestion of running the next Workers Co-op Weekend as a joint Co-ops UK / CoTech event to the agenda https://community.coops.tech/t/co-operatives-uk-workers-co-op-weekend-may-10th-12th-2019/1227/11

AC

Autonomic Co-operative Sun 26 May 2019 12:25PM

Should we push it back on month for the first call? I doubt we will be able to let all the co-ops know the call is taking place before the 29th May. It would be good to have high turnout for the first meeting.

CCC

Chris Croome (Webarchitects Co-operative) Mon 27 May 2019 8:29PM

I think we should proceed with the proposal that was agreed in Sheffield:

The circle will meet at 16:00 UK time on the last Wednesday of every month. The first meeting will therefore take place on 29th May 2019.

See also the Discourse thread.

PB

Pete Burden Thu 23 May 2019 3:49PM

Sounds great @chriscroome . I'd be keen to attend - purely as a supporter and observer, as I am not a member of a CoTech coop. But I don't know - maybe there might be objections to that?

CCC

Chris Croome (Webarchitects Co-operative) Mon 27 May 2019 8:31PM

Attend the first one and suggest adding "Are we happy with non-voting observers on these calls?" to the agenda of the call? I doubt that anyone would object.

AH

Poll Created Thu 23 May 2019 3:56PM

We propose to change the CoTech Constitution to form a general decision-making” circle that meets virtually on a synchronous basis once per month Closed Thu 30 May 2019 3:01PM

see the thread for the details of the proposal!

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 100.0% 17 SWS AH G CCC KB FT O RB JMF LS CLF AC LMH ALP AC P NGW
Abstain 0.0% 0  
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 101 JD JA DU ER MSC MP HR SG AM RW M M KB MK PB JT AW CL JC SF

17 of 118 people have participated (14%)

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