Abstract of the article
The Wisdom Council is a new-paradigm approach to transforming large organizations toward democratic self-goverance. More democratic and more efficient than pure representative democracy, it is suggested for local governments, unions, high schools, employee-owned corporations, or any large organization committed to the empowerment of its members. Tom Atlee, author of Co-Intelligence: Co-creating a Wisdom Culture, Starting Now termed it as being possibly the most important of three recent large-system innovations: Open Space, Future Search and the Wisdom Council.
The Wisdom Council Defined
The Wisdom Council is a new, low cost, low risk intervention for establishing democratic governance and the spirit of community in large organizations. It adds a symbolic change to the existing structure which facilitates individual awareness, empowerment and consensus decision-making.
A lottery is held in the organization and eight to twenty-four people are selected. They gather to meet for a week or less. They are facilitated to build consensus statements on issues of their choice. At the end of their meeting period, they present their findings to the whole organization and disband. Then, everyone has an opportunity to engage in small group dialogues to consider their statements. The next year, or six months later, a new lottery is held and a new group assembled.
The small group, the Wisdom Council is an add-on to the existing structure. Because it has no official power in the organization and no direct means to generate action, it is risk free. However, because the Wisdom Council speaks for and to the people of the organization, it can facilitate immense, positive change.
Here are some possible situations where the Wisdom Council might be profitably used:
At this point, the Wisdom Council is only an idea. It's never been tried, although the components have been tested many times. In one example, twelve high school students were randomly selected to meet for three two hour sessions. They reached consensus on six points and presented their statements to administrators and the city mayor. The results were published in a community newspaper. (See the handout)
Three systems of organizing
There are three basic ways for bringing order to a large number of people:
where an authority structure determines the important decisions
where an agreement is reached and it is the ultimate authority
where the really important decisions are made through an ongoing conversation
The community in which my friend lives illustrates an example of how a trust-based system works. There, everyone gathers on Sunday nights to eat dinner together, to talk about issues and to make consensus decisions. All important decisions are made in these meetings.
This community illustrates what is required for a trust-based system to work Š regular meetings in which:
Making large systems more democratic
Small communities like my friend's, often organize themselves to be this kind of trust-based system. For large organizations and societies, however, this type of organization is seen to be impossible. Without a way for many people to gather each week in one room, hold creative conversation and reach consensus, it seems impossible to attain.
There are many ways for such organizations to become more democratic:
A leader with a participative style can make a great difference in the culture of an organization. But in hard times, or when the leader changes, or when the leader changes, this participative style can be quickly abandoned.
The culture of an organization can be changed by encouraging members to participate in small group dialogues. These groups can be linked into a network with wide-ranging impact. A Quality Circles program or civic groupsare examples.
Using facilitators in meetings, training people in collaboration and holding to specific problem-solving methods are some ways organizations seek democratic decision-making.
Future search conferences, search conferences, open space conferences, deliberative democracy polls, and management retreats can bring together a hundred or more people in one room. These can generate a positive spirit of collaboration that extends to the entire organization.
The internet, groupware, television, and other innovations can be combined so that a very large number of people can participate simultaneously in one conversation. These new methods offer the promise of involving everyone.
These methods can make a large organization more trust-based, but they cannot accomplish the switch to a system that is trust-based. The Wisdom Council can. More complex than it may seem at first, there are twelve aspects to how it works.
The people in the system, whether it is a student body, city or company, should approve using the Wisdom Council process. The small group which is randomly selected in the lottery should be anointed by everyone to symbolize all the people.
Each year, or every six months, every person in the organization is given a number. Eight to twenty four numbers are randomly drawn in a public lottery. Those selected are assembled into a microcosm of the whole organization. A microcosm, unlike a representative body, allows each person to speak for him or her self, unconcerned about constituencies.
Symbolizing everyone in the organization, the Wisdom Council has great power of leadership. They determine the topics of conversation. They direct attention to problems, speak with one voice to other organizations, recommend specific actions, and spark individual initiative.
The quality of conversation in the Wisdom Council is crucial to its effectiveness. The facilitator ensures meetings where people can speak from the heart, feel safe and achieve creative breakthroughs. I call this a "choice-creating" conversation. (see Choice Creating Overview)
The Wisdom Council presents statements that have no official power. This turns the Wisdom Council into a facilitator for the whole organization. Each succeeding Wisdom Council will help evolve a consensus among the whole population, so individuals can freely choose to act together.
Each person on the Wisdom Council must endorse its conclusions. Unlike voting, all must work together toward win/win decisions.
The Wisdom Council generates statements that are presented and prominently displayed. These statements symbolize the meaningful topics discussed in the meetings. Even after the meetings end, they can spark strong feelings of shared commitment.
First, the lottery selects and anoints this group to be "the people." Then, there is a ceremonial presentation of statements to the organization or society.
Once the group is selected, it is isolated. But through video or news reports, everyone vicariously participates in the conversations. People will feel a sense of identity with particular group members and the Council as a whole.
After the Wisdom Council makes its final presentation, each person in the organization is invited to participate in small group dialogues. These conversations can be linked via the internet to informally "ratify" Council statements.
The Wisdom Council is not a one time event. It is an ongoing process for creating a conversation among everyone in the organization. Regularly held Wisdom Councils ensure that this conversation continues. The ongoing series of statements that come from the Councils help evolve and articulate consensus viewpoints.
Instituting a Wisdom Council does not change the currently existing structure. The Council only meets for a couple of day, makes non coercive statements and then disbands. But, it provides a way for the people of an organization to become truly democratic.
The potential for change in the Wisdom Council is often difficult for people to appreciate because the model of change is transformational. Usually, we seek change through extrinsic controls like rules, incentives, or coercion. From this perspective, it seems like the Wisdom Council is powerless. But from the perspective of transformational change, the Wisdom Council is extremely powerful. It sparks a bottom-up change rather than the usual top-down process.
David Bohm, Nobel Prizewinning quantum physicist, says that dialogue is transforming. He suggests, "that there is the possibility for a transformation of the nature of consciousness, both individually and collectively, and that whether this can be solved culturally and socially depends on dialogue." (On Dialogue p. 46)
The Wisdom Council builds on this power of dialogue with a strong linkage from the small group to the large. It draws on the power of symbols, organizational self-reflection and leadership in a way that includes and involves everyone.
The Wisdom Council is not
The Wisdom Council seems similar to, but is fundamentally different than others like:
Advisory boards are usually appointed by some authority to talk about issues defined by that authority. They meet over a long period of time and vote to make decisions. The Wisdom Council, on the other hand is, at least symbolically, the ultimate authority.
A jury is randomly selected but has predefined constraints placed on it. The jury cannot determine which issues it addresses, nor can the people on it be creative and invent new solutions. They are provided with the topics and range of decisions.
A focus group is randomly selected but they do not choose the issue or reach consensus. The purpose of a focus group is to provide input to some ultimate decision-maker.
Here, a random sample is used to identify the views of an entire population on a particular topic. A statistically significant number of people is selected, depending on how accurate the inferences need to be. Those who create the poll and interpret its results decide on the topics and there is no interaction among the individuals selected to participate.
Many of our large systems need to become trust-based. Authority-based and contract-based management systems cannot adequately address the new complexities faced by organizations. Instead, we need to cultivate systems wherein each person acts responsibly, not only in pursuit of his/her own interests, but toward the best interests of all. The Wisdom Council offers a new way to address this need.
The Wisdom Council offers essential ingredients that other group processes lack. It establishes a vital conversation among everyone. It ensures that the conversation is respectful of differences and creative in spirit. It also provides for a wise and responsible consensus to be built and articulated. With it, the people of any organization can build a spirit of community and create true value for their society.
For more information see www.tobe.net/democracy/wisd om.html
The Presenter
Jim Rough is president of Jim Rough and Associates, Inc. in Port Townsend, WA. He has developed a unique, dynamic approach to facilitating meetings that generates transformational, choice-creating conversations. Since 1990 he has presented this unique approach in four-day public seminars on Dynamic Facilitation Skills. He is also a frequent speaker and since 1978 has been a faculty member of annual Creative Problem Solving Institutes in Buffalo, N.Y. Rough has published articles on empowerment, facilitation, and systems thinking. Currently, he is writing a book, Society's Breakthrough: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All Our People, which describes a simple risk-free way to elevate the spirit of community and democracy in the nation.
Jim presented a session on "The Wisdom Council: A New Approach to Community-Building in Large Organizations" at the Denver IAF conference in 1995. The topic was new at the time and has evolved considerably as his book is nearing publication.