Rhizome Blog
Here you’ll find stories of successful organising, training and facilitation, what’s new in these areas already helping us build the world we want, news of Rhizome’s activities, and news of upcoming events. Have a browse or use the search for interesting topics we’ve written on. Please do feel free to comment and leave your own reflections – we feel that we’re on this learning journey, together.
Revolution – a full time occupation
I’m drowning in unread blog posts. My feed reader’s groaning under the weight. Nothing new there. That makes reading posts a bit like a lucky dip. When I get a moment I randomly pick something, and what do you know, tonight it’s a real gem. Over at the Interaction Institute there are musings on revolution […]
A brief history of consensus decision-making: Part 2
We covered a fair bit of ground in the first part of our tour of consensus past and present, but it was never going to be a complete survey of all movements and peoples who use consensus or consensus-like decision-making. So here’s a second installment. In it we look at The Aymara people of Bolivia […]
Mind the gap
Dwight Towers sent me a link (as he often does) to Jeff Monday’s short video on information gaps – the difference between what we know now and something new to our experience and how we engage with the new (or don’t, as is often the case). In it Jeff Monday introduces Lowenstein’s Information Gap Theory. […]
Riots, revolution, reflection
I opted out of blogging about the recent riots on the streets of Britain. Who needs another mouthy blogger chucking around half-formed and ill-informed opinion about what goes on in the minds of disenfranchised youth? But via the Transition Newsletter I came to Laura Penny’s Penny Red blog and her post Panic on the streets […]
Plan to win
Welcome on board to Plan to Win, a new organisation supporting social action and learning in Melbourne, Australia. The folk at Plan to Win say: Plan to Win assists individuals, groups and campaigns to develop the skills and clarity required to win change in the world. The challenges we face on our planet today […]
Job opportunity at Seeds for Change
You’ll have seen fairly regular references to Seeds for Change over the months on this blog. There’s a fair bit of collaboration between Seeds and Rhizome one way or t’other. Now Seeds are looking for a new member for their workers’ co-op in Lancaster. Here’s what they have to say: Are you an activist and […]
Can everyone facilitate?
I was copied into an email discussion earlier this week with an underlying question of whether it’s possible to say that everyone can facilitate. Clearly there are people for whom facilitation is a greater challenge, whether because of confidence, experience, or communication style. What sprung to mind for me was shared facilitation. Not having a […]
Reporting back from UK Feminista
I co-facilitated a short taster in nonviolent direct action (NVDA) at the UK Feminista Summer School, alongside Gill. It’s the first time we’d worked together. Bit of a baptism of fire, given that we had over 50 people and not enough time (just 75 minutes), but that’s the way with conference sessions. We walked down […]
Dismantling the meeting, bit by bit
There are aspects of meetings I’ve always just accepted. There are other aspects I’ve always been uneasy about, but gone along with. Hmmm, probably not the kind of thing one should admit to on the internet. Over the last year or so I’ve had the opportunity and the catalysts to challenge that acceptance and ‘going […]
Sticking your hand up to oppression
Hand signals have become part of every meeting in some activist circles. Even when there’s no formal agreement to use them you’ll find a percentage of folk doing so anyway. There are very good reasons to use hand signals (which I’ll recap at the end), but there are also very real dangers. I’m minded of […]
Consensus oriented decision-making: the rigour's in the detail
I’ve been reflecting on our recent blog interview with Tim Hartnett originator of Consensus oriented decision-making (CODM). We focused quite a lot on the rigour that the 7 steps of CODM bring to the decision-making process. In his book Tim’s defined the steps in detail, the detail does seem to provide facilitators and groups with […]
Call out for facilitators…
This just in from our friends at the Radical Rebellious Media Conference: This is an urgent call-out for help with facilitation at the Rebellious Media Conference in London on 8-9 October. This is a 900+ person event, aimed at raising media as an issue across the spectrum of UK activism (not just the peace movement!). […]
Near-consensus alternatives: Consensus Oriented Decision-Making
Here’s the second in a series of posts on near-consensus alternatives. In this post we’re talking to Tim Hartnett, facilitator, mediator and counsellor about Consensus Oriented Decision-Making (CODM, pronounced co-dem). Tim has developed CODM and has outlined the method in his recent book Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making: The CODM Model for Facilitating Groups to Widespread Agreement. Tell […]
Reporting back from Peace News
Just back from a couple of days at the Peace News Summer Gathering. On Sunday I ran a couple of workshops – the first on public speaking and the second an introduction to nonviolent direct action. I’m happy that they were well received, though as always there are lessons to learn. One of those lessons […]
A space to learn about Open Space
Here’s a shameless plug for an event I’m facilitating in Birmingham on September 1st on Facilitating Open Space as part of the Environmental Training Network’s wider programme. The last couple of years seem to have seen a real growth in interest in Open Space Technology in the campaigning NGO community, and we’re receiving regular requests […]
Re-energising activists
A week ago, I spent the day in the company of NGO Capacity Building Forum folk, facilitating a day of Open Space and skill sharing. The theme for the day was Re-energising and Re-motivating Activists, and it drew a crowd from 14 or so NGOs that work with grassroots networks of activists – individuals or groups. There was […]
Justice through food…. Youth training
Six-day training on food justice, campaigning and using stories to create change Beautiful setting – old organic farm August 4th -10th Priority given to those not in full-time work and education.
Catching up…..
Seems like a while since I got round to reflecting on the work we’ve been doing on the blog, so here’s a quick catch up. Common Ground Since its inception Climate Camp has been an amazing experiment in working by consensus, a kind of petri dish or hothouse. It’s tried to create a process capable […]
The Spuds Don't Work
Stop GM are inviting all and sundry to The Spuds Don’t Work rally, The Forum, Norwich, 12 noon, Saturday 23rd July 2011 British trials of genetically modified blight resistant spuds have been failing for the last ten years. But a conventionally bred variety of blight resistant potatoes has been available for 3 years. So why […]
Nonviolence for a Change
From September 2011 to June 2012 Turning the Tide in collaboration with Huddersfield Quakers and other local peace and social justice groups are hosting a series of workshop called ‘Nonviolence for a Change.’ This is a training programme for people with some experience of working with others to address injustices and make changes. Dates and […]
Sharing consensus with co-ops
As our contribution to Co-operatives Fortnight, June 25th to July 9th, we thought we’d share our enthusiasm for consensus decision-making. So we’ve written a short briefing on Consensus in Co-operatives Which you can download for free. We’ll also make a print-ready version available from our resources page. The briefing argues the case for consensus being […]
A brief history of consensus decision-making
It’s not surprising that passionate proponents of consensus decision-making might want to root their ideas firmly in history. After all it gives consensus greater authority and legitimacy. However, this is often done as a few short paragraphs or even a few short lines. When asked recently to focus on the history of consensus for a […]
Near-consensus alternatives: Crowd Wise
In our last post on consensus we talked about near-consensus alternatives. Here’s the first in a series of posts that explore near-consensus alternatives. By near-consensus, I simply mean methods that share some of consensus’ analysis if the problems of traditional majoritarian decision-making and are trying to explore ways to deepen dialogue and produce results that […]
Preparing the soil….for revolution
Every good gardener knows that the secret’s not the seed but the soil in which you sow it, right? Take a look at Gabriel Carlyle’s post Revolutionary Homework on the Peace News blog for some sound thinking on growing movement’s for change and lessons to be learnt from Egypt
Taking action for activists
I’m an unashamed fan (and user) of Riseup, the Seattle-based autonomous tech collective. Here’s an item from their latest email bulletin – a nice bit of action to protect activism. We Fought the Law, and We Won (warning: legal stuff specific to the United States) What do right-wing churches, kiss-ins, homophobic lawyers, and Riseup have […]
The Tao of Leadership and Facilitation
The Tao of Leadership and Facilitation with Gary Reiss Process Oriented Group Work Training on Rank, Power and Conflict Facilitation Bowden House, Totnes, South Devon. Friday evening July 15th – Sunday afternoon July 17th 2011 Process Oriented Psychology, founded by Dr. Arnold Mindell, offers powerful tools for making group life flow more smoothly in connection […]
When not to use consensus…
In her book Truth or Dare, Starhawk wrote some oft-quoted and wise words on When not to use consensus. They stand re-quoting, and I’ve had the cheek to add a few thoughts: When there is no group in mind: A group thinking process cannot work effectively unless the group is cohesive enough to generate shared […]
A vision for visioning…
A week ago I spent the day with 16 staff and volunteers from 4 sustainability organisations that all share the same faith background. We came together to vision for a sustainable faith community here in the UK and possibly internationally. Having read and blogged about Donella Meadows paper on visioning in the run up I […]
Dare to dream?
Environmentalists have been especially ineffective in creating any shared vision on the world they are working towards Donella Meadows Ouch! Next week I’m facilitating a visioning day for folk from various Quaker sustainability projects . In dialogue with my contact, Sunniva, at Quaker Peace and Social Witness we decided to frame the day as a […]
Are you sitting uncomfortably? Then I'll begin..
Add these to your bedtime reading ! We’ve always tried to be transparent about our learning here at Rhizome, but Viv McWaters has far outshone us with her fantastic post Tasting an amygdala hijack. A cautionary tale of when the lizard brain asserts its presence. You only need to look at the comments to know […]
Two worlds collide on one small planet (or getting cross over culture)
Here at Rhizome we talk a lot about activism, though we like to think we have quite a broad view of what that actually means . We see it as both the more obviously political ‘campaigning’ work and the building of alternatives, building community. What’s one without the other, right? Not for everyone. This week […]
Doing it by the Facebook
I understand the merits of Facebook as a campaigning tool. By nature I tend to be averse to anything that’s a)mainstream corporate and b)so fashionable, but I’ve taken the time to listen to those that use it and understood what they see in it as an information and organising tool. More to the point I’ve […]
Meaningful meetings and connecting individuals
Here’s a couple of quick links to recent posts with some useful ideas and resources: From Gillian at You Learn Something New Every Day, a compilation of posts on Making Meetings Meaningful. There’s a lot of stuff here I would never have got to without it being pulled together like this. And secondly some nice […]
Consensus decision-making: the moment of truth
There comes a point in the consensus process where you have to test for consensus, that is actively ask the group whether or not there is agreement for the proposal that’s under discussion. The success of that test is dependent on the foundation you’ve collectively built so far. If the group has worked well together […]
Peace News Summer Camp 2011
Let’s let Peace News folk speak for themselves: Bring your contribution to a hothouse of creativity, a small self-governed society run by democratic camp meetings, a viable example of the kind of world we are trying to bring about. The Peace News Summer Camp helps build a radical movement for the future by building a […]
Consensus decision-making: weaving it all together
Opening and holding open a broad and inclusive discussion can be hard: there are usually some people in any group that want to rush to the decision. The irony is that once you’ve successfully opened a discussion it can be hard to stop people talking and draw the discussion together to begin the process of […]
Consensus decision-making: the muddle in the middle
So the group are clear on the topic of the discussion – they’ve checked out assumptions and have an agreed process for moving forward. Now the real work begins. If you remember back to our consensus flowchart the middle stages involve a broad exploratory discussion out of which we try to draw a proposal, a […]
Facilitate local, change global…
The last couple of training sessions I’ve facilitated have both been local. They’ve also been with groups I’ve worked for before: Transition Leicester’s Footpaths project and the local Steiner school interest group. I’ve spent a good number of years running round the country working with a large number of diverse groups. That’s been a fantastic […]
Consensus decision-making: the first step
Step 1: Getting some clarity So you’re facilitating a meeting for a group that uses consensus decision-making. Maybe you’re a member of the group, maybe you’ve been invited as an outside facilitator. How best to start? What problems can you foresee and what can you do to avoid them becoming a reality, or deal with […]
Consensus decision-making: go with the flow
In our previous posts we’ve talked about what consensus is and is not and why groups might choose to use it. But we haven’t (yet) got down to the detail about how it works. So to remedy that this post aims to lay out the flow of an effective consensus decision and highlight key moments […]
Consensus decision-making: Why?
We’ve already talked a little about what consensus is. We used phrases such as: “challenge oppressive behaviour, working for the common good over personal benefit…a pulling together of ideas to build the strongest available decision…a transformational process” All well and good, but let’s look in detail and make it a bit more real: why do […]
To sum it up…
Take a look at You Learn Something New Every Day – Gillian’s post By The Numbers: The Power of Math in Group Processes makes an interesting read, and a timely reminder that we’re not always doing a group a favour if we bow to pressure for more plenary sessions. I’ve also found myself using maths […]
Consensus decision-making: what it is and what it is not
Consensus is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot: the United Nations reaches a consensus…. politicians or journalists speak of consensus emerging around some important issue or other. What they are talking about seems to be a significant majority view. What they’re not talking about is consensus decision-making as we at Rhizome understand it. […]
Setting out your stall – introducing the day's agenda
I spoke to, Richard, my co-facilitator of the recent Reclaim the Fields UK gathering today to debrief the experience. Amongst other things we discussed introducing the day’s agenda to the group. He asked for feedback, feeling it was something he didn’t usually do well. I don’t think he has much to worry about, but it […]
March them up to the top of the hill and then march them down again?
In a few days time there will be a march in London. The TUC have called a March for the Alternative for Saturday 26th. I’m hearing excitement from various quarters and even seen an email speculating it’ll be as big as the million strong 2003 march against the Iraq war. Simultaneously there’s a call to […]
A year in the life… report back from the rhizosphere
Rhizome’s a year old! We did our first work in February 2010, and formally incorporated as a co-op in March that year. At the time we took the decision that rather than write policies detailing our ethics and standards we’d borrow from the principles of open source software and adopt a practice of transparency – […]
The census and your activist sensibilities
The census is creating a difficult tension for activists. Many folk are reluctant to fill it in knowing that the data is being processed by US arms company Lockheed Martin (whose fingers are in all kinds of other undesirable pies such as providing interrogators for Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay, data processing for the […]
We must stop meeting like this….
One theme that emerged out of Saturday’s Reclaim the Fields UK gathering was the dominance of meetings as the way of discussing and deciding. Unsurprisingly in a group of urban and rural growers there were a significant number of people who don’t find meetings a useful tool. They do. They don’t talk about doing. This […]