Creative Insight Council

The CIC is an inexpensive, inclusive way a society or organization can address an ill-defined or partisan issue, involve the citizens, and achieve breakthrough progress. It doesn't promise to transform the system like the Wisdom Council Process but it can leap things ahead. Choice-creating is key to the wisdom that emerges. It's where people express diverse perspectives and heart-felt passion, work together, build systemic understandings, and reach unanimous conclusions. The CIC also involves a randomly selected group but this time they are given an issue by the organizers. The CIC meets with stakeholder or experts first, and then is sequestered and dynamically facilitated. They reframe the issue and determine an unanimous perspective and present these conclusions back to the public. The usual response is ... the others basically say, "Yes, I think so too."

Example #1: The city of Bregenz Austria used a CIC to circumvent the usual partisan battle over developing its downtown. A random citizen group met with developers and city leaders and were then dynamically facilitated to determine an unanimous perspective. They reframed the issue to be "how to link the City to the Lake." Then they suggested a way to do it, by raising the base level of the proposed project from the ground to the second floor, which would allow citizens to walk over the highway and railroad tracks and then down to the lake. It was a win/win proposal now being implemented ... without the usual battles.

Example #2: The CIC could be used to transform the partisan gridlock on the national debt issue ... for the U.S. and other countries.

A non-profit organization, coalition of non-profit organizations, or the administration could convene a CIC on the issue. Probably, it would be best if there were a series of three different CIC's scheduled, one each month for three months. The pre-chosen topic given to the first CIC could be simple like: "the budget mess."

In the first two days the CIC would hear from the two opposing sides and from experts. Then the doors would be closed allowing Dynamic Facilitation to evoke the spirit of choice-creating among Council members. In the next three days CIC would uncover systemic understandings and a new framing of the issue. And they would determine an unanimous perspective. Then the CIC members would file on stage to present their conclusions to the nation. Their presentation has three parts: 1) Each person introduces him/her self and shares a little about his/her reaction to the process. 2) The group tells its collective story of what happened, how they started, key insights along the way, and how they ended up. 3) The CIC shares it's conclusions about what what the problem is and what's needed to solve it. After this presentation to the nation, they disband. But the rest of the citizens are invited to talk about the conclusions with those around them. And each person is invited to contribute his/her level of resonance with the CIC's conclusions. To the extent that people resonate and to the extent that everyone recognizes this level of resonance, a legitimate voice of the people has been created. It's a way to build a national viewpoint on a hot issue that cannot be ignored.

Then in one month the second CIC is gathered and meets. They review the presentation of the last one and again hear from the different parties and again meet in the spirit of choice-creating. This group evolves the ideas forward one more step. Again, most people find themselves in resonance with the views of the CIC. Gradually, Congress and other leaders begin to rush in front of the parade to declare that this is what they've been saying all along ... because if the whole country wants this and the whole country know they want it, it's going to happen.

Example #3: In October 2011 the government—including the governor, legislature and opposition party—of the state of Vorarlberg Austria will convene a CIC on the issue: "Beyond Growth—How can we secure our quality of life in the long term?" At the conclusion the CIC will present its unanimous voice of the citizens to the assembled legislators and the media. Then the legislators will dialogue about the results. It's a very exciting experiment with the CIC. We are very excited to see what results. Thank you Manfred Hellrigl and the people of the Office of Future Related Issues in Vorarlberg for helping to spark such a high level of leadership in your area.

How is the CIC different?

The CIC works within the system while the Wisdom Council Process is a structural change promising the transform the system. It creates a thoughtful voice of the people superior to the usual approach of advisory panels, hearings, surveys, and focus groups. It’s also different from the approaches of "deliberative democracy" like Citizen Juries, Deliberative Polls, and Citizen Assemblies. See the chart comparing the tools of Deliberative Democracy with those of Wise Democracy.

Also see the chart examining how the CIC measures up to the twelve principles of the Wisdom Council Process.

Interview on the CIC ... Citizen Involvement for Solving Big Issues


Additional resources

• The Center for Wise Democracy supports local, national, and global communities in using Wisdom Councils and Creative Insight Councils. www.WiseDemocracy.org
• For more information on Dynamic Facilitation and for a network of professionals skilled in Dynamic Facilitation see www.DynamicFacilitation.com.