12 principles ... The Wisdom Council Process
- Gather the CONVENERS. (e.g "Just Us") ... The conveners set up the process. These people do not need to be authorized by some official agency. They just need to understand how the process works to solve community issues and achieve wise democracy.
- Identify the COMMUNITY ... This might be a city, a network, a nation, or the world. Once the community is identified then a specific pool of people can be determined from which to draw a random selection of people. (e.g. registered voters).
- Gather 8 to 16 RANDOM people from the community ... Once the pool is identified, a random number generator is used. Ideally, the first people selected will choose to come. And the conveners may offer babysitting, a stipend, transportation, etc. to make it easier for those chosen. Unlike other processes we do not use a stratified random selection. Over time all different sub-populations are included in their respective proportions.
- Identify a HOT ISSUE (or the Wisdom Council can choose its own). It's best if this issue is hot, ill-defined and impossible-seeming, like climate change, the influx of refugees, or money in politics.
- Use DYNAMIC FACILITATION to assure the spirit of choice-creating. Key for the Wisdom Council Process to work is the quality of thinking within each Wisdom Council, such that people can address impossible-seeming issues and reach unified conclusions. And where there's a wise and responsible collective thinking process added to what already exists.
- Assure time in the Wisdom Council after choice-creating for the group to determine shared conclusions, the story of progress and prepare a presentation ... Using Dynamic Facilitation the group will make its progress through shifts and breakthroughs rather than through deliberation. This enables the group to gather their progress into a shared story.
- Invite all people in the "community" to hear the Wisdom Council present its story and conclusions ... This presentation goes to the people more primarily than to "decision-makers." This is NOT about making "a proposal" or "recommendations." Rather, it is a presentation of what has collectively been determined. Like in the therapist's office, this a reflection of what we, a symbol of us all, think is is the real issue, what are the important points about it, what we all want, and what we think is the best way to get there. The point is to spark the spirit of choice-creating throughout the large audience.
- Involve all the people. Organize online conversations and f-t-f events. Fortunately, anyone commenting to a friend about the Wisdom Council conclusions is already in the conversation. We just want them to realize they are part of one ongoing whole-system conversation that is evolving towards whole-system unity.
- Orient the new whole-system conversation to be in the spirit of choice-creating. This principle involves being careful about the language we use. Please don't describe what happens in a Wisdom Council, for instance, as people "agreeing." That implies that they are reaching these conclusions through judgment. No. It's a creative process, so they are reaching "unity" or "co-sensing shared conclusions." And they are not "deliberating" or creating "recommendations." We are not weighing options here or seeking the approval of "decision-makers." This is about all of us talking and thinking together, addressing Monster issues and reaching unified conclusions through creative shifts.
- Help the "all the people" become "We the People." DF'ed random groups, like Wisdom Councils, generally determine complementary results. It's as though they all comprise one large group working together. To help the audience realize this, that a legitimate "We the People" is forming, one might ask ... "From hearing the Wisdom Council and from your follow up conversations, to what extent do you think this shared viewpoint reflects what's best for everyone?"
- Support people everywhere to take coherent actions. After the Wisdom Council disbands, it's possible to bring together stakeholders, government agencies and civic organizations into meetings, what we call "Responder Meetings," where these special interests articulate their responses. Of course, even the members of these special interest groups are part of "We the People." It's just that in these meetings people may be acting from their prescribed roles. Whole-system unity takes longer when people do not feel they can be authentic.
- Structure the Wisdom Council process as part of the System.. Ideally this process would be chartered into being by "We the People," for example, by a U.S. Constitutional Amendment. We think the Amendment will happen naturally from the "We the People" conversation. In practice we've discovered that Wisdom Councils often say "this Wisdom Council Process needs to keep happening."
Other names and applications
1) Bürgerräte ...this is the name of the Wisdom Council Process used in Austria and Germany, where governments are the sponsor and the process is used to enlist citizen involvement. The term means "citizen councils" or "civic councils" when translated back into English. Unfortunately, other processes use this terminology as well. Best is to stay with the English terminology "Wisdom Council Process."
2) Insight Councils ... (formerly "Creative Insight Councils") This is the term we reserve for Wisdom Council experiments where some of the basic principles get dropped. (e.g. in organizations when the manager wants to involve employees but also wants to maintain control by using a stratified sampling instead of pure random sampling.). These can be used as powerful interventions. But they shouldn't be confused with the Wisdom Council Process.
2) Insight Councils ... (formerly "Creative Insight Councils") This is the term we reserve for Wisdom Council experiments where some of the basic principles get dropped. (e.g. in organizations when the manager wants to involve employees but also wants to maintain control by using a stratified sampling instead of pure random sampling.). These can be used as powerful interventions. But they shouldn't be confused with the Wisdom Council Process.