The Sustainability Club is organized as a self-orginazing system, because it empowers everyone to contribute. It enables people to work autonomously but with accountability to our values and to each other.
We work in separate Taskforces, they have a clear mission and get coordinated by a internal facilitator. Every Thursday 5-6 pm, we meet to report our progress and discuss overarching topics. Since, we work in Taskforces, attending the weekly meeting is recommended but not necessary in order to contribute to the clubs mission and actions.
Taskforces need good facilitation and elect an internal facilitator to manage the good functioning of the group and its roles. From time to time, we check if the role of the facilitator should change to another person, as this allows for other people to take a turn at facilitation.
Furthermore, we have other mandates that individuals take care of:
The self-organising system works by spreading power to different roles or working groups, who can make decisions within their roles. They have complete autonomy within their roles, while being accountable to the shared purpose we have and our values.
Most decisions are made within the roles or working groups, but decisions about how we organize things need to be made by the whole group. These decisions are made by ‘consent’. While consensus means everyone is for the decision, consent only means that no one is actively against the decision. If someone wants to set up a new role or working group, the group asks not ‘Do we all like this?’, but instead ‘Is it safe enough to try? Will it cause harm?’. Harm, here, means that it will prevent someone fulfilling their role, or will act against the shared purpose we have. By saying ‘Is it safe enough to try?’ we set the bar low for proposals to get passed, and decisions can be made quickly.
Once a self-organising system is set up, it will need constant revision. Needs will change, capacity will increase or decrease, but the system is designed to adapt to change.
Healthy ways of working lead to healthy groups, where every voice is heard. Inclusivity is important in XRUK. Groups have meetings. The way we conduct our meetings is fundamental to a well-running self-organising system. Some people feel more confident at speaking up in meetings than others, which may be to do with culture, language, personality or background. A good facilitator will make sure that the meeting is efficient, so as not to waste people’s time (we don’t have time to waste), that everyone has their say, and the meeting isn’t dominated by a few people.