Vegan Option Canada ( VOC ) is a Canadian movement of engaged citizens. We need everyone's support to call on our government to take responsibility for our collective future.
We organise in decentralised & autonomous teams, where individuals have the authority to react quickly to ever-changing situations whilst also harnessing the collective intelligence of the group.
We are working to build a movement that is less-hierarchical, inclusive and free of coercive power dynamics. We want to empower individuals to harness their creativity and initiative, whilst also balancing the need for group consent.
This is done using a Self-Organising System (see this summary by XR reproduced below), which is outlined in our Constitution. The constitution exists so that power is removed from people and placed into processes. This ensures that everyone abides by the same rules and no individual has power over another. You can also explore our Interactive Map of all teams (GlassFrog).
DISTRIBUTED AUTHORITY
➔ People fill roles with defined mandates (= purpose + domain + accountabilities).
➔ They have full authority to make decisions and take action within that mandate.
➔ When making a decision from their role, people are responsible for seeking input from those with experience in the area or those affected by it
SELF-ORGANISING CIRCLES
➔ Each circle (or team) has its own mandate and can define and refine its roles.
➔ For large roles, the circle may create a sub-circle that will in turn self-organise.
➔ This circle structure widens out to the Anchor Circle which contains all circles.
➔ Consent and linking ensure that no individual has power over another, and mitigate the negative features of a hierarchical structure.
➔ Each level of the structure is slightly further removed from the nitty-gritty and
take a broader view regarding resource use, purpose and priorities.
LINKING STRUCTURE
➔ External coordinators attend meetings of wider circles, as equal members.
➔ This gives every sub-circle equal power to raise objections during decision-making in the wider circle, if they create or change roles.
HOW POWER IS DECENTRALISED
➔ Authority is distributed into roles and circles using a collective decision-making process. Mandates empower roles to make operational decisions.
➔ To add/change a role/circle, a member presents a proposal to resolve an issue, referred to as a tension, and each circle member has the opportunity to object.
➔ Objections are encouraged, as they represent important information that can be integrated to improve the proposal, before it is either accepted or withdrawn.
➔ The aim is to get something workable that allows movement forward.
➔ The decision can be revisited later on, so it doesn’t have to be perfect first time.
RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
➔ The roles and circles should be kept up-to-date and visible for all.
➔ This allows every member to discover the structure and contact whoever they need to when making decisions day-to-day.
➔ Minutes, projects, and other relevant documents should also be transparent, so the whole organism has insight into the history of each part.
The VOC Self Organising System (SOS) enables us to harness group wisdom while remaining agile and able to respond quickly to emerging situations.