Representation of those most impacted by decisions: Tools for when impact exceeds circle roles
With: Deborah Chang, sofie malm and Hanna Fischer for SoFA’s 4th Annual Sociocracy Conference May 6th 2021
Check-in via chat. Share your:
- Name
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- Why you decided to come to this session
Agenda
Why Representation and How It’s Relevant to Sociocracy
Tools for Identifying Those Most Impacted
Tools for Participation
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Pair and Share (Breakouts)
Whole Group Reflections & Check-Out (via Chat)
Why Representation Matters in Sociocracy
→ Make your decisions more effective and sustainable by including those impacted already during the process
Identifying those most impacted
Tools for participation
Common pitfalls
Tools for Identifying Those Most Impacted
Tools for Participation
What is representation and inclusion?
Change how we view privilege
How can I learn to feel somebody else's lack of accessibility?
Unexpected effects of using the tools!
Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash
Embodied practices
Noticing sensations in our bodies, engaging in movement together and connecting to nature helps us to slow down and stay connected to our collective humanity.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Tokenization
Solutions Privilege
Not Planning for Enough Time
Tokenization Defined
Tokenization is representation without transforming systems of unequal power.
“I don’t want to be sitting in my city council office just so that they could take a picture for their Instagram. I want to see real change.”
—Obrian Rosario, Youth Power Coalition
Tokenization Examples
Expecting one or two people to be the voice of all people of their background
Getting input but then ignoring it when actually making the decision
Not having representation on the circle itself
Establishing only transactional relationships
Do’s
Hear from multiple people
Create opportunities for people of marginalized backgrounds to be in community with one another
Have representation of people most impacted within the circle
Build authentic relationships
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Tokenization
Solutions Privilege
Not Planning for Enough Time
Solutions Privilege Defined
“Solutions Privilege,” the privilege of expecting easy and instant solutions that would align with one’s worldview and not challenge one’s privilege.
—Vu Le
Solutions
Privilege
Example
Do’s
Recognize your own role and responsibilities in inequitable systems
Do your own work to understand the issue and learn from material that is already available
Understand that solutions are complex and need to address root causes in order to be effective
Trust people most impacted by injustice
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Tokenization
Solutions Privilege
Not Planning for Enough Time
It took 5 years
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Tokenization
Solutions Privilege
Not Planning for Enough Time
Break out rooms
1 minute silent reflection
Pair and share (groups of 2 or 3)
Choose a question!
Support one another by offering questions, understanding, and/or ideas in response to what the other share
Welcome back!
Please share reflections in the chat or raise your hand to give 30 second reflections
Stay connected
Visit, use and modify the toolkit https://bit.ly/3aMyBNk
Email us for questions, collaborations
hanna.fischer@sociocracyforall.org, sofie.malm@sociocracyforall.org, deborah.chang@sociocracyforall.org
Continue the discussion on SoFA forums
Check out (via chat)
What will you be bringing back into your own work?
What feedback do you have on this workshop?
Thanks!!
For useful feedback: Julia Thayer, Noah Chaban, Katerin Mendez
For the music: Andreya @ https://www.instagram.com/a.liv_music/