Decision-making without bosses

The advice process works like this:

Everybody can make any decision about everything. But, as a rule, they have to take advice from the people that are influenced by the decision. The thing is though, they don’t have to follow the advice. They just have to be an adult about it. So it’s not about a majority.

When the advice is taken in, they are now fully responsible to carry out the decision. This means hiring the right people to do the job externally or getting the budget from finance or pursuading the other colleagues to work with it. And if shit hits the fan, this person is responsible to pick up the pieces.

If the decision is too big for one person to take on, he or she can try and form a committee with other colleagues who can join or leave whenever they please. This committee also takes advice from the colleagues outside the committee (depending on who is influenced by it).

An important part of the advice process is: every decision that is made is never fixed. It could change the next day (if the advice process is followed again). Therefore the organization will get more flexible.

How to start?

If there is management, make sure they want to give up control. Then use the advice process to ask if everybody wants to do the advice process ;-).