WHAT IS DSG?

Groups of people are always getting together to get things done. These groups have to make decisions and have some kind of structure that determines how these decisions get done. It could be a group of friends working together on a personal project. It could be a business attempting to make a profit with a few to many thousands of employees. It could be a government and related services like schools, fire departments, and land-use offices. It could be a library, a non-profit business, or even families working together to accomplish things that they couldn’t do alone.

In small groups we frequently just let these things happen by default. We can also make decisions by following a leader, by majority vote, by consensus, or some other manner. In larger organizations we use structures like boards and/or CEOs who make decisions that are passed down the line. The line being different levels of hierarchy and power. Of course we’ve had dictators, prime ministers, presidents, kings, and queens. We’ve had parliaments, congresses, other representative bodies. We’ve had autocracies, monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, plutocracies, theocracies, and democracies – each with it’s own different structures of power and methods of decision-making.

In many of these organizations and governments there are minorities (and sometimes majorities) who don’t feel served by the systems they are involved with. These people don’t feel like they have influence in the decisions that affect their world. Many people working in these systems feel like they are treated like robots. When we hear the words “the system” invoked it is frequently used derogatorily. Is it possible for a system large or small to be made up of people who all feel influential, taken care of, and appreciated for who they are?

Dutch engineer Gerard Endenburg had the same questions when he was building up his electronics firm in the 1960s. He considered himself an activist and thought the best avenue for creating change would be through changing business models. When he had grown his firm to 100 people he decided to try developing a system that he felt was more humane and inclusive. He first sought a decision-making method that would keep all people equivalent in power. He had used a form of consensus as a student during World War II, but felt that total agreement wasn’t the best decision-making method for a business. One day while talking to a colleague about his quest he was told, “Oh you mean ‘consent,’ - ‘no objection.’” Gerard realized that this was a possible way to achieve his goal. He developed consent decision-making which became the first element of his method which is called Dynamic Self-Governance. Consent decision-making is used only in policy decisions – not for operational decisions. This gives everyone a say in how things are run. Operationally, though, there are still bosses and people with different amounts of responsibility and power.

“Consent” uses rounds to give all participants the room to be heard. When someone is speaking in a round, no one else talks or reacts verbally to what is being said. Everyone knows their turn will come, too. When a proposal is made, participants react in a round. Participants look for objections to the proposal that are paramount enough that they won’t be able to do their job. If an objection is raised, the group attempts to amend the proposal so that there are no more paramount objections. So, in order to not consent to a proposal, one must have a reasoned and paramount objection. Annewiek Rijmer, head of the Dutch DSG center, says that in her 20 years of using the method, she has never seen a single case of a group not coming to consent on an issue.

After introducing “consent” to his electronics firm and finding it to work quite well, Endenburg realized that he would have to develop structures to support this equivalent power between participants. As an engineer, he was able to take his knowledge of technical disciplines such as electronics and cybernetics and evaluate the business structure he had been using. He realized that what he had started out using, and what almost all groups use is at the closed/linear end of the spectrum of possible systems. He saw that open/dynamic processes from the other end can work much more quickly and efficiently and still provide equivalence between system participants. Open/dynamic processes are what life uses to organize itself.

One of the first dynamic elements that Endenburg added was feedback. ‘Consent’ made it impossible for feedback to be ignored. His challenge was in guaranteeing that the feedback was moved through the system – specifically up levels of hierarchy which has been traditionally a difficult ceiling to breech. Many managers solicit feedback from subordinates, but that feedback is not guaranteed to be utilized. Power usually flows down from one decision-making level, through a leader, to the level below. To guarantee feedback, Endenburg added a delegate who brings concerns up to the next higher level. Since there are then two links between levels – someone bringing information and power down, and someone bringing information and power up, this second element of DSG is called double linking.

Endenburg then looked more closely at the way domains in his firm operated and developed processes for more dynamic functioning. He calls these departments or teams circles. He looked at the circle process to make sure it had feedback. The main process of a circle is to decide, do, and measure policy decisions. In order to learn to make better decisions, the circle has to evaluate the outcomes of all decisions. Circles look at their tasks and determine all the components of a “9-block chart,” which has lead, do, and measure on one axis and input, transformation, output along the other. This self-examination allows constant improvement of a circle’s processes. The third element of Endenburg’s method is this circle process.

Endenburg believed that people representing others should be chosen using a better method than autocratic appointment or majority vote – both of which can ignore objections that others may have. He adapted ‘consent’ to work for elections. Voters cast ballots with their own name and the name of their nominee. The facilitator does a round asking why each nomination was made and people then give their reasons for their vote. This brings up important information that otherwise isn’t revealed, plus, it frequently makes people feel good. After that round the facilitator asks if anyone wants to change their vote. Usually people do and frequently there is one or a few clear favorites. The facilitator then chooses a nominee and goes for a ‘no objection’ round asking the nominee last, repeating this round if the first nominee isn’t selected. Elections are usually fun and no one feels like they lost. This fourth element is called elections by consent.

After studying DSG and talking to Endenburg and other DSG consultants I list these other elements as being requisite parts of the essential method.

Endenburg told me that he thought the most important quality that an organization should have is transparency – especially of financial information.

Since systems work better with a specifically determined and agreed-upon purpose, DSG requires the organization to co create a vision, mission, and aim. Also, each circle has its own aim and possibly mission. These must be periodically revisited and updated.

Endenburg also decided that he didn’t want his model to be something that could be sold out from under the employees. Ownership is usually the basis of control. Endenburg was able to create a form in which the business bought Endenburg out and now is not owned in the traditional way – it owns itself. This self-ownership is an important key to DSG, but can take many years to implement.

Another tenet of DSG is connection. The board, or top circle, needs to be connected to the outside world and other similar organizations.

Logbooks are kept to serve as a memory of what was decided.

Continuous development of an individual’s skills and of the organization’s knowledge of current developments in its domain is necessary for the health of the organization.

And there you have it in a nutshell – what DSG is.