wiki_ghostguild/content/curriculum/PS Guides/4-decision-making-in-practice.md

4: Decision-Making in Practice

What happens in session

Studios explore cooperative decision-making frameworks (consensus, consent, majority, delegation, random chance). They practice identifying who gets to raise issues, work through decision-making steps, and discuss handling dissent. The session also covers meetings (roles, facilitation, rotating responsibilities) and the "genius trap." Studios do a facilitation rotation practice in groups of three. The Informal Hierarchy Check-In is introduced as an ongoing tool.

:::tip Homework assigned: practice one decision-making framework on a real decision, map current role distribution, complete the Informal Hierarchy Check-In as a studio, and notice where decisions happen this week.

:::

👀 Your role during session

• Observe the facilitation rotation activity – note how your studio members handle facilitating, participating, and observing
• Listen for how they talk about where decisions currently happen (meetings? DMs? default to one person?)
• Note whether anyone identifies informal hierarchy patterns during the journaling activity

👆 Your role after session

• Make sure your studio understands the Informal Hierarchy Check-In questions and plans to work through them together
• Confirm they've chosen which decision-making framework to practice this week
• Check that they understand the difference between consensus and consent – this trips people up

This week's Studio Support Meeting: Decision-Making Practice + Informal Hierarchy Check-In

📚 Materials

• Informal Hierarchy Check-In questions (from session)
• Decision-making frameworks reference (consensus, consent, majority, delegation)
• The studio's notes from the facilitation rotation activity

👆 Before the session

• Know which decision-making framework the studio chose to practice
• Have a small, real decision ready in case the studio can't think of one (e.g., "What should your next team social activity be?" or "How should you structure your next sprint?")
• Review the 5 Informal Hierarchy Check-In questions so you can facilitate them smoothly

🌊 Session flow

Check-in (5 min)

"What did you notice in the facilitation rotation? What was harder than expected – facilitating, participating, or observing?"

Practice a decision-making framework (20-25 min)

Help the studio work through a real decision using their chosen framework.

Set up (3 min):

• Name the decision clearly. Write it down where everyone can see it.
• Name the framework you're using – "We're going to try consent on this."
• Clarify: who is affected by this decision? Does everyone here need to be part of it?

Work through the decision-making steps (15-20 min):

1. Understand the context – what's happening? What do people feel about it?
2. Identify the underlying need – what are we actually trying to address?
3. Generate options – encourage weird ideas. Notice who contributes.
4. Check alignment with values – how do these options fit with who you want to be?
5. Evaluate consequences – who benefits, who's affected, trade-offs?
6. Decide using the framework – name the method before you begin.
7. Before finalizing: "Does anyone have concerns they haven't voiced? Is anyone agreeing just to move on?"
8. Clarify implementation – who does what? When do you check back?

Debrief (5 min):

• "How did that feel compared to how you usually make decisions?"
• "What was different about naming the framework first?"
• "Did anyone notice moments where old patterns kicked in?"

Informal Hierarchy Check-In (15-20 min)

Work through the five questions together. Go one at a time.

1. Who spoke most in our last meeting?
2. Whose idea did we go with by default?
3. Who knows how to do [X] that no one else knows?
4. What happened last time someone disagreed?
5. Whose schedule shapes our meeting times?

Prompts to keep it exploratory, not accusatory:

• "No guilt here – we're just noticing."
• "These patterns aren't problems yet. But under pressure, they become cracks."
• "What would you want to change? What's actually fine?"

Capture observations – they'll bring these to Session 5.

Close (5 min)

• "What's one pattern you noticed that you want to keep an eye on?"
• Remind them to notice where decisions happen this week (in meetings? DMs? Slack? who's present?)

👉 Also this week

Map your current role distribution

This can be done async or as part of the PS meeting if there's time. The question is simple: for each role/responsibility in the studio, where did it come from – explicit decision or implicit default?

Prompts:

• "Who handles finances? Was that decided or did it just happen?"
• "Who schedules meetings? Who takes notes? Who answers external emails?"
• "Are there roles no one officially has but someone 'just does'?"

This feeds directly into Session 5's governance work.

⭐ Tips

If the decision-making practice feels artificial:

• "The point is to notice the process. How you decide matters as much as what you decide."

If one person dominates the decision:

• "I noticed [name] spoke first and longest. Can we try a round where everyone shares before discussion?"

If no one disagrees:

• "That was quick! Is everyone actually aligned, or is someone going along to keep things moving?" (This is a direct reference to the dissent section from the session.)

If someone gets defensive:

• "It's okay – noticing patterns is the hardest part. You don't need to fix anything today."

🏁 After the session

• Note which patterns came up in the Informal Hierarchy Check-In – especially anything the studio seemed to avoid discussing
• Note how the decision-making practice went – did they actually use the framework or fall back into old patterns?
• Bring observations to your PS check-in

🚩 Red flags to watch for

• A studio that "decides" everything by default to one person and calls it delegation
• Someone consistently going along without engaging – "I'm fine with whatever"
• Resistance to the hierarchy check-in – "we don't have hierarchy, we're all equal" (it's insidious)
• Decisions happening outside the room (in DMs between two people) and being presented as done
• The same person always facilitating, taking notes, or scheduling