How XR Mass is structured
Overview
Decisions in XR Mass are made by individuals and groups with a particular mandate. Thus, we only use group-decision making when it’s necessary and not by default. Within this structure, XR encourages rebels to switch up roles once in a while to promote creativity and avoid burn-out.
Mandates
When someone has a mandate, it means that they have the authority to make a decision/act, and at the same time it sets an expectation which others can have of them. People take on roles, which have particular mandates that they are accountable for completing. Examples:
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“manage information flow within the team” (one mandate of the coordinator role)
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“implement the XR Conflict Resilience procedures” (mandate of conflict mediator role)
Working groups
Working groups are a group of people defined by a few overarching mandates, typically with many sub-mandates filled by individuals. XR Mass’ current working groups can be found here.
You can also get directed to a certain working group by filling out our volunteer welcome form.
Affinity groups
Distinct from the working group structure, affinity groups are small groups of ~10 people undertaking non-violent direct action (NVDA) together. To form an affinity group, you should attend an NVDA training.
Affinity groups are empowered to plan and execute their own actions, as long as:
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they follow XR principles and values
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they meet the non-violence guidelines and agreements in the NVDA intro document
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if necessary, the action goes through the XR Mass approval process
The action working group also researches and prepares options for NVDA, which affinity groups can decide whether/how to be involved in via participation in spokescouncils.
Resources on Group Structure
These documents describe the self-organizing system that XR Mass is using. We are transitioning to this structure to help us grow and become more resilient, from a much more fluid organization that we used when we only had a few members.
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(4 min!) Intro to affinity groups and working groups
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(2 pages!) recommendations for structuring XR chapters
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(8 min!) More on working groups
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Less-than-a-page introduction: collaborative document version of the overview given above, feel free to comment and add questions if you're confused!
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Current developments in XR Mass structure. This document describes our transition process, where we were and where we're headed, in more detail.
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Coming soon: Self-organizing systems trainings
More on decision-making
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Kinds of decision-making that can be used within the self-organizing system from the XR UK Constitution.
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Advice process: Decisions are made by mandate holders, but they must undergo an advice process. This page describes some of what can be involved in this.
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Decision-making on filling roles from the XR UK Constitution. One option is the integrative election process from Holacracy.
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Resource on the pros/cons of a few different kinds of decision-making -- this website does not cover all of the kinds of decision-making in the XR UK Constitution, but is meant to provide food-for-thought