Want to bring LTT to your community? The recommended route is outlined below. Remember, various aspects of this methodology may look like things you've seen and done before. However you may be surprised at how this process challenges and broadens your perspective.
Here we assemble the necessary Actors to sign an agreement that initiates the LTT process.
To initiate the LTT process, we start with an agreement between KuneLab and three (3) differentiated community Actors that make up the Local Startup Team. Actors can be leaders/ members of formal institutions, organizations, businesses, or informal community groups. It is recommended that at least one (1) Actor from the municipality/ local government be included in the agreement.
The Local Startup Team will sign a contract with KuneLab in which they agree to implement the LTT in their locality for a period of one year (negotiable). Once this is done, the Local Startup Team's primary role is to complete the creation of a Local Implementation Team (LIT), i.e. the group officially responsible for commandeering the LTT process.
KuneLab will assist the Local Implementation Team by providing a Tutor who will facilitate activities and train the team to use the LTT tools, processes, and dedicated web platform that support the work. And yes, there is a cost ... see here.
A LTT Tutor is a trained facilitator who knows the LTT methodology and all the tools. This person is fundamental to supporting the Local Implementation Team in getting started and familiar using the LTT. As the Local Implementation Team becomes more familiar with the LTT--usually within a year--the Tutor's role and guidance becomes less necessary, eventually leading to the group's complete autonomy to carry on.
What if the municipality is not interested?
Having a reprasentative from local government as a part of the Local Startup Team and/ or Local Implementation Team is important but not essential. The implementation can be supported by a trio of different Actors if necessary. You can talk with us about this to determine the pros and cons of your unique situation.
Can you use the LTT for less than one year?
For a serious implementation of the LTT, the recommended starting point is a one year commitment. Remember, systems change does not happen overnight. That said, if your community can only commit to a shorter, lighter implementation (e.g., to test the methodology), we are open to discussing other available options and their pros/cons.
#2
Create a Local Implementation Team
Here we establish a decision-making apparatus with the maximum level of local diversity and commitment
Systems change requires "mixing up" how we work together. In other words, need to change the rules of how we playo change the outcome of the game. On of the LTT's basic parameters is to ensure the highest level of diversity: we want local decision making to exhibit the broadest set of perspectives possible within the community.
The Local Startup Team works to collect diversity The Local Startup Team (LST) will work to form a larger group by looking for its components, favouring the diversity within the community's leadership. This important work is also the very reason for the existence of a startup team as a first step. A group formed solely of friends, or of all architects, of members of the same political party or same social class, etc. is not what we aim for, as this type of group will have more blindspots .
Change doesn't come without commitment (sorry!) The final group (LIT) will meet [ideally] at least once a week for the first 6 months of the activity, therefore availability of the components is very important.
How many people we need Ten people coming from different context will be enough, the use of the S3 methodology governance (here is another game changing rule) will complete the goal to bring in many other positions and points of view of the community Actors.
The ideal composition of the group involves some political component of the local government (elected subjects from the majority and minority) and the administrative components (executives, employees), members of various associations (typically non-profit, culture, social sphere, etc.), someone from the business world, someone from underrepresented social fields (social hardship, marginalization, migrants ... this can vary a lot according to the social and economic context), someone from other local institutions (schools, institutions, foundations). If possible, gender and age balance should also be taken into account.
What if we don't have the right people?
The LTT framework is designed to work in real every day life where ideal working conditions are very rarely encountered. If you can't get the perfect composition for your LIT don't worry, do your best to meet the requirements then go with what you have, it will work anyway. The process will be slower, the work capacity a little limited, but we can still proceed profitably.
#3
The initial trainings
A way to learn the new rules of the game and warm up your muscles before the actual work
Once the Local Implementation Team is formed you enter the group preparation phase. This is normally divided into 2 or 3 moments depending on the time available and the availability of the participants.
Local Transformation Toolkit overview A half day of training in which the architecture of the LTT framework is presented along with the expected path for the first year of activity.
Sociocracy 3.0 overview Two 3 hours sessions to start learning this decision making methodology. The first will focus on the theory and the second will be a first laboratory to see how it works.
We consider these first two moments of training essential but, if possible, we try to immediately introduce a moment of training on Non Violent Communication (NVC) as well.
The way we make decisions plays a big role in the type of decisions we make. The principles and the rules of S3 are particularly powerful when "common good" is at stake. We could write chapters on this topic but the only way to really understand is to practice and see how it works being involved in the process.
Why NVC?
In a social context that everywhere seems increasingly polarized and unavailable for dialogue, the NVC methodology can be very useful. Following the principles of S3, the group will have to involve in the decisions the actors who will be affected in some way by the decisions. This can create situations whose starting point is a state of tension or even real conflict, developing the ability to listen and transform confrontation into dialogue can therefore prove to be very useful.
#4
The baseline
This is where the real work begins and first we want to create a portrait of our community
You'll start mapping Actions happening in the community that the LIT understands as actions towards sustainability, justice... say just transition actions. Ideally you'll focus on about 30 Actions and start the process to analyze all of them using the LTT Grid and the web dedicated platform.
An indispensable map to continue the journey You'll end up with the analysis of every single Action and the web platform will calculate a report based on the sum of every action. We call this collection of informations the Baseline of your community. It provides a number o interesting informations about the way your community works, the strong and the weak points, the areas that are producing benefits, those creating problems (and some times problems are were you don't expect them to be).
Attention to sensitive data What emerges form the baseline can be sensitive and delicate, the LIT will therefore develop an internal policy about the use of the informations and the results of the baseline work. This aspect can vary a lot depending on the local context With this detailed portrait in our hands the most interesting part of the game can begin.
A group of people organizing a community food garden, a project to rise the number of private PV plants on the roofs of the community, an exhibition on the state of biodiversity, a company organizing a green mobility plan for the workers, the Municipality joining the Covenant of Mayors, a scheme to fight energy poverty ... anything you spot around you that seems oriented to bring the community to a better balance with the ecosystem, to repair environmental damages, push cultural change towards real sustainability.
#5
The Actions improvements
In your baseline you have now a lot of information to choose carefully the actions you want support and start changing the reality around you
Community's resources are limited by definition. It is therefore very important to make the best use of them by investing where little can in any case do a lot. The Actions analysis provides key information to make conscious choices in this regard.
Thanks to the baseline theLIT can now suggest ways to improve the quality of some actions focussing on the most promising and with the highest transformation potential. They can seek funds, call in experts to support, link multiple actions to amplify their effectiveness, draw the attention of politicians, the media, citizens, etc.
The co-design aspect One of the interesting aspects of using the Sociocracy 3.0 is that it offers a very solid methodology to co-design within a context where diversity become an element of guarantee of quality and safety of the project. This will be a strength when the LIT will connect to those who carry out a certain Action to design with them improvement or ways to support. The evaluation aspect At the same time, the LTT system provides the tools to carry out a periodic re-evaluation of any action and to measure the actual improvement or in any case any variation with respect to what was recorded in the baseline.
Yes. Through the use of the grid and the Actions analysis process it is easy to identify weaknesses or risks of negative impact. They often emerge even when, apparently, the Actions to be analyzed would seem to produce only positive effects. The analysis process also incorporates a focus on the potential for resilience that each Action can bring to the community.
Can we identify greenwashing and propaganda?
Ok, this is delicate. Yes, the LTT process is quite good in getting the group to identify the REAL reason why a certain action is being carried out. Quite often you'll find more money and energy in Actions linked to greenwashing than in actions authentically oriented towards sustainability. This is interesting, having a clear visione can help, on some occasion, to steer those actions and those energy towards a more interesting direction or reduce negative effects of that action.
#6
The new Actions
Thanks the baseline you can now identify areas where would be important to introduce new actions
And this is probably the most exciting part of the LIT activity. Having a clear vision of the community you can think and promote Actions responding to existing or emerging needs, react to problems, seize opportunities.
During the baseline work a different cultural framework was created by the teem and now they will be able to plan in a more knowledgeable and competent way. They can more easily design short, medium and long term new Actions, connect with other Actors within and outside the community and so on.
This is particularly beneficial for the local government that can count on a sort transformation engine and a space where each topic can be addressed outside the dynamic of majority and minority.
This is very context/country/region related, but the LIT can be very good in spotting opportunities to finance and support new actions. There is a number of public and private local, regional, national, international funding opportunities that are not always oriented exactly the way we would like them to be, but usable to our scope. If you are ready, focussed and have clarity on your main goals then finding the resources it may not be that difficult. More, if you can't get money for a particular project you have many others on your radar, this makes easy to match available resources with compatible projects.
Where do we ged the right people?
This can be more difficult than getting the money, but during the process of building the LTT baseline the LIT had to build a number of relation due to the way the analysis of the Actions is made. This will be a good starting point to have a network of people reaching different spaces of the community. More than this, the LIT has now confidence in the use of S3 to be able to involve also those that can be considered difficult or out of reach or even enemies of the just transition transformation process.
The costs
Costs are related to context, area of the world, availability of Tutors. Let's talk about this ...
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