Principle of active participation                   print     home

"Speak with people instead of speaking about people who are not present."
- Luc Hoebeke -

LSI is based on collective and democratic processes in which ideas and conclusions emerge, involving people in a meaningful way. LSI uses the self-organising power of the participants, making them responsible for action. Participation and self-organisation means that the results of a process are not completely clear in advance. As a consequence leaders and consultants will have to live with some uncertainty about process and results. This requires flexibility and a facilitative attitude. However, the final decisions are (usually) made by the formal leaders. It is important to be clear about the roles in decision making. See also Process, under Role leaders

Participation also means that thinking and doing are not separate, at least any separation should be kept to a minimum, not in terms of making plans for others, but in terms of your own actions. Wherever possible, plans are made and acted upon in real time during a conference. For example, this means designing and testing new work processes with all who are involved, or building a collective vision and on the spot agreeing on the action required to realise that vision.

Designing the LSI-process with a broad representation of stakeholders is essential. For this reason a preparation team and/or design team is established at an early stage.