Consultation¶
In a consultation, one person makes the decision — but only after deliberately gathering perspectives from relevant stakeholders. Responsibility lies with the decision-maker, not the group.
How it works in Rhizome¶
When creating a consultation, you first choose who makes the decision:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| I decide | You take on the decision-making role yourself |
| Delegate directly | You assign the decision to a specific person |
| Nomination round | A preliminary consent round is run — participants can raise objections to proposed decision-makers, and the role is delegated to whoever emerges without objection |
Requesting perspectives¶
Once a decision-maker is established, they can request perspectives from other participants. Selected individuals receive a notification and are asked to share their input — their assessment, considerations, or relevant knowledge — directly on the decision.
All contributions are visible to everyone involved. Perspectives are not votes; they inform the decision without binding the decision-maker.
Other participants can also suggest that someone be consulted. For example, if you are not the decision-maker but know that a colleague has relevant expertise the decision-maker may be unaware of, you can nominate that person to contribute a perspective.
Making the decision¶
The decision-maker can click Decide at any time — even if not all requested perspectives have been contributed yet. In that case, Rhizome asks for explicit confirmation that perspectives are still outstanding. This prevents blocking the process when a consulted person is unresponsive, while encouraging transparent documentation of what perspectives were actually considered.
Once the decision is recorded with a written description, it is finalized and visible to all participants.
Feedback¶
By default, feedback is enabled for consultation decisions. After the decision is finalized, a comment thread opens below it, allowing other participants to respond. Since the group does not decide together, this creates a channel for reactions and follow-up discussion.
Use cases¶
Consultation suits situations where one person has clear responsibility but should not decide in isolation. It combines speed and individual accountability with an informed foundation. It is particularly appropriate when:
- A decision falls within someone's defined role or area of responsibility
- Relevant expertise is distributed across the team and should be surfaced before deciding
- The organization wants to document which perspectives were considered, even when a group process is not warranted