Herrenseebrücke closed: City relies on joint decision-making!

Herrenseebrücke closed: City relies on joint decision-making!

The city of Waren (Müritz) is facing a real challenge. The Herrenseebrücke has recently been closed, which is causing considerable difficulties for citizens. The closure not only lengthens daily journeys, but also makes processes more difficult for families, companies and social institutions. The city council has recognized that there is a need for action here and is working diligently on solutions.

The commitment of the city council is particularly evident in this situation: there are a total of 13 different proposed solutions, which shows a lot of creativity and sense of responsibility. In order to enable fair and transparent decision-making, the suggestion of “systemic consensus” is taken up, a process developed by Dr. Erich Visotschnig was developed. Loud OpenPR This process aims to create trust and strengthen a sense of community.

What is behind systemic consensus?

But what exactly is this “systemic consensus”? It is a tool that supports groups and communities in decision-making. The goal? The activation of group intelligence and a high level of acceptance for complex decisions. Resistance, which often leads to concerns or rejection, should be made visible in order to reach a viable solution in a structured process. The city council has this in mind as a goal in order to meet the challenges together and constructively.

In this approach, the suggestions are recorded in a table and the opinions of 29 city representatives are collected. The ideas are then presented publicly, with resistance to the proposals measured on a scale of 0 to 10. An important feature of the process is that the entire process is streamed live to guarantee transparency. **The solution with the least resistance is ultimately implemented.** This means that citizen participation is not only perceived as lip service, but is also taken seriously.

The path to the solution

The iterative process of systemic consensus not only helps to identify causes of problems, but also minimizes risks in decision-making. At a time when every decision has great impact, it is important to hear all voices. Combining it with other methods, such as Scrum or Design Thinking, is also possible and shows flexibility in application.

In Waren (Müritz), a promising approach is being pursued to not only offer citizens a practical solution to the situation around the Herrenseebrücke, but also to promote the community's skills and community spirit in the long term. Because at the end of the day, it is the citizens who benefit from sound decisions. In this way, the city could not only emerge stronger from the current crisis, but also set an example for other communities in dealing with complex problems.

Further information about the systemic consensus method can be found at SK principle.