Shared Decisionmaking Capacity In Threshold Times
Institutions, coalitions, and communities are making consequential decisions in environments their existing structures cannot reliably manage.
Plans rest on assumptions that shift midstream.
Stakeholders share exposure to risk yet cannot align on action.
Authority is questioned.
Funding landscapes change abruptly.
Public trust narrows.
Ecological and economic pressures intensify.
And still, decisions must be made.
Students are taught.
Patients are treated.
Food is grown.
Water systems are managed.
Policies are enforced.
Responsibilities continue even as the ground beneath them moves.
My work focuses on the question: How do groups maintain the capacity to perceive, decide, and act together when the conditions that once enabled coordination are breaking down?
Resources
For deeper orientation:
Coordination Under Strain: A strategic brief for leaders navigating institutional volatility
Threshold Conditions Diagnostic: A tool for assessing coordination environment
Cooperation Under Threshold Conditions: A strategic brief for governance, risk, and institutional leadership
Practitioner Framework: Applied guidance for coalition and place-based work
What I Do
I develop relational and perceptual infrastructure for shared decisionmaking under systemic strain.
I work with coalitions, foundations, institutions, and cross-sector networks that:
Carry responsibility for people and place
Recognize that familiar coordination models are faltering
Need clearer orientation before taking action
Want to act responsibly without manufacturing false consensus
This work strengthens coordination capacity by helping groups:
Register actual conditions rather than inherited assumptions
Clarify material constraints and shared stakes
Design for partial alignment rather than total agreement
Establish boundaries that protect the vulnerable
Sequence decisions at the right scale and pace
Coordinate across difference without collapsing into antagonism
The aim is the ability to act together where action is necessary and possible.
Why This Work Is Necessary Now
Coordination falters under threshold conditions for structural reasons:
Information ecosystems no longer overlap reliably.
Threat responses override deliberation.
Institutional authority narrows while demands expand.
Economic insecurity reduces collaborative bandwidth.
Ecological volatility compresses timelines.
Social roles that once stabilized identity are eroding.
These are not individual failures; they are systemic pressures.
Strengthening shared decisionmaking capacity is now a core civic and ecological function. Without it, even well-intentioned actors fragment.
About
I am a strategist and practitioner focused on how shared decisions remain possible under conditions of strain.
My work sits at the intersection of governance, food systems, institutional design, and ecological reality. Drawing on complexity science, conflict transformation, and lived experience across law, policy, and community practice, I help leaders and coalitions build the capacity to make responsible decisions when alignment cannot be assumed.
I focus on strengthening shared decisionmaking where fragmentation carries real consequences, in places where delay, confusion, or misalignment increase harm.