--- title: "Creating a proposal" description: "Create a governance proposal in Talkspirit: pick its type and its circle, add the changes you want, then submit it to the circle for a decision" category: structure-governance section: proposals-and-decisions type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/how-to-create-a-proposal --- # Creating a proposal ## Creating a proposal A proposal is how a change to your organisation's structure gets decided. You describe what you want to change, and the circle it belongs to adopts or rejects it. Nothing moves on the chart until it is adopted. > **In summary:** in the **Structure** app, open **Proposals** and click **Add proposal**. Choose **Governance**, **Election** or **Policy**, select the circle, then click **Create proposal**. The proposal opens as a **Draft** where you add your changes and submit it. ## What you need You must be a **decision maker** of the circle the proposal applies to. Everyone assigned to a circle is one by default, whether they hold a role in it or were added without one, so in practice this is most people. Being an organisation administrator does not grant it: circles where you hold no assignment are not offered when you pick a circle. See [Decision makers in a circle](/structure-governance/what-is-a-decision-maker-of-a-circle). ## What a proposal can carry Every proposal has one type, chosen when you create it: - **Governance**: add, edit or remove roles, circles and accountabilities. - **Election**: run an election to fill a role. - **Policy**: draft or update a policy for a circle. A Governance proposal carries one or more **evolutions**: create, edit, delete or move a role or a sub-circle, extend a role to a circle, reduce a sub-circle to a role, restructure a sub-circle, or invite a role in from another circle. All the evolutions in one proposal apply to a **single circle**. ## Create a proposal 1. Open the **Structure** app, then **Proposals** under **My organisation**. 2. Click **Add proposal**. 3. Choose the type of change, then click **Next**. ![The New proposal dialog headed "Choose the type of change you'd like to propose", offering Governance (selected), Election and Policy, with Cancel and Next at the bottom.](/images/structure-governance/how-to-create-a-proposal/01-new-proposal-type.png) 4. Select the circle the proposal applies to. Only the circles where you are a decision maker are listed. 5. Click **Create proposal**. ![The second step of the New proposal dialog. Under the completed Governance step, a Select a circle search field lists Product Development and Services, above Back and Create proposal.](/images/structure-governance/how-to-create-a-proposal/02-select-circle.png) The proposal opens on its own page with the status **Draft**. Click **Add evolution** to describe each change, and **Submit** when the proposal is ready. ![A proposal page carrying a Draft badge, its title, its circle and its author, with a Submit button top right, an Add evolution button, and one Circle creation card for a sub-circle called Design System.](/images/structure-governance/how-to-create-a-proposal/03-draft-proposal-page.png) The same **Add proposal** entry sits in the **New** menu at the top of the Structure panel. ## Start from the role or circle you want to change You can also start from the thing itself, and Talkspirit turns your edit into a proposal. - On a circle, open the three-dot menu in its header and select **Add role** or **Add sub-circle**. The dialog ends on a **Review proposal** step with a **Save proposal** button. See [Adding a role or a circle](/structure-governance/how-to-add-a-role-or-a-circle). - On a role or a circle, select **Edit** in the three-dot menu, or hover a governed field and click **Propose changes**. The footer of that dialog offers **Save as proposal**, **Add to a proposal** behind the chevron to fold the change into a draft you already have, and **Submit for review** to create and submit it in one step. See [Editing a role or a circle](/structure-governance/how-to-edit-a-role-or-a-circle). A proposal can also start from a tension. Open the tension, then choose **Create a proposal** under **Process this tension**. The two stay linked, and adopting the proposal resolves the tension. ## What happens next Creating a proposal changes nothing on its own. It stays a **Draft** until you submit it, and the change reaches the chart only when the circle adopts it. See [Submitting and tracking a proposal](/structure-governance/how-to-submit-and-track-a-proposal). To have a proposal decided live in a governance meeting, create it from the meeting: open the live meeting, add an agenda item, then use **Actions → New Proposal** on that item. A proposal created anywhere else stays an asynchronous one, even if you add it to a meeting agenda afterwards. ## What's Next? - [Adding a proposal on the Proposals page](/structure-governance/how-to-add-a-proposal-in-the-proposals-app) - [Submitting and tracking a proposal](/structure-governance/how-to-submit-and-track-a-proposal) - [Voting on a proposal](/structure-governance/how-to-vote-on-a-proposal) - [Running a governance meeting](/structure-governance/introducing-governance-meetings)