--- title: "Proposals Overview" description: "A proposal is how a decision maker puts a governance change to their circle. It carries one or more changes, is discussed by the circle, and only reaches the organisation chart once it is adopted." category: structure-governance section: proposals-and-decisions type: Reference lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/proposals-overview --- # Proposals Overview ## Proposals Overview A proposal is how a change to your organisation's structure is put to a circle before it takes effect. A decision maker drafts the change, submits it, and nothing moves in the organisation chart until the proposal is adopted. That is what makes governance reviewable: every structural change carries an author, a rationale and a decision. ## Who can create a proposal Creating a proposal in a circle requires you to be a **decision maker of that circle**. This is the one governance permission with no administrator shortcut: the server checks your decision-maker status in the target circle, and refuses everyone else, organisation administrators included. Everyone who is assigned to a circle becomes a decision maker by default, so in practice most people can propose in the circles they belong to. The status has to be removed explicitly. The **Add proposal** button appears as soon as you are a decision maker in at least one circle. Inside the dialog, the circle list is narrowed to the circles where you can actually propose, so it can come up empty even when the button is visible. ## What a proposal can change A proposal is one of three types, chosen when you create it. ![New proposal dialog offering three types: Governance, Election and Policy](/images/structure-governance/proposals-overview/01-new-proposal-type.png) - **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**, the individual changes it applies on adoption. Open a draft proposal and select **Add evolution** to see the full set. ![Add evolution chooser with ten cards grouped under Create new and Change existing](/images/structure-governance/proposals-overview/02-add-evolution-chooser.png) Under **Create new**: create a new role, or create a new sub-circle. Under **Change existing**: edit an existing role or sub-circle, extend a role to a circle, reduce a sub-circle to a role, restructure a sub-circle, delete a role or a sub-circle, and invite an existing role from another circle as a linked role. Moving things around is proposed the same way. **Restructure a sub-circle** moves roles and sub-circles between a circle and one of its sub-circles, and the **Move role** action on a role's own page raises a proposal too. > **Note:** Elections and policies are proposal types in their own right, not evolutions. A governance proposal cannot carry either, and an election or policy proposal carries only its own change. ## Where proposals live Open **Structure**, then **Proposals**. The list opens grouped by status and filtered to **My proposals**, so it can look empty while your organisation has plenty of activity. Clear the filter chip to see everything. ![Proposals list grouped by status, showing three Submitted proposals above the empty Clarifying, Reaction, Consent Round, Amending and Integration groups](/images/structure-governance/proposals-overview/03-proposals-list.png) - **List** and **Cards** switch the layout. **Group** regroups by status, circle, initiator or created date. - **Filter** offers the quick filters Open proposals, Adopted, Declined, Awaiting my vote, My proposals and My circles and roles, plus filters on circle, initiator, status and proposal type. - The status groups are the proposal's life cycle: Draft, Submitted, Clarifying, Reaction, Consent Round, Amending, Integration, then Adopted, Rejected or Withdrawn. Adopted, rejected and withdrawn proposals stay in this same list. There is no separate history screen. ## Proposals in a governance meeting A proposal is processed inside a meeting only when it was **created from that meeting's agenda while the meeting was running**: open an agenda item, then choose **Actions**, then **New Proposal**. The **Bring to a meeting** action on an existing proposal adds an agenda item pointing at it, which is useful for the discussion, but it does not hand the room the decision. ![Proposal on the Decision step, with the Governance meeting steps panel and the Adopt button](/images/structure-governance/proposals-overview/04-proposal-in-governance-meeting.png) A proposal in a meeting replaces its usual details panel with **Governance meeting steps**. By default that workflow is two steps, **Present Proposal** then **Decision**, moved along with **Advance to next step** and ending in **Adopt** or **Reject**. Adopting is what applies the change to the chart. Closing the meeting does not. Your organisation can switch this to the full methodology round (present, clarify, react, amend, object, integrate) in **Structure settings**, **General**, **Decision settings**. ## Proposals outside a meeting Most proposals never go near a meeting. Build one in the **Proposals** app, or from the role or circle you want to change, then submit it from the proposal's own page. ![Submitted proposal showing its single role-creation evolution, the General panel and the Comments tab](/images/structure-governance/proposals-overview/05-submitted-proposal.png) What happens next is set once for the whole organisation, in **Structure settings**, **General**, **Decision settings**, on the **Proposal adoption** card: - **Immediately**: submitting adopts the proposal and applies the change at once. - **After a number of days, if no objections are raised**: submitting opens a consent round. The circle's decision makers become the voters and get **No objection** or **Object** on the proposal page. The proposal is adopted at the deadline, or as soon as every voter has consented. An objection sends it straight back to Draft, for its author to amend and submit again. If neither option has been configured, a submitted proposal simply waits. The circle discusses it in the **Comments** tab, and the only actions on the page are **Withdraw** and the ones behind the three-dot menu. Take the proposal to a governance meeting to decide it. > **Warning:** The vote controls appear only for the decision makers recorded as voters when the consent round opened, and only on the proposal's own page. There is no way to vote from the list. ## What's Next? - [How do I create a proposal?](/structure-governance/how-to-create-a-proposal) - [How do I submit and track a proposal?](/structure-governance/how-to-submit-and-track-a-proposal) - [How do I vote on a proposal?](/structure-governance/how-to-vote-on-a-proposal) - [How do I set up consent decision-making?](/structure-governance/how-to-set-up-consent-decision-making-for-my-organization)