Definition

Konsent

At konsent.one, Konsent refers to consent-based decision-making. Consent, not consensus: the difference sounds small, but it changes the whole logic of decision-making.

This shifts the focus. The point is no longer that everyone has to be enthusiastic — often an illusion anyway. The point is that nobody has to say: this cannot work. In consent-based decision-making, objections are not disturbances; they are information. They improve proposals, reveal blind spots and protect against decisions made over people’s heads. Whoever has concerns names them. Whoever has none clears the way.

Consent-based decision-making is therefore more than a voting procedure. It is a stance: radically on equal footing.

And what is dialogical decision-making (dEf)?

On konsent.one, consent-based decision-making becomes dialogical decision-making (dEf): a social-work adaptation for counselling, teams, facilitation and support planning. dEf takes seriously that social work often happens in asymmetric relationships — and that participation is easily claimed before it is actually made real.

That is why four things belong together: tension, proposal, objection and agreement. Every instruction can be formulated as a proposal. Every decision can leave room for objections. And every agreement has to become concrete enough to hold in everyday practice.

dEf goes one step further and asks: what happens when agreements repeatedly do not hold? The dialogical sequence of consequences is not a punishment system, but a pre-agreed clarification process. It is not classically part of consent-based decision-making — but it makes dEf more practical for social work, because decisions do not end with the agreement.

Sources

1. Roerick, J. (2022). Konsent-Entscheidungsfindung in der Sozialen Arbeit [Working Paper, Alice-Salomon-Hochschule Berlin]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20405958
2. Roerick, J. (2026, March 9). Konsent als Haltung. joelroerick.com. https://joelroerick.com/blog/2026/03/konsent-als-haltung
3. Roerick, J. (2026). Dialogische Entscheidungsfindung in der Sozialen Arbeit – eine persönliche Einführung [Essay]. konsent.berlin / figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32969573
4. Roerick, J. (2026). Soziokratie, Konsent und dialogische Entscheidungsfindung [Working Paper]. konsent.berlin / figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32969576
5. Roerick, J. (2026). Konsequent handeln, ohne zu bestrafen. Die dialogische Konsequenzenfolge für wiederholt gebrochene Vereinbarungen in der Sozialen Arbeit [Working Paper]. konsent.berlin / figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32969582