Category: Democracy

  • En historisk tillbakablick

    Jag är intresserad av kväkarnas beslutsmetod och har tidigare skrivit om den här. Metoden är intressant eftersom den är djupt demokratisk och bygger på ett sökande efter en slags enighet vid besluten. Nyligen läste jag boken De gnostiska evangelierna av Elaine Pagels och slogs av likheterna mellan kväkarnas synsätt och de gnostiskt kristna från de…

  • Stoos Stockholm

    Stoos Stockholm är ett lokalt nätverk i det internationella Stoos-nätverket. Stoos grundidé är att vi behöver hitta nya sätt att skapa hållbara organisationer. Den 30 september arrangerar Stoos Stockholm en träff kring sociokrati. Sociokrati möjliggör dynamiskt självstyre i organisationer genom en effektiv beslutsprocess (samtycke) och förstärkt återkoppling mellan arbetsgrupper (dubbla länkar).

  • Wise democracy

    Here is an interview where Nicholas Beecroft interviews Jim Rough on Wise Democracy, Choice Creation and Dynamic Facilitation. Dynamic facilitation takes people into a choice-creating conversation which generates the potential for new outcomes. Jim has found that deep wisdom emerges from a randomly chosen group when the group seeks to serve the whole. He has…

  • Quaker-based decision-making

    The principle of consent in sociocracy is derived from Quaker practices. The Quaker-based decision-making has a simple structure which allows for individual voices to be heard while moving the group towards unity (not unanimity). Key components are: The belief in a common humanity and the ability to decide together. Ensuring group members speak only once…

  • Sociocracy requires a new mindset

    The challenge with sociocracy is first to understand the principles, and then to be able explain them in your own language. In this respect, I think sociocracy is the quantum mechanics of governance. This means that we have to be careful when using concepts from classical Newtonian governance (read management jargon) in explaining sociocracy. The…

  • Principles for collaborative leadership

    I occasionally see suggestions that business leaders should act more like orchestra conductors. The idea being that you as a leader should guide your business like a conductor leads an orchestra. Well, you shouldn’t! When asked if the orchestra conductor is a good role model for business leaders, Ben Zander, a conductor himself, answered: “It’s…

  • Creative forces of self-organization

    After reading We the People: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy by John Buck and Sharon Villines, I have become very interested in sociocracy, a.k.a. dynamic governance. Gerard Endenburg, who started pioneering and applying dynamic governance, has recently written an interesting article about the Creative Forces of Self-Organization together with John Buck. In this article, they…

  • Book Review: Culture Shock

    Culture Shock: A Handbook For 21st Century Business by Will McInnes is a brilliant title on a book which is about the culture shock of moving from the traditional autocratic way of doing business to a democratic approach where there is true participation, openness, fairness, and connectedness. The perspective of Culture Shock is that an…

  • Democracy & Freedom in Organizations

    In Nicholas Beechcroft’s exploration of the Future of Western Civilization he interviews Traci Fenton on organizational democracy and freedom. Traci explains the ten key principles of organizational democracy, and how a democratic workplace leads to improved engagement, meaning, creativity, productivity, health, and profit. She describes where it works and where it doesn’t, and gives some…

  • The DemoCratic workplace

    Rune Kvist Olsen is a very interesting researcher, author, and thinker. Here is his paper on The DemoCratic Workplace, which is about empowering people (demos) to rule (cratos) their own workplace. This is done enabled by organizing individual and group decision processes through personal competence-based authority. In another paper Rune describes the Change from Leadership…