Sociocracy is a method, and still it isn’t

The Sociocracy Consulting Group writes in this blog post that there “is no lack of theoretical approaches to, and ideas about, shared and/or distributed leadership, self-steering and self-owning organizations, collaborative decision-making, cooperative enterprises, and other more effective, productive, and humanizing alternatives to primarily hierarchical organizations“. What makes sociocracy interesting is that it provides “functional, practical tools to make these ideas and theories come alive in real-world organizations“.

This is why I have become interested in Sociocracy. However,  Sharon Villines makes an important distinction in this blog post. She writes that “Sociocracy is a method of making decisions but it isn’t a decision-making method. It has principles and values but isn’t a religion or an ethical platform. It isn’t an ideology, and it isn’t an ideal without an application.  Its purpose is social harmony, not following rules. Principles and methods are important but following them is not the purpose“. It took her a couple of years before she realized that she was beginning at “the wrong end—with the organizational structure and the rules, not the purpose … explaining the method without the meaning“. What is important is the mutual “collaboration and exploration that produces consent“.

I am convinced that Sociocratic principles can be implemented in many ways. Furthermore, it’s possible to follow the outer form of Sociocracy and still abuse its principles and values. This can be done in subtle ways. For example, by putting time pressure on the person who has an objection. To honor Sociocratic principles and values it’s important to open the space!

Related posts:
Sociocracy requires a new mindset
Scrum vs. Sociocracy
Sociocratic principles can be implemented in many ways
Implementing sociocracy without sociocracy
Sociocracy as practiced by the G/wi
Policies vs. agreements
Scaling sociocracy is all about the context
Unspoken sociocratic principles
Cultural dimensions of sociocracy
A prerequisite for sociocracy is a socios
Holacracy vs. sociocracy
The phenomenology of sociocracy
Are Holacracy and sociocracy Teal?
The big misconception in sociocracy
Is Sociocracy an empty method?

Related posts in Swedish:
Holakrati, holokrati och sociokrati
Hur införa sociokrati i en organisation (del 1)?
Hur införa sociokrati i en organisation (del 2)?
Sociokrati är som permakultur, fast för människor
Sociokrati är som en skogsträdgård
Kurs i kväkarnas beslutsmetod, som sociokrati bygger på
En historisk tillbakablick på kväkarnas beslutsmetod
Sociokratibok: Idag publiceras boken
Några tankar om sociokrati
Min gästblogg på #skolvåren: Att organisera oss rätt