Category: Books
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The act of measuring
Measuring isn’t simply about quantity but also about quality. Judgment might be more important than facts in the act of measuring: “The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is O.K. as far as it goes. The second step is to disregard that which can’t be measured or give it an…
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The egalitarian Vikings
What you may not know is that the Vikings were surprisingly egalitarian. When settling in Iceland, they founded one of the world’s early democracies. The entire community was invited to the debating hall to thrash out the hot topics of the day, followed by a vote, with each person’s opinion carrying equal weight. Legend has…
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Self-management
Here’s a description of self-management and self-organization by Frederic Laloux in Reinventing Organizations (pp. 137—138): “But even though we are only now starting to get our heads around it, self-management is not a startling new invention by any means. It is the way life has operated in the world for billions of years, bringing forth…
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The Culture Map
Cultural as well as individual differences impact what we see, think, and do. Erin Meyer has written The Culture Map. The culture map’s eight scales and their metrics represent common cultural differences which impact teamwork and collaboration: Communicating: Is the communication precise, simple, explicit and clear (low-context) or sophisticated, nuanced and layered (high-context)? Evaluating: Is…
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Sociokratibok: Idag publicerades boken
Idag publicerade John Schinnerer och jag vår sociokratibok. Arbetet påbörjades i juli 2013. Den 1:a delen av boken beskriver de grundläggande principerna i sociokrati. Den 2:a delen innehåller vanliga frågor och svar. I den 3:e delen finns arbetsmaterial som sammanfattar och kompletterar bokens två första delar. Framtida versioner av boken kommer att utökas med fler…
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Sociocracy as practiced by the G/wi
Sociocracy is a rediscovery of something our ancestors have practiced for tens of thousands of years. Nomadic hunter-gatherer band societies practice it, and have likely been practicing it, since prehistoric times. Here is an example from Politics and history in band societies, edited by Eleanor Leacock and Richard Lee, pages 32 and 34: “Activity in…
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Original wisdom
Robert Wolff has spent a lifetime with indigenous people from many parts of the world. He lived with the aboriginal Sng’oi of Malaysia during the years he spent in Malaysia as a government psychologist. He fell in love with this people and their immense inner dignity, humanity, and sense of connection to all creation. His…
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Ackoff on consensus
I have written previously here that I am convinced that sociocratic principles can be implemented in many ways. Below is an additional example from Russel L. Ackoff on the use of consensus which sounds very sociocratic to me: “Decisions made by a majority of participants usually create a dissatisfied minority.” “Decision-making by consensus avoids such…
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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…
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Book Review: Labcraft
Labcraft: How innovation labs cultivate change through experimentation and collaboration is a book which illustrates ways in which labs cultivate change through experimentation and collaboration. The labs themselves are part of an emerging family of hybrid organizations which create dialogue, cross-pollinate perspectives, and create space for new things to emerge. The book was co-authored by…