Category: Notes
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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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Sociokrati är som en skogsträdgård
Esbjörn Wandt skriver i Skogsträdgården på Holma att “det finns intressanta paralleller mellan hur sociokrati och en skogsträdgård fungerar” eftersom båda bygger på självorganisation. I artikeln beskriver Esbjörn hur det levande bygger på “ett samspel mellan självorganiserande enheter” och “ett ständigt flöde av energi, materia och information“. På samma sätt påminner sociokrati om naturen med sina självstyrande…
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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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Beliefs influence results
Peggy Holman writes in Open Space Technology: A User’s NON-Guide, pp. 48—50, that different methods can work in a given situation but what matters most are the beliefs of the facilitator. “My belief (and I don’t have sufficient empirical evidence for it to be more than an opinion) is that while method may be one…
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What is a policy?
Sharon Villines has written a post on what is a policy to clarify the distinction between policy decisions and operations decisions in sociocracy. Still, I am struggling with this – for several reasons. One reason has to do with terminology. I think policy is a false friend. We have the same word in Swedish, but…
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What if the organization is a living system?
Holacracy is described as a new operating system 1 for evolution-powered organizations. It’s a punchy analogy which people understand. What people seem to forget is this: The operating system as a metaphor requires people to execute the programming code, but people aren’t microprocessors. This might seem like playing with words, but metaphors both reflect and…
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Different voices
The voice of intellect talks about facts and theories. The voice of emotion talks about joy and anger. The voice of will talks about effort and results. The voice of ego talks about pride and shame. The voice of soul talks about generosity and hope. Hold tensions rather than create them. Build bridges rather than…
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Listening deeply
It is always challenging to handle objections and conflicting viewpoints in circle. The circle can easily slip into a situation where people try to talk each other into, or out of, some opinion. It is easy to forget that the aim is not to reach consensus, or to persuade anyone of anything, but to honor…
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Practices related to self-management
Self-managed organizations adapt continuously, fluidly, and organically provided a few basic practices are put in place. Frederic Laloux emphasizes the following three practice in Reinventing Organizations (pp. 270—271): Decision-making (by consent): Make sure that all can make any decision, as long as they seek advice from people affected and people who have expertise. Conflict resolution:…