Understanding the history and theory of both democracy and sociocracy provides a deeper understanding of the principles and practices of what a sociocracy or sociocratic democracy might be, and why. Knowing the intention and development of an idea supports the meaningful application of its principles and practices in everyday life.
A wonderful discovery today, “As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify,” a TED Talk by Yves Morieux. Morieux is a senior partner in the Washington DC office of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and director of the BCG Institute for Organization. He studies how changes in structure can improve motivation for employees.
“Smart Simplicity” uses six key rules that encourage cooperation to solve long-term problems. Not by just reducing costs and increasing profit,… Read More . . . “Yves Morieux: Smart Simplicity”
In a workshop I conducted last Sunday, one of the participants asked, “How do you encourage self-organizationSelf-organization, sometimes called spontaneous order, is a ...?” By some miracle, probably related to my being on every mailing list on anything related to sociocracy and governance, I received in my mailbox a link to an article on the Interaction Institute for Social Change. You guessed it on Tips for Encouraging Self-Organization by Curtis Ogden.
After some editing and… Read More . . . “Encouraging Self-Organization”
The link below is to a webinar, Introduction to Holacracy, by Brian Robertson, the founder of Holacracy. It is very well done, a good introduction to Holacracy—very clear and not obtuse theorizing. Since much of the structure of Holacracy is the same a sociocracy, it will also help in the understanding sociocracy.
As a former software programmer, Robertson uses the operating system as an analogy. Holacracy is the operating system and the specifics of the… Read More . . . “Introduction to Holacracy”
An informed article by “Schumpeter” (no first name available), The Holes in Holacracy, included in the print edition as well as online. Schumpeter’s points are really about new branded methods failing. They are gone in 10 years. (Sociocracy on which Holacracy is based has not failed in 40 years.)
EVERY so often a company emerges from the herd to be lauded as the embodiment of leading-edge management thinking. Think of Toyota and its lean manufacturing… Read More . . . “The Holes in Holacracy”
One of the newsletters I read is AlertBox from the Nielsen Norman Group, Jakob Nielson has long been considered the expert on website usability. NN/g does extensive research for major corporations makes the information available to the public. His newsletter this morning included a piece on trends in intranet portals, which make extensive corporate information available for use by employees. In this report I came across a surprise—a section on governance! Most often such reports… Read More . . . “Decentralized Governance of Corporate Intranets”
How large a group can effectively do rounds?
The recommended maximum size for circles is 20-40 people so that would apply to the optimal maximum size for rounds as well. But rounds have been done in groups of 150 and even 400.Years ago, before I had heard of “rounds” I read the account of a round with 400 people. A mediator was working to resolve a community issue at a town hall meeting. She said… Read More . . . “Maximum Size for Rounds?”
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The sociocracy email discussion list was started in 2002. The list language is English, but members speak many languages if you have translation questions. We discuss anything related to sociocracy, democracy, and collaborative governance.
This site is a resource on sociocracy and democracy and the ways they support each other. It examines the principles and practices and the ways in which together they could better achieve their objectives. How would things get done in a sociocratic democracy?
A wonderful discovery today, “As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify,” a TED Talk by Yves Morieux. Morieux is a senior partner in the Washington DC office of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and director of the BCG Institute for Organization. He studies how changes in structure can improve motivation for employees.
“Smart Simplicity” uses six key rules that encourage cooperation to solve long-term problems. Not by just reducing costs and increasing profit,… Read More . . . “Yves Morieux: Smart Simplicity”
