In case you haven’t heard, the grant for working with researchers in universities has been approved! We called it “Metasynthesis and Research on Sociocracy (MARS)”.
Yay! We’re receiving $25,000. (Note: we were very confident about getting this grant so it was already included in our budget. This is therefore not additional money, it’s ‘just’ the good news that a bet that we made in terms of our budget worked out well!)
Here’s a description of the project:
Goals
Metasynthesis and Research on Sociocracy (MARS) systematizes, advances and curates the research on sociocracy and in decentralized, consent-based organizations in general. MARS has a special focus on three focus areas - team performance, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), and psychological safety - and will network those involved in studying sociocracy and other participatory frameworks. The key goals are:
- Evaluating and improving sociocracy practice based on academic findings, in particular in the focus areas of team performance, DEI and psychological safety.
- Supporting the movement of practitioners and consultants by curating easy-to-use summaries of the most relevant research findings, and supporting a stronger case for sociocracy as a governance system.
- By extension, building a stronger case for our work in particular within the sector of workplaces - an investment for the long-term sustainability of SoFA’s work.
- Offering credibility for consultancy work in the movement (within and outside of SoFA) to strengthen the movement overall.
- Stimulating more academic research on sociocracy and helping to focus that research around questions that are particularly useful for the field.
SoFA members can read the whole grant application here. As you can see, we received a large number of letters of support from researchers who are eager to partner with SoFA. That’s awesome!
Training Circle is currently holding this project and will have to decide how to go about carrying out the grant - that’s going to be a topic in 2023.
