Imagine we are in a SoFA Advanced Facilitation Class or in some other interactive sociocracy training.
Typically there’s a group of us trying to take collective decisions about some case studies in a limited amount of time.
We are in a “meta” situation and fall prey to an ambiguity: is our goal to practice sociocracy or is it to deliver on the case study?
I believe an essential part of sociocracy is to take decisions. We learn sociocracy by succeeding in taking decision or we learn by failing to take decisions.
If our intent is to deliver on a case study, whether we succeed or fail, we’ve learned heaps. But if our intent is “to practice” then how are we going to even know if we have learned something?
Who do you think will learn fishing: the one who’s there to practice fishing or the one who’s trying to catch fish?
I’d like to know what y’all think about it 
Hello there,
Here is my reflections on this topic:
What is the difference between practicing something and using something?
Of course, other people might have other opinions …
I’m looking for other complementing ideas or approaches.
For me, this is another learning opportunity.
Thank you for bringing it on the discussion table.
Best wishes to all our sociocracy fellows!
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Thanks Adrian, very good article!
I guess, the point I am trying to make is that even when we’re practicing, we can benefit from setting concrete goals. If our expectation is simply to “pratice sociocracy”, then we self-sabotage our learning… by losing the sense of forward motion that is typical of sociocracy.
Coming to some sort of collective decision on all the case studies in the practice session (within the time allotted) is in my opinion a responsibility we should uphold as a priority. It’s a responsibility that each of us has towards the whole group. That does not mean we have to complete the case studies exactly as requested, we can also recognize we cannot do that and come to a different decision (it can be as simple as deciding together that we leave the work unfinished and designate someone to complete it)…