SIPS #6 July 28th
Topic One: “People are tired about talking about sociocracy”- how do you keep people engaging in sociocracy training, learning and implementation as your organization grows?
Issue: An organization is growing, despite some formal sociocracy training, it is hard when you are the one advocating for sociocracy not to feel like the “squeaky wheel”. How do you encourage others to continue developing their sociocracy skills? Organization has agreed to do sociocracy yet isn’t doing it to the full extent, hard to get people to do further reading/watching and take up training provided- people tend to focus on “getting things done”.
Responses:
“Expect resistance” to taking up the practice of sociocracy- especially within groups of people with more managerial system thinking- remind people the benefits of slowing down and taking the time for it
People aren’t getting excited about sociocracy as we are not communicating well what sociocracy adds to our organizations. When we get into “why” we are using sociocracy it gets easier to move forward with it.
Consider the organization’s mission- sociocracy might be critical to the success of their mission, especially as an agreement was made to do this
Get feedback about why people are not doing what is requested- find out what their barriers are and what they need to help get past them
Can ways be made to make sociocracy more fun or easier to do?
Excellent resources (free) from SoFA’s training circle available here which Training circle recently updated- Who Decides/Who Decides? Book by Ted Rau- also very helpful
Remind people to think about their ultimate purpose- the vision, mission, aims and domains of their organization- and why they chose sociocracy in the first place.
Ask the question “what are the hopes, beliefs, types of values/relationships/cultural building blocks you want to create in your ideal world and how does using sociocracy help to support these?”
In what ways do we want sociocracy to change so that it is more accessible or easy to pick up- how might we want to use it differently?
Conversations about sociocracy don’t always have to be on a formal agenda- consider discussing it in informal conversations within relationships you have, and/or using check ins as a space to discuss feelings about this.
Feedback to responses: Incredibly helpful- communicating what are the reasons we are doing this essential as well as finding out what the barriers are. Vision: to create “rivulets of sociocracy” through the organization
Topic 2: When your job as initial implementer is no longer needed- how to step aside and evolve into your next role?
Issue: A community group adopted sociocracy and is now using it well enough that the initial circle is now breaking up to form working circles and create a new general circle. What should be one’s next role in this organization after initial implementation? Sociocracy coach? Sociocracy Consultant?
Most groups and orgs don’t know what they need at this stage. Organizational development is next- this could be a business opportunity to consider in SoFA- a follow on “suite” of consulting and other services once implementation is realized.
Don’t underestimate your longevity and value to this organization in the years you have been with it, and the knowledge, skills and experience you have gained
Stepping out allows something else to come into your life and also someone else to step into your shoes
Sometimes our own ideals of reaching some sociocratic perfection can be distracting from what we have achieved, and a group is already doing
Might be best to observe the hub as if a consulting engineer- help to set up training spaces but not to do the training. Using the “see one, do one, teach one” approach
Is there a need you can fill that is different from the role you are in but still within the same org.?
Response: This has helped me realize where my heart is- it is in this organization. Co-evolving with the organization is exciting- an opportunity- and has wider implications.
Topic 3 Issue: What are the effects of sociocracy- how are we changing the world?
Issue: (this is a part 2 to a question already raised in June’s SIPS meeting). In order to share the power and creativity of this system (sociocracy) we need to understand what exactly it is adding to groups, organizations, and beyond into the world:
Social justice- it has a liberatory potential which is intentional as we work together.
We are not a social change movement- we empower social change movements- providing training and support for orgs to make changes
We are a social change movement! Sociocracy brings principles into teams that consistently allows people to experience and learn about themselves and others, in a transformational way- this is radical, and makes sociocracy a change movement
Sociocracy is about shared power
Sociocracy is “deep listening” which is more important even than the decision-making and is the opposite of the markers of our dominant culture
“Sociocracy: “I listen more than I speak”
My experience of sociocracy was, “it worked really well- it felt productive and I loved it”
Sociocracy is “unknown and unknowable- almost like a faith”
Sociocracy is a liberating structure- it unleashes so much- the change in impact is intangible and it echoes out through the work that gets done in the world by the organizations that are using it
It is fundamentally important when thinking about transforming a society that we have an idea of what process we will do that with- and that we identify how we have worked together historically, now and in the future.
Sociocracy is about changing the way we relate to each other and changing all of the different ways that oppressive cultures have been embedded in us: good intentions aren’t as powerful as structures.
Sociocracy is more than a tool- it invites, supports and guides us to go through the process of transformation- resulting in regenerative ripples.
The root solution of all crises requires us to change the way we do things. Sociocracy is the most significant, radical and effective way we might do that
Sociocracy is the slow cooking of community organizing
Response: Watch the social media circle for an upcoming announcement on this project!
Feedback on SIPS session
“I am glad I came”
“Thank you- very useful- excited to keep talking- how to grow sociocracy in a bigger way to help orgs.”
“It was a pleasure- a very renewing thing- love being a part of it”
“Thank you all for the reaction and feedback- really useful for unpacking scenarios”
“Sparked something in me”