I’m new to sociocracy and have started learning about it from various articles and videos on Sociocracy for All. I belong to a small community group (around 12 people) that gets local environmental projects moving. One of our challenges has been effective and efficient decision-making and ensuring everyone has a voice. This prompted me to explore sociocracy as a possible approach.
I really like the idea of consent decision-making and roles instead of everyone engaging in every aspect. I feel a little lost regarding how to introduce it to the group without overwhelming them.
Does anyone have experience transitioning a grassroots or informal group to using sociocratic practices as a part of their group work? What was the best approach? Full-circle structure or one element to start with? One element could be rounds or roles.
I’d appreciate real examples of what worked (or didn’t work) going into the experience. Also, if there are simple tools or templates people have used that help explain the concepts to people who are unfamiliar with them.
Thank you so much! I’m excited to be part of this community and learn from everyone. Megancharlpowerbitutorial
Hi! I run a climate group that has a small community group component.
We are not fully implemented… I’ve just been introducing elements piece by piece to keep from overwhelming people… because describing the system on it’s own wasn’t really having impact, and I want to be careful about stacking too much training on folks.
Would love to chat if interested about ways to do this.
Hi!
I can also only provide with an example that didn’t work. Namely I got active in a permaculture association that I thought used sociocracy, to find out they didn’t. I then decided to take a training myself (I’m about to become a certified facilitator) and to work to introduce values of sociocracy myself inside the association. This ended up causing a split with me leaving and exacerbated mistrust. I wish I had stepped back from the association sooner to introducing sociocracy from a distance when I was more ready. OR that we had invested in having someone external coming and training us.
In the case I described the group had some trouble from before. I think a lot depends on the level of self reflection people have. If in your group people already know how to take responsibility for their feelings and needs and to not blame other members (aka, know the basic of nonviolent communication) I think you may still do well in introducing yourself.
I think to remember from the book MVOS that an important step is: are the group members committed to change processes?