Interconnectedness
When all pieces are interdependent.
We know this, but we often forget: we’re interdependent, interconnected beings. Each part of the organization is important, just like each organ and part of our body plays an important role for the whole.
This interdependence is expressed in many different ways in a sociocratic organization.
- We make decisions by consent because all members of the circle are interdependent contributors who need to “play together” to achieve the aim. We can’t just leave one of us out.
- Linking is an expression of interdependence. We link circles because no circle is an island. Consenting to changes in aims or domains is a manifestation of that interdependence.
- Circles might have distinct domains, but we get feedback from the parts that are affected by our decisions - because we depend on each other even beyond linked circles.
- Ideally, a Mission Circle includes outside people as MC members - because no organization is an island either.
By the way, we’re not reading interdependence into sociocracy; it’s a concept that was a driver of the principles of sociocracy from the very beginning.
Imagine yourself with your roles, interdependent with everyone in your circle, moving towards the circle aim. Imagine the circles linked to your circle(s), like a wobbly web of aims and people. Now imagine your whole organization as an organism, with all of its precious parts.
Now shift your attention to the wider ecosystem in which your organization lives. The people you serve, the people that serve your organization. All the people who might be affected by what you do, maybe one or two or more steps removed.
If you can, stretch to imagine the whole world, full of interdependent organizations, towns, and regions, all buzzing with life and contribution to each other.
Now take a deep breath. And onwards in your day.