Sociocracy
About Sociocracy
Sociocracy originated in the Netherlands. Originally envisioned in 1945 by Kees Boeke, a Dutch educator and pacifist, as a way to adapt Quaker egalitarian principles to secular organizations, sociocracy allows us to give and receive effective leadership while remaining peers. Together with his English wife Beatrice Cadbury, who was also a teacher, Boeke introduced a method for teachers, pupils and their parents to work together for the best possible result. Gerard Endenburg, was one of the pupils in this "Workplace Children's Community", as the Boekes' school was called. The Dutch Royal Family also sent their princesses to this school.

After World War II, Gerard Endenburg trained as an electrical engineer and concentrated on the then new science of cybernetics (the science of steering and control). He worked briefly for Phillips Electronics, designing a flat speaker that is still used in small electronic equipment today. Then his father challenged him to manage a small, failing business he had purchased. In less than a year Gerard had made the business profitable and merged it with his father's company. In the late 1960s Gerard's father retired and Gerard became manager of Endenburg Electrotechniek, Inc., with the mandate run it both as a profitable business and as a real time laboratory for testing innovative management ideas. Sociocracy is a product of that "laboratory."

He developed the Sociocratic Method into a body of well tested principles which is now used in more than a hundred different organizations: schools, businesses, various institutions, a local police department, a police academy and a number of businesses in the USA, Canada, Italy, Switzerland and Brazil.

He has retired as the managing director from his business (Endenburg Electrotechniek in Rotterdam), but remains a board member and a member of the Sociocratic Center of The Netherlands. He is now teaching the Sociocratic Method as a professor at the Economic Science and Industry Department of Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

WHAT IS SOCIOCRACY?

Sociocracy is rule of an organization by the "socii," that is, people who regularly interact with each other and have a common aim. (The prefix socio- comes from "socius," the Latin term for companion or colleague.) Each socius has a voice that cannot be ignored in the managing of the organization. In contrast, democracy is rule by the "demos," that is, a collection of people who may or may not know each other and have only general aims in common -- such as the running of a country. An autocracy is rule by an "auto" or single person. The typical business is an autocracy. The majority of the "demos" can ignore the minority of the "demos" as they make their decisions. An "auto" can choose to ignore the rest of the organization.

Sociocracy can be regarded as a fractal structure, which means that the same patterns occur at different levels in the structure. That is why, once the basics are understood, the procedures at the highest level are as clear as the procedures at the grassroots level. It also doesn't require very many levels to include a great number of people. For a society, organized along sociocratic lines, this would take away a lot of the obscurity surrounding democratic politics. Everything is open to discussion – limits of an executive's power, policy decisions, personnel decisions, investment policy, profit distribution, or all rules. It can be adapted to any organization. It doesn't replace the organization's structure, but is in addition to it. The structures used in decision-making give everyone a voice and keep the process on track.

Sociocracy is a form of governance developed by a Quaker for secular organizations. It uses the decision-making process of Consent (which is different than 'consensus'). It was further developed by a Dutch businessman whose main goal was to keep everyone involved in the decision-making equal in the amount of power they have. He calls this maintaining equivalence.

Some of us here at Twin Oaks community have been trying it out and WE LIKE IT!! My name is Ted and I've been learning about sociocracy and practicing running meetings sociocratically since June of 2001. Our circle has been meeting since then and we've been quite impressed by how well people with very different opinions can agreeably make decisions together. I'm stoked about sociocracy as a form of governance, and consent as a decision-making process that could really make a huge difference in this messed up world of ours.

I've tried to read all there is (not much) and I've read Gerard's two books (pretty dry): Sociocracy: The organization of decision-making, and Sociocracy As Social Design

Besides the four main principles Endenburg has come up with some agreements that help "maintain equivalence" between participating members:

No secrets may be kept
Everything is open to discussion – limits of an exec's power, policy decisions, personnel decisions, investment policy, profit distribution, all rules….

Everyone has a right to be part of a decision that affects them.
Every decision may be reexamined at any time

Sociocracy is a form of governance

It models an organization that can function and function well with the least levels of hierarchy possible. It cannot be owned because ownership indicates who has the ultimate decision-making power. That power is shared, thus ownership is shared.

HOW SOCIOCRACY WORKS

Home Why use sociocracy? The Four Main Principles
Meeting format Proposal format Elections Facilitation Proposal Template
Circle Processes Vision, Mission, Aim
Decision-making forms FAQ What We're Doing at Twin Oaks Links

Twin Oaks homepage (where i used to live!) This page was last updated June 1st,, 2002 by webmaster Ted.