Meetings
“Hey, my name is Ted and I teach facilitation. Good meetings are core and center because skilled facilitators can help the group be equals and move forward. Being heard and understood matters and creates a healthy and safe team culture.”
Facilitation sheet!
A sheet for facilitators – everything on one page!
Want to translate it? Contact [email protected] for an editable version.
See a real meeting
Opening round
ca. 5 min
Check-in round. Everyone shares how they are entering the meeting
(A good chance for people to get to know you better!)
ADMIN
ca. 1 min
Making sure the circle is ready for the meeting:
- Attendance (Who is here/absent? Roles filled?)
- Duration (How long is this meeting?)
- Minutes (Last meeting’s minutes ok?)
- Info (any announcements outside of the circle’s domain?)
- Next meeting (When are we meeting next? Or, who schedules?)
Consent to the agenda
ca. 1 min
- Understand the agenda proposal
- (Asking for reactions/additions if desired)
- Consent/integrate objections to the agenda proposal
Agenda items
- Reports →
e.g. reports from sub-circle or parent circle, reports on metrics - Explorations →
e.g giving feedback, brainstorming, generating proposals - Decisions ↓
e.g. policy decisions, selections processes, possibly significant operational decisions, policy reviews
Update backlog
ca. 2 min
Check-out
ca. 5 min
- content of the meeting
- interpersonal dynamics
- process
Meeting Posters
These posters are useful for meeting rooms to remember the basic patterns of Sociocratic meetings.
The transparency of a visible poster creates shared understanding and accountability to an agreed-upon format.
The resolution for these posters is right for printing on A4 (or letter) or slightly bigger.
If you’d like to print very large, use high resolution posters.
Oh, and you can say thank you with a little donation.
Facilitation classes online!
For people with experience, or for those who would like to observe sociocracy in practice. Join us to play with facilitation scenarios. Find an upcoming session!
Integrating objections
1. Understand
2. Explore
3. Synthesize
Allow for clarifying questions
How do you relate to the objection?
Do you have ideas for amendments?
Possible strategies:
- modify the proposal
- shorten the term
- measure the concern (more info)
and go back to consent round
(full process)
Featured Resources on Meeting Facilitation
The sociocratic meeting format
The sociocratic meeting format
The myth of natural flow
Why we can’t pretend “just talking” will not be oppressive. Let’s talk about structures that truly liberate us.
Keeping meetings short
Long meetings are a pain. Let’s make them shorter. Here are the tools that sociocracy has to offer.
Sociocracy Handbook: Many Voices One Song
The practical sociocracy handbook written by the co-founders of Sociocracy For All. 300 pages full of real-life support!
Making of the agenda: past, present and future of the circle
Preparing the agenda with all aspects of the circle. Diagram from the handbook Many Voices One Song.
Understand – explore – decide
Understand, explore, decide: different forms of agenda items.
Rounds – different kinds
Different kinds of rounds.
Meeting sheet from Many Voices One Song
Meeting sheet from the handbook Many Voices One Song.
Meeting clip: Generating a proposal
A recording of an improvised demonstration of the entire process of picture forming/ proposal shaping, consent process and integrating an objection looks like.
Meeting clip: check-in round
A clip from a real-life meeting: check-ins
Meeting clip: objections
Recording from a practice session on integrating objections. This is a fully improvised example.
Meeting clips: Consent to the agenda
A recording of a real-life meeting.
How to make a an agenda and a minutes sheet
Screencast on our agenda and meeting minutes format and how to use it.
Consent process: decision-making in sociocracy
An explainer video on the consent process in sociocracy.
How to make a proposal in sociocracy
Picture forming and proposal shaping in an example
