Annual Global Sociocracy Conference
May your power be with you
May 4 and 5 2023
Thank you for joining us! See you next year.
Discover innovative tools for implementing sociocracy in your organization from these year’s sponsors
Thanks to our wonderful sponsors who are all strong supporters of sociocracy and related systems!
Get a chance to see what tools exist to improve our use of sociocracy.
About this year’s conference
In sociocracy, the ultimate power is power that is shared, power that can be found distributed within each person.
Teams that argue, compete or lack clarity about their purpose and processes give their power away.
When we learn how to organize ourselves and work together towards a common goal, we can achieve more than we ever could on our own.
Those organizing with sociocracy know how to align their actions while owning our power.
The challenges are immense, but we, the champions of collaboration and sociocracy, must not be deterred. Our work is more important now than ever before.
As this period of transformation unfolds, we invite you to join us in celebrating the progress and learning of the collaboration and sociocracy movement.
On May 4th and 5th, we gather to share our successes, challenges, and visions for a galaxy built on principles of equity, justice, and empowerment.
Join us in building a planet that works for all…
Watch free selected recordings
These recordings are made available thanks to your donations.
How to safely implement a sociocratic governance model?
Dette van Zeeland
In this presentation I like to share my experience in (re)designing the organisational structure and implementation of sociocratic governance models in different contexts. What creates the safety to start? How to distribute power and influence and keep track of the organisational flows? How to run governance meetings and use consent decision making in systems that use delegacy? How to evaluate domains and help the organisation to become self-sufficient in doing sociocracy? I also like to hear your challenges and give my view in return.
What if the highest circle can’t find consent? Fitting sociocratic structure into current legal structures
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
If a circle can’t make a decision despite trying, the decision may move to the next-higher circle. The end of this chain is the highest circle in the organization, often the Mission Circle or the Board of Directors. But what happens if that circle can’t make a decision?
This is not only relevant for governance but also for legal questions – an organization cannot be deadlocked and needs to have clearly assigned authority to work within the current legal system. Some organizations use majority rule as fall-back. What other options are there for the “top circle” problem that incentive collaboration and integrating of objections but still break the deadlock?
Transformation through Sociocracy and Participatory Budgeting
Kristina Banks and Ingrid Hafted
Join Kristina Banks and Ingrid Haftel from the Participatory Budgeting Project as they share reflections on the intersections between sociocracy and participatory budgeting (PB)–and how they are experiencing the transformative power of this shared governance systemically, organizationally, and individually.
5 things we didn’t expect when introducing self-management
Rosie Axon and Kasia Sikora-Black
This short workshop will explore 5 themes that we have encountered so far in our self-management journey, and will invite participants to consider their expectations and thoughts on how these themes play out in their existing work places.
Demystifying transformation: Critical moments in the adoption of sociocracy
Ted Rau
Are you ready to make the switch to sociocracy but feeling overwhelmed with where to start? Changing your governance system can feel like open heart surgery! I mean, how do you change everything while keeping operations going?
And there are all those questions – like who decides that we can use sociocracy? Everyone or the “old” leadership” And can we adopt a few parts, or do we have to do everything at once?
In this talk, we’ll explore the benchmarks and different strategies of adoption for sociocracy, along with their advantages and disadvantages. We’ll provide a roadmap for getting started, helping you navigate the process with confidence and more clarity.
Sociocratic Agile: How to Marry Sociocracy and Scrum
Rolf Medina
Scrum is today the most popular agile method, especially in product development, but also for other types of business. Many organizations struggle with managing different Scrum teams with different backlogs that often have different priorities. In this session we will discuss how sociocracy can be used as a governance model for Scrum and vice versa; how Scrum can be used within an organization based on Sociocracy. First the principles and then the challenges, pitfalls and success of Sociocratic Agile implementations in practice.
SONEC (Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles): the European future of the Neighbourhood Parliaments movement
Joseph Rathinam and Nathaniel Whitestone
The Neighbourhood Parliaments movement is one of the world’s largest local participatory democracy movements, with hundreds of thousands of communities in southern India. In Europe, we have begun adapting the Neighbourhood Parliaments model into what we now call Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles. Learn about the history, the model, current experiments, and have a chance to discuss this and ask questions relating to your own community.
The planet is (silently) screaming at you! How to get out of your paralysis and make a difference via your daily life!
John Buck
We are dealing with a slow crisis of climate change. We are used to a crisis being now and urgent and stirring fight or flight hormones that cause us to drop everything and face the imminent problem. So, the difficulty with climate change (and other planetary challenges) is that for most of us the fight or flight hormones are not kicking in. We’ve already experienced our share of changes to the climate (extraordinary storms, blizzards, floods, etc), and wondered if there’s anything we could do about it? How will we feel when the problems start getting more serious – for example, when the sea level rapidly rises by 66cm – which is predicted to happen between 2025 & 2027!? The climate crisis is a wicked problem that tends to leave us overwhelmed (“what can little me do about such a big problem?”), uncertain if we can make a difference at all, and if so how?
Sociocracy supports Prosociality
Pip Atkins & Scilla Sayer
Sustainably sharing our planet, our community, our ‘commons’ calls for the implementation of Prosocial Core Design Principles and the development of a ‘culture of the heart’.
Sociocracy provides us with ways to implement many of these Core Design Principles and it also supports connection between people that is respectful and egalitarian.
Hypha DAO
Joachim Stroh
DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are rapidly becoming a new organizational form that have the capacity to lift us out of the competitive industrial age into a new cooperative way of working and solving the hard and wicked problems together. Principles of sociocracy are at the heart of these new organizations to enable anyone (startups, coops, communities, villages) to come together and build a business and community on a global scale from the ground up sans geographic boundaries and entry barriers to launch a business. Come see how the Hypha DAO has entered this new playground with a third generation DAO that has everything you need in an “organization-in-a-box”.
Program
View complete program
May 4th
Opening Session
Shala Massey and Rhonda Baird | May 4th 12:15 – 13:15 UTC
Navigating the Pandemics with Sociocracy 3.0: A Success Story from Neock.es
Hugo Lopes and Isabelle Belloso | May 4th 12:15 -13:15 UTC
SONEC (Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles): the European future of the Neighbourhood Parliaments movement
Nathaniel Whitestone and Joseph Rathinam | The Neighbourhood Parliaments movement is one of the world’s largest local participatory democracy movements, with hundreds of thousands of communities in southern India. In Europe, we have begun adapting the Neighbourhood Parliaments model into what we now call Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circles. Learn about the history, the model, current experiments,…
How to safely implement a sociocratic governance model?
Dette van Zeeland | In this presentation I like to share my experience in (re)designing the organisational structure and implementation of sociocratic governance models in different contexts. What creates the safety to start? How to distribute power and influence and keep track of the organisational flows? How to run governance meetings and use consent decision…
TATW Experience: Implementing Sociocracy Principles in Volunteer-Based Organization
Rhea Ong Yiu | May 4th 13:15-14:00
Next Generation University, Sociocracy for Grand Challenges
Mixel Kiemen | May 4th 13:15-14:00
5 things we didn’t expect when introducing self-management
Rosie Axon and Kasia Sikora-Black | This short workshop will explore 5 themes that we have encountered so far in our self-management journey, and will invite participants to consider their expectations and thoughts on how these themes play out in their existing work places.
What are the conditions and capacities needed for a Self-organizing Developmental Organization (SDO) to work?
Bernadette Wesley | May 4th 14:00 – 15:30
Solidarity Economy – system change and sociocracy
Emily Kawano | May 4th 14:00 – 15:30
The planet is (silently) screaming at you! How to get out of your paralysis and make a difference via your daily life!
John Buck | In the workshop, each participant will create a small experiment in connected climate action that is actionable by the participant. For example, experiments might increase the awareness of the need for urgent action especially among internal and external connections, inspire others to take action NOW on some aspect of this enormous crisis,…
Applying Sociocracy: DAOs and Web3
Chase Chapman | May 4th 15:30-16:30
Sociocracy as a Tool for Shifting Cultural Norms
Deirdre Ashenhurst | May 4th 15:30-16:30
Sociocracy in museum workplaces development
Lara Ermacora | May 4t 16:30 – 17:15 UTC
Sociocratic Agile: How to Marry Sociocracy and Scrum
Rolf Medina | Scrum is today the most popular agile method, especially in product development, but also for other types of business. Many organizations struggle with managing different Scrum teams with different backlogs that often have different priorities. In this session we will discuss how sociocracy can be used as a governance model for Scrum…
Sociocracy and Co-operatives: Critical Reflections
Abbie Kempson | May 4th 16:30 – 17:15 UTC
SoFA Sector Showcase
Rhonda Baird | May 4th 18:15 – 20:15
Consent & Crew: Journey to the Temple
Di Pham | May 4th 18:15 – 20:15
Reflection Space and Networking
Ted Rau | May 4th 18:15 – 20:15
Day 1 closing session: SoFA trivia
SoFA Team | May 4th 20:15 – 20:45
May 5th
Day 2 Opening Session
SoFA Team | May 5th 12:30 – 13:00 UTC
Organizational Learners Program
Sanket | May 5th 12:30 – 14:00 UTC
Short form presentations
Shala Massey, Kim Scott, Laine Wyldling Evans, Romina Farrell, Kåre Wangel | May 5th 12:30 – 14:00 UTC
Presentation of the board game on self-management: Is there a leader present?
Maria Friis Larsen and Lise Lotte Wolff | May 5th 13:00 – 14:00 UTC
German language meet up
SozFA | May 5th 14:00 – 15:00 UTC
Portuguese language meet up
Sanket | May 5th 14:00 – 15:00 UTC
French language meet up
Francine Proulx-Kenzle | May 5th 14:00 – 15:00 UTC
Italian language meetup
Thomas Kemps | May 5th 14:00 – 15:00 UTC
Embodied Sociocracy
Idit Rose and Nathaniel Whitestone | Nate and Idit invite you to join us in this Embodied Sociocracy session We will move our bodies Share how we use sociocracy in our lives with relation to our body. Reflect and explore a sociocratic principle through our body in relation to life, leadership, facilitators and more. We…
Why sociocracy can help organisations mental wellbeing
Nicholas Morgan | May 5th 16:00 – 16:30 UTC
A Sociocracy, Toyota Kata, Systems and Design Thinking Recipe for Conflict Resolution
Simon Copsey | May 5th 16:00 – 16:30 UTC
Lessons from a Sociocracy-Informed Climate Change Adaptation Lab in Lund, Sweden
Rory Antoniuk | May 5th 16:00 – 16:30 UTC
Balancing sociocracy – the value triangle
Oliver Müller, Kim Jana Degen, and Jeannine Brutschin | May 5th 16:30 – 17:30 UTC
Quantum Theory Both for And against Sociocracy
François Knuchel | May 5th 16:30 – 17:30 UTC
Sociocracy for Co-liberation
Shala Massey | May 5th 16:30 – 17:30 UTC
Lessons learned from my mistakes: Stories from consulting experience
Umesh Mangroliya | May 5th 17:30 -18:30 UTC
Celebrating a Sociocratic Failure
Alex Rodríguez | May 5th 17:30 -18:30 UTC
Does Sociocracy Support Student Voice? Presentation of original research
Hope Wilder and Tina Nielsen-Hodges | May 5th 17:30 -18:30 UTC
How Can a Collaboration Document Help a Sociocratic Circle?
Sheella Mierson | May 5th 18:30 – 19:30 UTC
Hypha DAO
Joachim Stroh | DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are rapidly becoming a new organizational form that have the capacity to lift us out of the competitive industrial age into a new cooperative way of working and solving the hard and wicked problems together. Principles of sociocracy are at the heart of these new organizations to enable…
Transformation through Sociocracy and Participatory Budgeting
Kristina Banks and Ingrid Haftel | Join Kristina Banks and Ingrid Haftel from the Participatory Budgeting Project as they share reflections on the intersections between sociocracy and participatory budgeting (PB)–and how they are experiencing the transformative power of this shared governance systemically, organizationally, and individually.
Full-stack sociocracy
Tibet Sprague | May 5th 19:30 – 20:30 UTC
What if the highest circle can’t find consent? Fitting sociocratic structure into current legal structures
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez | If a circle can’t make a decision despite trying, the decision may move to the next-higher circle. The end of this chain is the highest circle in the organization, often the Mission Circle or the Board of Directors. But what happens if that circle can’t make a decision?
High Quality Reactions – discerning thoughts and feelings
John Schinnerer | May 5th 19:30 – 20:30 UTC
Demystifying transformation: Critical moments in the adoption of sociocracy
Ted Rau | Are you ready to make the switch to sociocracy but feeling overwhelmed with where to start? Changing your governance system can feel like open heart surgery! I mean, how do you change everything while keeping operations going? And there are all those questions – like who decides that we can use sociocracy?…
Sociocracia y permacultura
Roberto Spano | May 5th 20:30 – 21:30 UTC
Sociocracy in Architecture, University and Climate Action
Valentin Abend | May 5th 20:30 – 21:15 UTC
Demystifying transformation: Critical moments in the adoption of sociocracy
Ted Rau | Are you ready to make the switch to sociocracy but feeling overwhelmed with where to start? Changing your governance system can feel like open heart surgery! I mean, how do you change everything while keeping operations going? And there are all those questions – like who decides that we can use sociocracy?…
Sociocracia y permacultura
Roberto Spano | May 5th 20:30 – 21:30 UTC
Sociocracy in Architecture, University and Climate Action
Valentin Abend | May 5th 20:30 – 21:15 UTC
Australasia
Australasia: Opening Session
SoFA Team | May 4th 23:30-1:00 UTC
Embodying Sociocracy Within
Ian Goh | May 5th 1:00 – 2:00 UTC
Sociocracy supports Prosociality
Pip Atkins and Scillia Sayer | Sustainably sharing our planet, our community, our ‘commons’ calls for the implementation of Prosocial Core Design Principles and the development of a ‘culture of the heart’. Sociocracy provides us with ways to implement many of these Core Design Principles and it also supports connection between people that is respectful…
Tending a Living Course – A collective showcase on a decade of shaping sociocracy training using sociocracy
John Schinnerer, Gina Price, Erin Young, Francine Proulx-Kenzle, and Sheella Mierson | May 5th 2:00 – 3:00 UTC
Australasia Closing Session
May 5th 3:00 – 3:30 UTC
This conference was sociocratically organized by members of Sociocracy For All
Join us for an in-person training in october!
