The theory and practice of sociocracy in cooperatives
This conference was a great success! See the conference recordings below!
Conference Recordings
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Small Steps — Introducing Sociocracy in an Established Food Co-op by Andy Grant and Alexander Davidson Carroll
A report on bringing sociocratic practice to one board committee in a 40-year-old consumer-owned food co-op where, according to the bylaws, decisions are made by majority vote and, for operational oversight, the co-op uses policy governance (Carver method)
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The problem of numbers: How does sociocracy work for large cooperatives? Ted Rau
One of the values of cooperatives is to have democratic processes involving all members. The value of sociocracy is to have all workers be decision-makers. How does this match in large coops, like platform coops?
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Beyond Fair Shares: A Sociocratic UK Cooperative Society – Nathaniel Whitestone
Learn about a society model that brings together the Sociocratic Neighbourhood Circle (aka Neighbourhood Parliament), cohousing development, and local multistakeholder coop.
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Analyzing the power (harmful and/or generative) dynamics in your team – Rebecca Fisher-McGinty
Often, our cooperatives are formed as a response or alternative to the destructive power dynamics in the mainstream hyper-capitalist and oppressive systems. However, it often takes some unlearning and new structures to help us create the workspaces that we dream of.
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Introducing en route sociocratic elements to a radical worker cooperative – Orestis Varkarolis
Disorganization and overwhelmed general assemblies have long been documented to be the reality of radical worker cooperatives. Does sociocracy offer a way out that fits the vision of radical co-operators? In this presentation, we reflect upon a case study on an attempt to introduce bits of sociocratic governance into a radical cooperative in Greece.
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Designing sociocratic co-op structures in the UK – Mark Simmonds
An exploration of the constraints that UK legal structures impose on the implementation of sociocratic governance in co-operatives and how we might create governing documents that work within these constraints.
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Creating the climate where Sociocratic principles can thrive. 6 months in the life of “Building OUT” – Abi Handley
Building OUT is Outlandish’s programme of services and workshops that can build any team’s Openness, Understanding & Trust (see what we did there?). It’s delivered by practitioners from co-operatives that really use the tools we share in their everyday work.
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Co-operative Sociocracy — making it work for your co-op – Abbie Kempson & Kate Whittle
Drawing on the past two to three years of implementation at Unicorn Grocery and Kate’s many years of experience supporting co-ops in communication and decision making, Abbie and Kate show how to implement sociocracy in a way that works for your co-op.
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Mehr als Wohnen — housing coop – Andreas Geiger
About a “satellite apartment” with 10 other adults at the ambitious mehralswohnen.ch housing coop in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 2017 we have been practicing sociocracy for our monthly circle meetings (to discuss issues, make decisions, manage our money) and open votes to select new flatmates.
