Why we can’t run an organization solely on good intentions. — A few months ago, I read Humankind by Rutger Bregman, a book that is labeled a “hopeful history.” It makes a point that I agree with: humans, pretty much across the board, act in respectable, caring ways. In a word, they act with good intentions. …

How can partnerships among organizations succeed? — This paper describes the ingredients of collaboration between organizations without a higher, “big tent” organization. The intention is to create a governance protocol that helps make collaboration easy, clear, nimble and empowering, and that allows collaboration to scale up or down depending on need, resources, and values. The design principles…

Distilling the patterns of sociocracy as a governance protocol — This article describes the high-level, foundational patterns that underlie sociocratic decentralized governance. It’s best suited for organizations with clear boundaries between “inside” and “outside”, and there are shared activities that are explicit, i.e. it’s clear what the overall aim of the organization is collectively held, i.e. there is a…

Can we let go of the right-and-wrong thinking about objections? — Discussions around consent decision-making often revolve around the question What is an objection? Some people hope that governance can become like a machine — you plug in the objection, calculate its validity and you’re done! And that makes sense. We do need a way to rein in the nay-sayers so…

Collective decision-making creates more opportunities to listen and deepen our connections, restoring our human fabric and the ecosystems we inhabit. — The term “regeneration” evokes images of gardens and wind energy, while “governance” sounds like boring decision trees and dusty board meetings. So what is “regenerative governance” supposed to be? When I think of governance, I think of my colleagues and friends. The things we want to do together. …

You can change the rules of the game! — Here are some basic everyday like decisions: You want to go out to eat as a family? How will you decide where to eat, when to leave, and whether we are still going even though one family member has other plans? You want to start a book club? How will you decide what book to read, how…

Setting your pace in self-management — People’s opinions seem to vary. Are self-management tools like sociocracy and Holacracy slow and bureaucratic? Or are they fast and agile? This question conceals a bigger insight: how fast or slow you go, how bureaucratic or lean you are — that is totally up to you. For a consent-based system…

Five ways to get lost in a meeting… or what to do if you do — It’s easy to get lost or side-tracked in a meeting! Here’s how not to get lost … or at least how to find your way back pretty fast! Below is a list of typical behaviors that slow down meetings. They are common. They are wide-spread and omnipresent. Learn to notice…

What can natural languages teach us about self-governance? — When two humans talk, they use language to make sense of the world and to connect. Language works in all kinds of ways: People use language to describe the world around them and align their description of the world. This coat is brown, and I think it’s faux fur. Words…