Tag: policy decisions

When to Use Consent and Consensus Decision-Making?

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Graphic drawing of the 5Ws plus H. The Five W's — who, what, where, when, why — are determined by policy and require consent. The 6th W, How, is delegated to the operations leader who implements policy to achieve the purpose of the circle. In sociocracy, consent and consensus decision-making are only used for policy decisions. Policy decisions are those that govern actions and allocation of resources (budget, people, etc.). But this leaves questions for many people—what other decisions are there? The distinction is clearer if you look at policy decisions vs. operations decisions. Operations decisions are the day-to-day moment-to-moment activities that implement policies. Operations decisions are normally made autocratically by the leader or by an individual who has… Read More . . . “When to Use Consent and Consensus Decision-Making?”

Policy and Operations Decisions

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A Circle Meeting at Endenburg Elektrotechniek The most viewed pages and the most searched topics on Sociocracy.info continue to be those related to policy and operations decisions. The distinction between policy and operations decisions is not unique to sociocracy, but it is one that many of us don’t understand. Most often we don’t even realize that we are following a policy — it’s just the way things are done. We also don’t recognize a policy decision as distinct from an operations… Read More . . . “Policy and Operations Decisions”

Structural Issues in Government

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Structural Issues in Government In my neighborhood we have a large email list designed for neighbor to neighbor conversation and requests for help. A frequent request is a phone number for help with city services. The current problem is needing the city to enforce parking regulations when a life may be at risk because a driveway is blocked. The lack of response from city governments reveals structural issues that as in other bureaucracies will be hard to fix. The… Read More . . . “Structural Issues in Government”

Policy Decisions

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In order to ensure equality and freedom, the core democratic values, sociocracy requires that policy decisions be made with the consent of those delegated to implement them. Policy decisions are confusing to many people because as citizens and employees, we are rarely asked to make them. Policy decisions are those that determine how we will act in the future. How will we do this? What will guide our actions? A policy decision tells us how… Read More . . . “Policy Decisions”

What Is Sociocracy and Why Does Democracy Need it?

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Let’s start with “What is Sociocracy?” A quick answer is that sociocracy is both: A social ideal that values equality and the rights of people to determine the conditions under which they live and work, and An effective method of organizing associations, businesses, and governments, large and small. The history of group decision making is of course as old as life itself, and humans have been doing it for millenia. There is much to be… Read More . . . “What Is Sociocracy and Why Does Democracy Need it?”

Are Your Meetings Content or Process?

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In several contexts lately the conversations about organizing sociocratically have drifted to the problem of confusing circle meetings with the work of the circle, and even circle meetings as focus of sociocracy. Evidence of this is that we discuss process and enforcing process without discussing the quality and application of decisions in our work. The questions are more often about officers and consent than evaluating the effect of recent policy decisions on operations, worker effectiveness,… Read More . . . “Are Your Meetings Content or Process?”