Second Annual
Sociocracy in Cooperatives Conference 2022
Thursday, June 23, 2022
SoFA’s second annual Sociocracy in Cooperatives international conference took place on June 23, 2022.
We offered an introductory session for co-operators new to sociocracy, and sociocrats new to co-operatives, exploried implementations in worker, multi-stakeholder and housing co-ops, heard about sociocracy and co-operation in Turkey, discovered how sociocracy can help navigate the tricky subject of pay, and made space to co-design a new community of practice for co-operators implementing sociocracy in their co-ops.
We had the honour of being joined by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, who led a discussion on Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice. You can read her article here, Racial Equity in Co-ops, 6 Key Challenges and How to Meet Them.
This conference was attended by those enthusiastic about co-ops and/or sociocracy, and though the event has passed, you can watch recordings from the conference below.
Save the date!
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Conference Start Time
15:00 UTC
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Conference End Time
20:00 UTC
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Opening Session
15:00-15:50 UTC
| Time | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 15:00 UTC-15:10 UTC | 10 minutes | Welcome to the conference from Sociocracy for All’s Cooperatives Circle |
| 15:10 UTC-15:20 UTC | 10 minutes | Get to know you session in small breakout groups |
| 15:20 UTC-15:50 UTC | 30 minutes | Co-ops & Sociocracy 101 |
First Session
16:00-16:45 UTC
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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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Sociocracy: The Worker Co-op Operating System
Sociocracy: The Worker Co-op Operating System (By John McNamara. Originally posted on workersparadise.) Over the last couple of years, I have had the incredible opportunity to work with Sociocracy For All (SoFA). […]
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Pittsfield Listens!
Pittsfield Listens Pittsfield Listens is an organization in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, that works to build community, inform on civic issues, solve problems through community conversations, and to award individuals, groups […]
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Keeping meetings short
Long meetings are a pain. Let’s make them shorter. Here are the tools that sociocracy has to offer.
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To decide or not to decide?
3 decisions every young organization will make. They will happen either way, either consciously with a good and inclusive system, or unconsciously with old biases kicking in. Which would you rather do?
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Sociocracy a la carte?
Can one just pick and choose from sociocracy and build your own governance system? Or is it a package deal and one has to use ALL the tools?
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Everyday sociocracy
How can we use sociocracy in everyday life? How is it useful to interactions, for example, with your kids, your partners, your neighbor?
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Sociocracy and the brain
When, and why is learning fun? How can we create a meeting where everyone is addicted to learning together?
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A permaculture school in Sweden
Andreas Jonsson is showing us around in a sociocratically run permaculture school in Sweden.
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Sociocracy in communities
Governance in intentional communities (cohousing and ecovillages) – what do they struggle with? How can sociocracy (aka Dynamic Governance) be of use?
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Overcoming hierarchy
Presentation and conversation with Gregg Kendrick, a consultant working with non-violent communication and sociocracy in workplaces.
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Scorcher Bakery in Oregon
A worker-owned bakery in Oregon that implemented sociocracy years ago.
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How to make a an agenda and a minutes sheet
Screencast on our agenda and meeting minutes format and how to use it.
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Heaven on Earth
An interview with the founder of the Children’s and Neighborhood parliaments in India.
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What is sociocracy? (20min animated video)
What is sociocracy? Here is a 20-min video introduction giving an overview of how groups in sociocracy make decisions, structure their teams, and create safe and connected spaces to learn and improve.
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10Pines
10Pines is an Argentine Software company founded with the Agile manifesto values in mind. It is an open, participative, self-organised and trust-based company.
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Codento
Codento is a change agent’s right hand helping with software development, IT Architectures and Agile Methodologies.
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Nothing AG
We are a digital design company (for-profit) based in Switzerland. Our overall purpose is simple: we want to create products which matter.
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Mediagenix
MEDIAGENIX has chosen to implement their version of sociocracy (more precise S3) based principles and patterns.
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How to make proposals in sociocracy
Picture forming and proposal shaping in an example to know how to make proposals in sociocracy – Sociocracy For All
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Denmark Technical University DTU
IT department of 45 people, embedded in a typical hierarchical IT organization of 190 employees, delivering IT-services and software development to the Universities 6000 employees and 12000 students.
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ArboLife
Arbolife was founded by Morli and Marc Mathys because they wanted to take a road to better care about themselves and the planet.
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Programs for schools: Mindfulness First.
Mindfulness first is a nonprofit that promotes mindfulness in schools and beyond.
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Sociocracy In An Agile World – Leif Hanack and Michael Geiß
From leader to leadership. We formed a cross-functional unit out of 3 teams. Instead of autocracy or anarchy, we use sociocracy to foster alignment and autonomy, while taking our long-time agile software development practices into account.
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Deepening Our Practice of “Both/And” Thinking – Laureen Golden
In a world of increasing complexity, a “both/and” mindset provides significant competitive advantage. Those who value the ways Sociocracy supports “both/and” thinking will likely find Polarity Management™ to be a […]
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Mindfulness and Sociocracy – Stephanie Luz Cordel
Sociocracy supports collaborative management in the nonprofit sector and is in line with many mindfulness values.
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Sociocracy – Top 10 Fast FAQ: John Schinnerer
An FAQ-style tour of ten top questions or issues that arise in learning and implementing sociocracy, collected & condensed from over six years of online and in-person training & consulting experience.
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Sociocratic Cohousing Community: Cohabitat Québec
An urban sociocratic cohousing community in Quebec, Canada, that values non-violent communication.
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The Holma Folk Highschool: A permaculture school in Sweden sociocracy case study
This case study features a large permaculture school in Sweden.
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Selection process
In this article: What is the selection process? One of the richest processes in sociocracy, the selection process is sociocracy’s tool for electing people into leadership and other roles, known […]
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How to choose a governance system for your organization
Is your nonprofit, small business, or volunteer group looking for a new way to make decisions? Many groups are questioning our mainstream systems — and that includes the systems by […]
Second Session
16:45-17:30 UTC
Third Session
17:45-18:30 UTC
Forth Session
18:30-19:15 UTC
Closing Session
19:15-19:20 UTC
Open Space
19:30-20:30 UTC
Conference Programme
The conference will begin with opening remarks from the coop circle and short get to know you breakout groups, followed by our presentations.
The cooperatives conference occurred on June 23, 2022. You can watch recordings from the conference for free. If you find value in these resources, please consider making a donation to Sociocracy for All to help support our future work. Please click on the presentation you’re interested in to see the recording.
Presentations
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Turkish Language Meet Up
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Konferans öncesi bu bir saatlik buluşma, Türkçe konuşan sosyokrasi ve kooperatif meraklılarının birbirleriyle tanışmak ve deneyimlerini paylaşmak için bir alandır.
Welcome and Framing
Small Group Breakouts
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Sociocracy 101 & Co-ops 101 –Andy Grant & Mark Simmonds
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Explore the connection between the practice of sociocracy and cooperative principles.
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Adventures in Sociocracy at Third Sector Accountancy — Zig Power & Jo Roberts
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Explore how Third Sector Accountancy found sociocracy and the successes and challenges they’ve experienced implementing a new structure during a period of rapid growth
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Small Steps — Introducing Sociocracy in an Established Food Co-op by Andy Grant
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One-year Review of “Small Steps — Introducing Sociocracy in an Established Food Co-op”
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Sociocracy as a Guide to our Pay Process in a Worker Co-op — Kayleigh Walsh and Abi Handley, Outlandish
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Even in a well-established team, pay can trigger all sorts of feelings and power dynamics – how far can sociocracy support us with that? We remodelled our pay process to use sociocracy throughout. We’re still learning, and we want to very transparently share where we’re at, what we’ve found so far, and how we plan…
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Circular Cooperation Model in Turkey –Aslı Kaya & Gonca Eti
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We are four cooperatives in Turkey, all governed by sociocracy. Our intention is to create a circular system with an innovative approach to inter-cooperative solidarity and cooperation applications, and develop a sustainable business model based on employment for individuals with fewer opportunities.
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Sociocracy in a Cohousing Cooperative — Joanna McMinn
Our housing project can be seen in the context of a post conflict society, where social housing has become sectarianised, and so we are committed to a diverse and inclusive community, where issues of justice and equality are important. We are currently articulating our governance structures, with a management circle and smaller circles; and have…
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Co-creating a Community of Practice — Abbie Kempson
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Sociocracy for All’s Co-op Circle intends to form a Community of Practice Circle for co-operators engaged in (or interested in) experimenting with sociocracy in their co-ops. We will use the sociocratic picture forming and proposal shaping process to co-design our community of practice.
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Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice — Jessica Gordon Nembhard
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We are very excited to announce that we will be joined by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, who will lead a session on Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice. The aim of the session is to discuss Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Justice in the context of cooperatives and how sociocracy can serve as a bridge.
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Conference Circle Closing Round
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We will close the 2nd Annual Sociocracy in Cooperatives Conference 2022 with a closing round.
Conference Recordings
The cooperatives conference occurred on June 23, 2022. You can watch recordings from the conference for free. If you find value in these resources, please consider making a donation to Sociocracy for All to help support our future work. Please click on the presentation you’re interested in to see the recording.
Presentations
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Sociocracy in Cooperatives Conference 2022
This ticket gives you access
to all live conference talks on
June 23, 2022
15:00 UTC – 20:00 UTC
Register for the Sociocracy in Cooperatives Conference
Sliding scale: $10 – $75
Suggested price: $25
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Given the vast inequality on our planet, affordability is something we care about.. If you would like to attend our events but have a hard time affording the tickets, you can contact events@sociocracyforall.org to get a discount.
Call for Proposals
Our deadline has now passed, however if you are inspired and would like to suggest a session we would be very happy to try and fit you in. Please use the link below to submit your proposal.
We are looking for 45 and 90 minute sessions suitable for the following formats:
- Learn – introductory training sessions (interactive, practical) focusing on particular sociocratic (or complementary) tools or skills (suitable for beginners)
- Showcase – Adventures in Sociocracy, showcase your co-op’s implementation (suitable for any level of familiarity with sociocracy)
- Topic Talks – Exploring issues in sociocracy in co-ops, particularly any exploration of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (Intermediate – assumes familiarity with sociocracy and co-ops)
We invite all contributors to explore justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in their sessions. Please see SoFA’s Social Justice statement.
To submit your proposal please click the button below.
The mission of Sociocracy for All (SoFA) is to make resources for learning and implementing Sociocracy accessible to everyone.
SoFA Co-op Circle offers an opportunity to join a global community of practice around sociocracy in co-ops, working together and sharing resources to contribute meaningfully to a more just and sustainable world.
The SoFA Co-op Circle is currently developing and delivering tools, methods, and educational materials to support co-ops in adopting Sociocracy.
