Nonprofits often need to pivot quickly to respond to humanity’s most pressing needs, and must swiftly execute a plan of action with input from a broad range of stakeholders. But for most organizations, even making everyday decisions can be an uphill battle. So how can nonprofit leaders align their teams toward efficient, inclusive decision-making?
At the 2024 Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN in Portland, OR, Skeleton Key Principal & Founder Justin Birdsong led an interactive workshop to help participants explore the principles of sociocracy, also known as “dynamic governance.”
Unlike traditional top-down or consensus-based models, sociocracy empowers every member of the organization to actively participate in shaping its direction. Sociocracy emphasizes collaborative, consent-based (rather than consensus-based) decision-making, with a focus on surfacing and integrating objections to improve decisions and organizational buy-in.
Through discussion and role-playing practice, participants explored how sociocracy can help nonprofits to:
- Distribute decision-making power more equitably
- Increase transparency of decision making to all members of an organization
- Streamline decision making to adapt more quickly to changing circumstances
- Foster greater individual accountability through clear roles and better representation
Much of the content in this presentation was reproduced (with gratitude!) under a Creative Commons license from Sociocracy for All, CC-NC-BY-SA by Ted Rau.
Check out the session slides here:
