A practical workshop – delivered remotely or in-person – giving you an introduction to consent-based decision-making and a chance to try it out for yourself
Next workshop:
- We have no upcoming public workshops planned right now, get in touch if you’re interested in some team support.
Overview
Sociocracy is a theory of governance that draws on the use of consent (rather than consensus and majority voting) in discussion and decision-making by people who have a shared goal or work process.
Consent-based decision-making is one of the core principles of Sociocracy.
Using consent to make decisions helps any kind of organisation achieve buy-in from team members at every level, so people really understand why they are working towards a goal.
Some of the main benefits of consent include:
- Promoting forward motion and experimentation – finding common ground through agreeing to proposals that are ‘good enough for now’
- Balancing groups and individuals – preventing a majority having power over a minority
- Including diverse voices – ensuring no-one can be ignored through proposals that are ‘safe enough to try’
This workshop is based on your facilitators’ real-life experience of implementing the approach over many years in a business setting. The session will give you a practical, hands-on taster, and enough knowledge to start exploring using consent-based decision-making in your own organisation.
At Outlandish, we have used consent as part of our organisational DNA for almost a decade. For us, this approach to gaining buy-in has been invaluable to our success and we want to share our experience and knowledge with others.
Need more convincing? You can read about the benefits of consent and sociocracy for your organisation and how, when used effectively, it has the power to make radical change safely AND quickly.
What We’ll Do in the Workshop
Our goal is to give you a chance to learn, practice, and reflect on consent-based decision making, as used in Sociocracy (we won’t introduce the whole of Sociocracy – but you’ll get a flavour).
We aim for you to leave the session ready to use elements of sociocracy in your work. This might be to make actual decisions but it might also be just to include more voices in the crafting of ideas.
Our session will be practice focused with 70% involving your participation in the sociocratic method using dummy proposals (or if you choose so, we can use a real scenario from your context).
You will:
- gain a good grounding in using the consent process;
- explore the difference between voicing a preference and a ‘critical concern’;
- interrogate your own needs and those of others in a collaborative way;
- meet others exploring new approaches to organising;
- clarify personal and organisational next steps.
Who this workshop is designed for
Managers, leaders, agile teams, community groups, cooperatives, collectives who:
- want to democratise their workplace and make sure everyone’s voices are being heard
- are looking for ways to structure more equitable decision making or discussion
- feel power imbalances are inhibiting productivity and/or not making the use of everyone’s creativity and problem solving skills
- want experience using democratic tools for research or just for curiosity
The workshop is also suitable for consultants who are helping others with organisational development, design, or cultural change, as well as anyone with an interest in Sociocracy.
Timing & Format
10:00 – 16:00 (with a lunch break*)
We intentionally keep the numbers of this session low, so that everyone gets a chance to get involved. Most of our time will be spent on practice, exploring consent-based decision-making together to maximise your learning.
*in face to face workshops we provide lunch, at Space 4
Cost
We have priced the workshop to be accessible for individuals and SME’s, please get in touch to discuss pricing
Want to know more?
Outlandish can arrange a bespoke workshop for your team. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss options
