Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…is sociocracy really the best way?
Why are things getting faster?
Admittedly, it has only been a week but this attempt to slow down is not quite working out as planned…the pressure is mounting again. I am hoping it is a ‘hangover’ from pushing through so much work at the end of 2022, which has caused a backlog but time will tell. Or could it be, that, the process of slowing down, requires a lot of plans to be put in place and decisions to be made to ensure we continue to delivery a high quality service. Plans and decisions, take time and energy.
Investing in decision making
We use sociocracy (our version of it) to deliver Powering Up. As anyone, who works using sociocracy will know, it requires, trust and time. When pressure mounts, these are two things that can be stretched, which then impacts on making good decisions. My experience of making decisions when you have a laser focus on fast delivery and reducing the pressure on the team, is that you risk making decisions that have unintended negative consequences and in particular, they can be in relation to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Tweaking the sociocractic approach to manage this
There is probably nothing new about this but it has definitely helped us to ensure any sociocratic proposal considers the impact it has equity, diversity and inclusion. To do this, we simply have a section in any proposal that explores the impact the proposal could have on EDI, which then stimulates, reflections, clarifying questions and critical concerns. So, I guess, its a form of ‘hard-wiring’ EDI into our decision making. It is not a solution on its own and I have a lot to learn on how to do it better.
“the times are urgent; let us slow down.” — BAYO AKOMOLAFE
So, although, the ‘slowing down’ is currently speeding up, I will keep investing in decision making and planning, to ensure slowing down happens. Maybe I need to slow down my expectations.
