Management: Democratic Sustainable Organizations through

Democratic Management: Sustainable Organizations through Collective Leadership

Presented By: Stephanie Luz CordelAll Voices Consulting, LLC

26th Annual Nonprofit Conference on Sustainability StrategiesOctober 25th, 2018

Today’s Session

1. Understand Today’s Organizations

2. What is Democratic Management?

3. How Do You Practice Democratic Management?

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Promote equitable and inclusive social change through participatory practices

◎ Community-based participatory research◎ Collaborative Governance◎ Meeting Engineering◎ Active Community Engagement◎ Mindfulness Practices◎ Open Government

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1.Today’s OrganizationsOrigin of hierarchy and autocratic leadership

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5Foster , P. (2013). Organization 3.0 Embracing Theory in the 21st Century. Paul Sohn

Classical Leadership

◎ Displayed by a person’s position in a group or hierarchy

◎ Leadership evaluated by whether the leader solves problems

◎ Leaders provide solutions and answers

◎ Distinct difference between leaders and followers

◎ Communication is often formal◎ Can often rely on lack of

transparency and controlling others

6O'Neill, C. (2016). Collective Leadership: What is it? Why is it important? How can you build capacity for it? Society for Nonprofits.

“Any problems with this

approach?

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2.What is Democratic Management?An inclusive alternative to leadership

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“How would You define

Democratic Management?

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Democratic Management by Other Names

◎ Collective Leadership◎ Agile Leadership◎ Shared Leadership◎ Participative Management

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Democratic Management & Collective Leadership

A group of people working together toward a shared goal◎ Collective leadership is a process ◎ Dependent on the relationships among the parts in the

system◎ Shared responsibility and decision making,

accountability, and authentic engagement◎ All members are involved in creating the vision and are

committed to working to achieve that vision◎ Members of the group take a more participative role in

the decision-making process

11O'Neill, C. & Brinkerhoff, M. (2018). Five Elements of Collective Leadership. Nonprofit Quarterly

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O'Neill, C. & Brinkerhoff, M. (2018). Five Elements of Collective Leadership. Nonprofit Quarterly

3.How do you Practice Democratic Management?An inclusive alternative to leadership

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Organizational Level

Team/Department Level

Individual Level

Individual Level

Personal Leadership Style and Characteristics for

Democratic Management

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Mandarino, P. (2012) Leadership in an Agile Environment. Thought Works. Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/leadership-agile-environment

““Collective Intelligence is shared or group intelligence that emerges

from the collaboration and collective efforts.”

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◎ “Information isn’t in the hands of one person. It’s dispersed across many people. So relying on only your private information to make a decision guarantees that it will be less informed than it could be.”

◎ “Groups that are too much alike find it harder to keep learning, because each member is bringing less and less new information to the table. Homogeneous groups are great at doing what they do well, but they become progressively less able to investigate alternatives.”

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“No individual is likely to make a very accurate guess. But time and time again, the average guess of the number of marbles turns out to be amazingly accurate. The group’s collective knowledge is superior to that of any of its members!”

20Pant, P. (2012). Does “Collective Wisdom” Really Exist? Business Insider.

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Collective Leadership Compass by: Collective Leadership Institute

Team LevelMeeting Structures and

Decision Making

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25Johansson, H., Porter, Y., & Möller, O. (2017). The rise of participatory meetings. Methodkit Stories.

Other Participatory Meetings Approaches

◎ Speaker’s Ball to help center who is talking

◎ Having a Common Agenda that can be added to at any time before meeting so people can contribute their suggestions

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27Leader Syndrome Blog (2015). Effective Decision-Making: when to engage the team (or not)?

28SlideGeeks. Retrieved from: https://www.slidegeeks.com/business/product/four-types-of-participative-decision-making-ppt-powerpoint-presentation-example

29Smith, M. (2016). Consent Arises within a Range of Tolerance. Circle Forward.

Decision Making Matrix

∗ Responsible: The person(s) who is/are responsible for making the decision.∗ Approve or Veto: The person(s) who has the right to approve or veto∗ Consult: Person(s) who should be consulted when gathering information and making thedecision.∗ Informed: Person(s) who needs to know what the decision is.∗ Supports: Person(s) who support the implementation related to the decision.

30Wholonomy Consulting/Elan Consulting (n.d.). Decision Making Handout.

31Wholonomy Consulting/Elan Consulting (n.d.). Decision Making Handout.

It can feel uncomfortable!

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Organizational Level

Collaborative Governance Models

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34Vincent, S.. (2018). To have happy customers, you need happy employees. The Zappos way. Enlivening Edge Magazine.

Worker Self-Directed Nonprofit

“A nonprofit organization in which all workers have the

power to influence the programs in which they

work, the conditions of their workplace, their own career paths, and the direction of

the organization as a whole.”

35Sustainable Economies Law Center http://www.theselc.org/workplace_democracy_in_nonprofit_organizations

Board StructureThere are five specifically defined

Board roles with one general director, affectionately known as “Owl

Directors.” Owls have huge eyes and are symbols of wisdom in many

cultural traditions!

◎ Board Chairperson (staff)◎ Programming Owl◎ Financial and Resource Owl◎ Development Owl (Treasurer)◎ Legal Owl (Secretary)◎ Governance Owl ◎ General Owl for others

36Sustainable Economies Law Center http://www.theselc.org/workplace_democracy_in_nonprofit_organizations

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Thanks!Any questions?

You can find me at:Email: stephanie@allvoicesconsulting.com Website: www.allvoicesconsulting.com

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