Lessons learned after seven years at collaboratio helvetica
Daphne Bucher looks back at seven successful years at collaboratio helvetica. In this blog post, she talks about navigating power dynamics, self-responsibility, and personal growth in a self-organised start-up environment.
Having been at collaboratio helvetica since the beginning and having seen several strategy changes and restructurings, I have put together my biggest learnings in this blog. In the ever-evolving landscape of start-ups, adapting innovative frameworks and tools is essential for fostering a dynamic and resilient team. Over the past seven years, the journey with Sociocracy 0.3 and various New Work tools has been both rewarding and challenging. Here are the key lessons I've learned along the way.
Implicit and Explicit Power of a Leader
One of the most significant challenges encountered is the balance of power within the organisation. While Sociocracy 3.0 aims to distribute decision-making authority evenly within the team, the more experienced team members’ implicit and explicit power often looms large, creating a leader vs team dynamic. Implicit power, derived from their vision, passion, and historical context within the company, can overshadow the collective decision-making process.
Lesson Learned: Transparent communication is crucial. Creating spaces for eye-level conversations and continuous, open and honest communication is important to keep the power structure transparent and the power dynamic balanced within the team. Regular check-ins and feedback loops help ensure that the “leader’s” influence does not inadvertently stifle the voices of other team members. Establishing clear boundaries, time investment and expectations around decision-making roles can also help manage this dynamic.
Self-Responsibility and Accountability
Sociocracy and New Work tools heavily emphasise self-responsibility and accountability, which can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, these principles empower team members, fostering a sense of ownership and autonomy. On the other hand, challenges can arise when there is a struggle to manage responsibilities effectively or when there are differing interpretations of focus and priorities. This requires a significant time investment to align and agree on the key priorities that will drive the strategy of the organisation.
Lesson Learned: Develop robust support systems, these are essential. This includes regular training sessions on New Work tools, goal setting, and self-assessment. Additionally, implementing buddy systems or peer accountability groups can provide the necessary support and encouragement for team members to thrive in a self-responsible environment.
The Need for Maturity in Each Team Member
The success of Sociocracy and New Work tools strongly depends on each team member’s maturity and emotional intelligence. The ability to self-regulate, communicate effectively, and collaborate without hierarchical guidance requires personal growth, self-reflection, and honest feedback from others, as well as the ability to handle conflicts and feel safe within the team to deal with arising challenges effectively.
Lesson Learned: Investing in personal development programs has been transformative for our team. Workshops on emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and effective communication have helped cultivate the maturity required for our organisational structure. Encouraging a culture of continuous learning, working on emotional safety within the team and self-improvement is vital for sustaining this approach.
Other Key Learnings
Embracing Flexibility and Adaptability
Start-ups are inherently unpredictable, and being rigid can stifle innovation and growth. Sociocracy’s iterative approach to governance allows for flexibility and adaptability, which are crucial in a start-up environment. At the same time, the lack of basic structures and clear processes can lead to inefficiency loss and frustrating loops.
Lessons Learned: Promoting an agile mindset helps with embracing change and adaptability within the team. Regular retrospectives and adjustments to processes ensure responsiveness and resilience in the face of challenges. Having basic structures and processes in place is still essential to allow freedom and creativity, and to prevent energy-draining administrative work and misunderstandings.
Building Trust and Psychological Safety
A foundation of trust and psychological safety is essential for Sociocracy and New Work tools to be effective. Team members need to feel safe to express their ideas, concerns, and feedback without fear of retribution.
Lesson Learned: Prioritise trust-building activities, such as team retreats, trust exercises, and open forums for discussion. Creating a safe and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and heard has been pivotal for our success.
The Importance of Clear Roles and Responsibilities
While Sociocracy promotes shared leadership, it’s crucial to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities to avoid confusion and overlap.
Lesson Learned: Ensure that roles, expectations and responsibilities are well-defined and communicated. This clarity helps in aligning efforts, reducing redundancy, and ensuring accountability.
My biggest personal learnings
Having gained numerous valuable insights on how to structure and lead self-organised teams at an organisational level, my most profound learnings have been on a personal level. Through this journey, I learned to set boundaries, take full responsibility for my domain, navigate emotionally charged environments, and feel confident in my skills and areas of expertise. Additionally, I discovered new personal talents that are beneficial in an agile organisation. This experience has pushed me to confront and heal my insecurities and wounds, equipping me with many tools for personal growth.
Conclusion
The journey of implementing Sociocracy 3.0 and New Work tools in our start-up has been an enlightening experience filled with growth and learning. The challenges of managing implicit and explicit power, fostering self-responsibility and accountability, and requiring a high level of maturity among team members have taught me invaluable lessons. These challenges were navigated by prioritising transparent communication, developing strong support systems, investing in personal growth, fostering an agile mindset, building trust, and clearly defining roles.
As collaboratio helvetica continues to evolve, these lessons will remain at the core of the organisational ethos, acting as a guide towards a more collaborative, resilient, sustainable and innovative future.
Author:
Daphne Bucher joined collaboratio helvetica in 2017, initially taking over communication and visualisation and developing the organisation's communication strategy from scratch. For the past 3.5 years, she has been part of the leadership circle, shaping the organization's development. Daphne holds an MBA in Business Administration with a major in Business Development & Promotion. Her diverse work experience has given her extensive knowledge in communication related to social innovation and systems change. At collaboratio helvetica, she works on projects addressing social innovation and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Switzerland, aligning her work with her values and passions.