One way of organizing teams, often practiced at Serlo, is sociocracy. This is especially good to make decisions really concensus-oriented and integrate all team-members in decision-making!
How does sociocratic decision-finding work?
Sociocracy works with the sociocratic principle. That means that decisions are only taken as accepted,if there are no "paramount objections", so reasoned, argued objections from persons also working towards the goals of the organization.
We generally recommend this way of decision-making. Methodically it is possible to follow the following steps (we made good experiences with a moderator leading through the process):
proactive bring in a suggestion: One person brings in proactively a suggestion, that is then discussed.
Comprehension-round: At first an open space is given to ask questions concerning the understanding. Be open to any kind of question and keep in mind that your team-members might not be so good informed concerning individual issues (not like you). Try to limit the use of technical terms.
Discussion-round: Only after there are no comprehension-questions left, opinions can be brought in and the suggestion can be discussed. Often during this process the suggestions is also improved, for example when there are objections concerning it.
Vote: A poll is made with the question "Are there objections concerning the suggestion?". When there are none the suggestion is taken as accepted and otherwise if there is a veto is rejected.
There are two really important points to have in mind when taking decisions through sociocracy. The first one is "consent vs. concensus":
Consent vs. concensus
In sociocracy there is a distinction between consent and consensus. Sociocratic decisions are not meant to produce a consensus, so that everyone has to fully agree with the decision. It does only have to produce a consent, so that there are no objections concerning the decision and everyone can live with it.
Transparency and openness
So that decisions can be made in a sociocratic way it is crucial that everyone is on the same base concerning the information they have and that all processes are transparent. You should try to integrate every team-member and give them the possibilities to participate (so have clear and open ways of communication and don't exclude anybody by the ways of participation).
What are the benefits from a sociocratic-structure?
t.b.d
Further reading
See here for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociocracy
