{"id":92164,"date":"2023-02-10T15:28:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=92164"},"modified":"2023-02-17T16:41:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T20:41:35","slug":"democracy-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/democracy-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy in the Workplace: Giving Everyone a Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why is democracy in the workplace important? How do you distribute authority at work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Brave New Work<\/em><\/em>, Aaron Dignan emphasizes the importance of giving power to everyone in the workplace. Doing this ensures equality at work and encourages employees to speak up and carry out the organization’s purpose<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at how you can enforce democracy in the workplace to create an environment of equality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Distribute Authority Widely<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For the principles of autonomy and flexibility to be effective in your organization, authority is an important area to reform. In general, Dignan recommends giving people the power to carry out the organization\u2019s purpose the best way they see fit, rather than workers simply following orders from a superior. Regular governance meetings and allocating resources as needed<\/strong> are a couple of specific ways to implement democracy in the workplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A regular governance meeting creates a democratic space for everyone to implement the consent process discussed in the previous section. In these meetings, everyone has the authority to propose changes<\/a> to structures and processes<\/strong> or to raise concerns about anything inhibiting their work. If your organization already has a lot of meetings, Dignan also recommends canceling all meetings for two weeks to give everyone a chance to figure out what meetings are genuinely helpful. People can then return to the governance meeting with a new perspective on what changes they want to see and what processes they want to maintain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Applied in a different context, governance meetings within families enable a more democratic style of parenting<\/a>, as opposed to an authoritarian style (where parents set strict rules) or a permissive style (where children can do what they want). In democratic parenting, governance meetings are an opportunity for each family member to have a voice and weigh in on activities, household rules, and allowances. Similar to Dignan\u2019s benefits of an autonomous workplace<\/a>, advocates of this practice argue that it fosters feelings of connection, worthiness, autonomy, and courage in children.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since control of resources is another way to exercise authority, allowing workers to allocate resources as needed is another way to distribute authority. Rather than adhering to a rigid, traditional budget that controls the flow of resources, Dignan suggests maximizing<\/a> discretionary funds and the number of people who have access to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Strategies for and Benefits of Decentralizing Authority<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although the context differs from the corporate environment, in Team of Teams<\/em><\/a>, Stanley McChrystal talks about strategies and benefits of redistributing authority<\/a> throughout his military task force in Iraq. Despite the fact that the military is known for its rigid hierarchical structures, McChrystal found that running all decisions through the chain of command put them at greater risk because they could not act quickly in high-stakes situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To distribute authority throughout the ranks, McChrystal encouraged members to make decisions independently as long as the decision advanced the mission of the task force and was moral and legal. When officers who felt comfortable making decisions on their own reported on those decisions at briefings, McChrystal publicly approved of their actions to encourage more people to do the same. This decentralization<\/a> of authority took more time for some people to adjust to, but McChrystal eventually noted the following benefits of this method: <\/p>\n\n\n\n