A turtleocracy is an organizational and decision-making structure. It's an alternative to democracy, do-ocracy, bureaucracy, consultancy, etc. See comparisons with these other forms at Is Turtleocracy Right for Your Organization?
(Cross-Org Turtleocracies? A turtleocracy can span more than one organization.)
Main Ideas
There are three big ideas.
- 🐢 Turtles, Rabbits, and Birds. Turtleocracies pivot around a particular kind of person—slow, mostly-takeless people (turtles) who are in a position to gain wisdom and discernment on a topic area. Turtles must have a deep abiding curiosity about a particular question, without particularly strong ideas or "takes". Turtles think of any particular project or experiment as the first in a long series, as unlikely to answer their question, and as based on a woefully incomplete understanding of the space. In a turtleocracy, these turtles are surrounded by faster, idea-driven people (rabbits and birds) who suggest ideas and models to them.
- 🌪 The Turtle Cycle. Each turtle will go through cycles or phases that include consultation with experts in related fields, individual reflection on their question, and experimentation. They should be adequately resourced and encouraged in such cycles, and Turtleocracy and Turtle Check meetings are there to make sure they are so resourced. [1]
- 🕸 Web of Questions. The organization structure is based on a network of deep questions. Each question has a turtle-y person attached. These turtles dedicate themselves to researching their question over a fairly long term. One turtle can have more than one question, and one question can be in more than one place in the network. Each turtle has certain working relationships with turtles they are connected to in the network, but they are not the traditional relationships of bosses and employees: turtles cannot tell other turtles what to do.
🐢 Life of a Turtle
A turtle gathers information from multiple problem-solution fields that already exist. They run experiments based on guesses about what might work for their own project, and reflect on the outcomes without being committed to any particular approach. Turtles are always tentative in their answers, and guided by what works. They are prepared to repeat the process of research, experimentation, and reflection for years.
If you want to do research inside a turtleocracy, you will go through certain stages. See to see our intake process. Once you are inside, you'll go through the turtle cycle.
🌪 The Turtle Cycle
Turtles flow between states or phases, with occasional Turtle Check meetings to ensure they are adequately resourced and the questions are all still aligned.
- Permissionless Experimentation. A good turtle doesn't believe their current best idea is likely to work. Nonetheless, they need to be able to test it. Venues for the experimentation necessary at each level must be maintained by the parent turtles. And these venues should be such that child turtles don't need permission, buy-in, or argumentation to make their experiments. They don't even need to believe in them, themselves. (They better not!)
- Reflection and Deep Work. The work of a turtle involves solitude, reflection, and long periods of consultation via books and the like. Reflection time must be protected. Meetings, interruptions, and group process must be batched so as to support the turtles.
- Consultation and Dream Teams. Turtles should be encouraged to find and consult with the best experts and ideators in the world who work in fields adjacent to their questions, and to adopt the best possible child turtles.
⏚ Foundations of Turtleocracy
Turtleocracy is designed to address problems with other org structures. In other orgs, important information—about people's personal values, and their doubts about the organizations' work—tends to get lost. We believe that these two types of information are especially important for the economy we want to create: one that's (a) focused on meaning and values over business goals, and (b) that takes more doubts and larger-scope issues into consideration as the organization operates. (See Towards “Game B” for more on the economy we want to create, and why this has something to do with values and doubts.)
Here are examples of the kinds of problems Turtleocracy is designed to address:
- The Tyranny of People with "Takes". Most group processes and organizations are overrun by people who are confident, who have takes, who can frame the situation, who see the way forward clearly. This crowds out experimentalism, open-mindedness, and true curiosity.
- The Growth of Meaningless Work. In most orgs, employee roles and projects can become misaligned with personal values, and this means work can become meaningless. Or, employees may lose the sincerity with which they approach work because of doubts about the whole project and their lives, or because of pressure to show progress.
- The Tyranny of Organizational Goals. In most orgs, projects and responsibilities dominate, not questions and curiosities. Organizational goals crowd out the values and curiosities of team members, so orgs are less likely to solve deep problems, and more likely to ship products that don't address something deeply.
- Inability to Learn. Most orgs cannot respond to changing values and newly emerging values—although changing values are a natural result of experimentation and learning.
⚠️ Improvements Needed
- Economic Harm. This flexibility with which Turtleocracies rearrange questions and adopt/reparent new and different child turtles would work best in a situation of basic income, or good severance packages, etc—otherwise the reshuffling of turtles could cause economic harm.
- Fake Turtles. In a large turtleocracy it may be possible to fake being a good turtle when you are really not abidingly curious about your question. It's likely Turtle Check will need to develop more sophisticated methods for detecting fake turtles.
- Turtle Supremacy. Some people are not set up to be turtles. Turtleocracy as currently practiced may result in them feeling bad, being excluded, or having low status. Rabbits and birds are used to having high status, so this change in status may be especially hard for them.
Next Steps
- Learn about in the Human Systems Turtleocracy.
- Join a Turtleocracy using the List of Turtleocracies
- Decide, Is Turtleocracy Right for Your Organization?
- Learn about Starting a new Turtleocracy