The WorldBlu Blog

Today, Democracy in the Workplace Day, we’re thrilled to announce the second annual WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces!

This year’s list is comprised of 25 various organizations including for-profit and non-profit organizations from the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Malaysia from industries such as technology, healthcare, telecommunications, media, manufacturing and retail, representing nearly $8 billion in combined annual sales.

Below are a few highlights of WorldBlu List companies and what makes them democratic:

DaVita Inc.®, located in El Segundo, California, is the first FORTUNE 500® company and first healthcare company to make the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces. It is the largest independent provider of dialysis services in the US, with over 1,300 clinics and 30,000 employees.

DaVita practices organizational democracy through regular “Town Hall” meetings and at its quarterly “DaVita Voice of the Village” meetings where “teammates” can ask any question to the CEO and senior leadership. Also, each year the company’s CEO and COO share their successes and failures in front of more than 2,000 teammate leaders. Teammates are also regularly asked to vote on various new practices and all of the 1,300 individual clinics are empowered to develop their own set of rules and guidelines, decentralizing power by allowing each clinic to be its own boss.

Equal Exchange, located in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, is owned and governed by their employees on a one-person/one-share/one-vote basis, without regard to seniority or rank. Employee-owners also elect the Board of Directors and hold six of the nine seats.

Dreamhost, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a web hosting company where they use email discussion lists almost exclusively to make critical business decisions, practicing full transparency so that every voice is heard and decisions are made with everyone’s best interests in mind.

The Grammy® Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, based in New York City, is completely conductorless, rotating leadership amongst orchestra members.

At Great Harvest Bread Company, headquartered in Dillon, Montana, they have designed their franchise model with more than 200 stores across the US using a “freedom franchise” approach, a method they developed in to order to nurture creativity, excellence and a true sense of ownership.

At Pandora, an Oakland, California-based personalized online radio service with more than twelve million listeners, they decentralize leadership, empowering all employees to make decisions with the fewest people necessary.

At Innovation Partners International in Portland, Maine they pride themselves on rotating all leadership roles on a regular basis, from president to CFO.

King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont and sweetriot, based in New York City, practice employee-ownership and open-book management, respectively, common practices in most democratic workplaces.

At San Francisco-based Linden Lab, makers of the highly successful Second Life® online virtual world, key company data is openly shared in real-time on flat-screen TVs and employees are encouraged to choose their own work based on company objectives. Their “A and Os,” or Achievement and Objectives platform, is a weekly self-reporting tool where each employee shares with the company via email what they will work on that week and what they accomplished the previous week. Their “Distributor” tool is a points system where employees pledge on projects they believe will be of the greatest benefit to the company or to people who deserve them. Employees can show appreciation for one another by “sending love” through their “Love Machine” software application.

Here’s what some of the CEOs had to say about making the WorldBlu List 2008 and why they believe in organizational democracy:

Dallas Kashuba, CEO of Dreamhost:
A democratic workplace is simply more effective. When everyone has a chance to be a part of the decision-making process, the decisions made are more universally accepted. We can spend less time managing and more time doing what we do best. Open lines of communication within the organization also lead directly to better communication with the customer.

Dave Balter, founder and CEO BzzAgent:
Openness and transparency are not only hallmarks of democracy, they are also bellwethers for successful businesses. Today’s consumer has countless opportunities to voice his opinions about brands and companies. Shouldn’t employees have that same right?

Brian Scudemore, Founder and CEO, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Creating the world’s largest junk removal service is completely in alignment with being recognized as one of the world’s most democratic places to work. We know that our steady growth and customer satisfaction relies on our ability to carry out these democratic processes.

Philip Rosedale, CEO, Linden Lab (makers of Second Life):
In order to meet the unique challenges we face as the creators of the virtual world of Second Life, we strongly believe in the wisdom of the crowds because, often times, our issues are larger than any one person can solve on their own. We truly believe that distributing the decision-making makes us a stronger, more agile enterprise.

Chris Mann, CEO of Guayaki:
At Guayakí we are pioneering a new business model that demands creative solutions. We find that through democratic practices we all bring our whole selves to the process and that elevates the quality of our decisions.

Tim Westergren, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Pandora
There’s nothing more potent than a talented, motivated employee who feels respected and empowered by their company. They are happier and more effective, plain and simple. That’s what a democratic workplace means to us.

Ann Price, Founder and CEO, Motek
Motek’s strong culture enables us to attract and retain incredible people. It’s an incredibly fierce advantage.

I’m always asked if I see any themes amongst democratic workplaces. All of them have built a healthy and robust democratic organization because they’ve operationalized the 10 principles essential to organizational democracy. Beyond that, however, there are few shared best practices and common themes. Here are few I’ve noticed:

• They practice open-book management.
• They think and treat employees like entrepreneurs or intra-preneurs rather than employees.
• Many have developed a kind of free market system within the organization.
• Employees are rewarded based on merit, not titles.
• There is an open-source mindset and the “wisdom of crowds” rather than “groupthink” is recognized as a strength.

You can learn much more about WorldBlu List organizations and the way they use democracy as a key to their competitive advantage at WorldBlu LIVE happening this October 16-17, 2008 in New York City. Click here to register now.

I’ve absolutely loved getting to know this year’s awardees and I hope you do too. Enjoy and help us spread the good news!