The Lewis Method of Deep Democracy, commonly referred to as Deep Democracy, was developed in South Africa after apartheid. 

Its aim was to create diverse organizations without hierarchy in deeply conflicted teams, reversing the racist separation of workers and leadership along color lines and enabling people to work on eye level.
The vastly different conditioning of black and white people over the previous decades, the habits, behaviours, the lack of knowledge about the other people’s lives and communication differences, as well as plainly the pain and hurt that was caused by what people did to each other or did not do for each other were hurdles to overcome towards effective teamwork.

As a leadership communication tool and mediation method, Deep Democracy gives everyone a voice. It has succeeded in most adverse environments to re-connect people and turn them into high performing teams. Today it is practised in more than 20 countries around the world.

The Lewis method of Deep Democracy is a practical communication method to resolve conflicts once and for all. Deep Democracy consists of eight practical tools which can be used to address conflict (surfaced or below the surface) in group and/or 1on1 settings. Through learning to sustainably deal with conflict we turn the most difficult part of human interaction into a manageable and even exciting project. Being able to trust in your and your teams ability to deal with conflict allows your employees to share ideas more freely, increases collaboration, improves communication and enables better decision making. People speak freely, in every situation, because they feel real psychological safety. We create resilient and tight knit teams that solve conflict quickly and collaboratively.

Deep Democracy is often described as incorporating Conflict (Communication), Group Dynamics, Feedback, Culture (Team Building) & Leadership Skills (Participatory Leadership). The method is divided into four levels. The first two levels are for practitioners aiming to apply the methods in their own teams, the last two are for mediators aiming to solve deepened conflict as a service provider to other companies.