The modern orchestra is built on top-down decision-making. Its operating model, with a conductor making practically all performance choices, is so common that it can seem natural or inevitable. Such centralised control brings efficiency. Player control, however, confronts this and other hierarchies. The members of player-governed orchestras seek to distribute authority across the membership while retaining any efficiency gains from a central structure. The challenges inherent in optimising and sustaining workplace democracy are at the core of this chapter. Sustaining the participatory and democratic core of player-governance emerges as a matter of continuing responsiveness, adaptation, and negotiation. The democratic participation of musicians in the governance of their orchestras concerns much more than decision-making, though. It also cultivates engagement, commitment, and a sense of responsibility. The chapter introduces the reader to a virtuous circle of engagement, commitment, and shared responsibility; elements that, in turn, sustain player-governance. This chapter shows how player-governed orchestras reshape artistic hierarchies while making decision-making as effective as possible and building engagement, commitment, and responsibility for their shared undertaking.