Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Governance Consultants

[Jerry Koch-Gonzalez (jerry]

Hi Virginia,

I saw your email in the Coho-L about governance. I did a brief presentation
on dynamic governance for Village Hill recently - maybe you were there?

While I don't think anyone could give a fully unbiased picture of community
governance options, to me the best person for that is Diana Leafe
Christian. She is a colleague of mine in The Sociocracy Consulting Group
and is biased in favor of dynamic governance. But she has spent years
promoting intentional community (Google her) and consensus, and is well
aware of the variations of governance out there. I know she is not
traveling these days but may be willing to do a Skype conference. Diana and
I will be doing a pre-conference workshop in in Durham in May on
Sociocracy/Dynamic Governance.
If she is not available I may able to do that overview, biased as I am,
having taught consensus and lived in community since the 1970s.

Jerry​
Pioneer Valley Cohousing in Amherst MA
​
-- 
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
413-549-1747
Principal, Both-And Consulting <http://both-and.net/>
Member, The Sociocracy Consulting Group <http://sociocracyconsulting.com/>
Certified Trainer, New England NVC <http://newenglandnvc.org/>
President, Class Action <http://www.classism.org/>
Member, Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community <http://cohousing.com/>

On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 12:21 PM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] 
sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
>
> > On Apr 6, 2015, at 9:05 AM, Richart Keller <richart.keller [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I am thinking that we should be
> > seeking management approaches rather than "governance" systems--that
> > governance is inappropriate for cohousing communities.
>
> Please keep this discussion on the list.
>
> In fact these are not different if well done. Consensus is only a
> decision-making method. Sociocracy is a comprehensive method for organizing
> operations and governing the organization.
>
> Management as a concept is fading. In sociocracy they are considered to be
> the same. Leadership, and leadership on the part of each person is the key.
> Planning and project completion is more and more a collaborative effort
> with a leader.
>
> In sociocracy, the team decides in policy decision-making meeting show the
> leader will lead. This is a consensus decision.
>
> On a day to day basis the leader leads fairly autocratically within the
> team's policy decisions. If there isn't a policy to cover the situation,
> the leader makes a decision but discusses it at the next policy meeting to
> confirm or change the decision in the future.
>
> A policy is a decision that covers future behavior. We will..... In the
> future lumber will only be stored in the workshop, inside. For meals, a
> lead cook will be designated to improve efficiency and safety.
>
> Operational decisions are in the moment, short term. Do this ..... Put the
> lumber over there. You cook the pancakes and you cook the bacon. Put the
> hot dishes further to the back of the counter.
>
> That involves everyone equally in the process of deciding how they will
> live and work together, and still implements the efficiency of clear
> moment-to-moment leadership in operations.
>
> I recently read Six Simple Rules by a consultant at the Boston Consulting
> Group. He said collaboration is the key to success without increasing
> complexity. The manager has to "enforce collaboration." Conflicting
> concepts here.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Sociocracy: A Deeper Democracy
> http://www.sociocracy.info
>
>
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>
>
>


-- 
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
413-549-1747
Member, Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community
Principal, Both-And Consulting <http://both-and.net>
Member, The Sociocracy Consulting Group <http://sociocracyconsulting.com>
Certified Trainer, New England NVC <http://newenglandnvc.org>
President, Class Action <http://www.classism.org>