Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Question about Committee Membership and Sociocracy

[Marc Gauthier (coachmarc108]

Hi Chris,

I'm trying to understand. Why would members of a particular circle need to
attend the Reach committee meetings ?

To get an understanding of the sociocratic process  ?

>From what you are describing, it seems that using consent would be a new
thing for your group.
If that is the case, it would make a lot of sense to have the entire
organization become familiar with the process, especially if the group has
been using another (somewhat similar) process so far.

I saw an Ad billboard recently that read "the system can't work if we don't
understand the system".

Depending on how many of your people that already have a solid
understanding of the sociocratic process, this transition can be done in a
few ways I can think of.

   1. By arranging an organization-wide training with competent trainers,
   like Jerry Koch-Gonzalez and Jennifer Ted Rau of Sociocracy For All
   
<http://www.sociocracyforall.org/what-organizations-can-do-sociocracy/workshops/>
   .
   2. You could also decide to train a few facilitators who will then
   explain the process to their respective circle members. It is typically the
   role of the sociocratic facilitator to not only understand and pay close
   attention to the meeting process, but also to educate, as needed, other
   circle members about that process.
   3. You can also form self-study groups
   <http://www.sociocracyforall.org/elc/>.

About your specific questions...

   1. When does a member have a right to object to a proposal in the
   consent process ? Here's a 57 second summary answer
   <https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=57&v=2M1ftER-rVU> to that
   question by Jerry.
   - Here Jerry tells us what we can do
      <https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=2I1OQFwUagE> with
      valid objections.
      2. How do we define consistent membership and participation on a
   committee ? Here
   <https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=60&v=dywMYWuLlcA> is
   Jerry's answer to that question.

For short and to-the-point answers to these and other questions, watch the
fantastic short videos on this page
<http://sociocracyconsulting.com/about/resources/video-faq/>.

I hope that helps...

Mukunda





On Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 20:57 Chris Terbrueggen <christopher402 [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Greetings, At CohoMadison, Reach committee members are working on a
> committee proposal to define our governance structure and decision-making
> process using consent.
>
> A question came up about membership and when does a member have a right to
> object to a proposal in the consent process. Are there co-housing
> organizations that have said members should attend two or three committee
> meetings before having the right to object to a proposal?  How do we define
> consistent membership and participation on a committee?
>
> I noticed the following statement in sociocracy bylaws.  Thanks, Chris
>
> 3.4 Circle Membership
>
> 3.4.1 Definition
>
> Except for the Board of Directors as defined in §6 Board of Directors, a
> circle shall include all members of the organization who have significant
> roles in the circle’s operations, whether they are paid or volunteer staff.
> Each circle shall define “significant roles” and shall be as inclusive as
> possible while ensuring (1) the stable functioning of the circle and (2)
> the ability of its members to deliberate with a consistent membership.
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