Cohousing-L Mailing List: Consent/Consensus, Sociocracy, and Appeals policy?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 9, 2022, at 12:32 PM, Diana Leafe Christian <diana [at] ic.org> wrote:

> I was surprised to read your post because Treehouse Village Ecohousing uses 
> sociocracy, and in sociocracy (which I know well as a sociocracy trainer), 
> there is no appeal process per se, since sociocracy is designed for decisions 
> to be made by members of the circle (committee) that covers its own 
> particular domain or area of responsibility. That is, the way sociocracy is 
> designed, someone who's not a circle member cannot object to a decision made 
> by another circle.

Diana’s explanation alongside my explanation are indicative of the variations 
of how sociocratic principles can be applied in organizations — and of how 
individual preferences affect that application. Diana is a very successful 
teacher of sociocratic organization and her well thought out rules work very 
well for many, many groups.

Other groups produce the same results using different methods. This is similar 
to the two communities from “Collaborative Happiness” that I wrote about a few 
weeks ago, one Japanese and one Canadian. Each has been very successful for 
decades. But to ensure equality, the Japanese community measures everything in 
numbers, for example, to determine sameness, while the Canadian community 
measures only by feelings based on individual differences. One has rules for 
everything, the other has almost nothing so codified that it can be written 
down.

At bottom, sociocracy is an expression of "how things work best in societies” 
or organizations— thus the inclusion of “socio” in the name. Sometimes the 
expressed has detailed rules as Diana teaches it and sometimes is more flexible 
in application. 

Sociocratic principles can be demonstrated to be at work in both these 
cohousing communities even though they are applied very differently — and 
probably neither ever heard of sociocracy.

In any harmoniously functioning organization, the same three basic principles 
of sociocracy will be found:

1. Consent (no objections)
2. Feedback loops (linking communications channels)
3. A defined leadership and operations structure

Gerard’s Endenburg’s Sociocratic Circle-Organization Method, that Diana 
teaches, was developed in an organization of engineers. As such it is very 
precise. The global organization in the Netherlands has continued in this path 
even conducting audits of organizations that desire to say they are using the 
method. An extensive set of requirements is used to certify whether they are 
sociocratic or not.

While Gerard attended a school that was an application of Quaker principles, he 
was not a Quaker. Kees and Betty Boeke who started the school and developed the 
first application of sociocracy, were guided more by the principle of consent 
to ensure equality and inclusivity. Everyone was equally important but was also 
unique. 

What works? was the question, not What do the rules say? Often the rules are 
the best guide because they have been tested and found reliable. But other 
rules can also work.

This isn’t to question the place of rules. It is to state that there are many 
ways to produce the same result. Neither is wrong. Sociocracy is an ideal, not 
a set of rules.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines, Washington DC

"Behavior is determined by the prevailing form of decision making." Gerard 
Endenburg