Cohousing-L Mailing List: Sociocracy: Horizons and Steering

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

We had a very good workshop on Sociocracy last week. John Buck led about 7
of us from the Middle Atlantic Cohousing groups through the first half of a
two day workshop.

I was even more impressed with Sociocratic principles for getting things
done and including everyone in the process than I had been before. I had
been happy to find a system of governance that was compatible with consensus
but I had expected to have to do some tinkering to make it work as nicely as
I wanted it to in making room for everyone in a living community.

My goal was to resolve the sociocratic insistence on a hierarchical
structure of circles. In Sociocracy there are working circles (our teams)
that relate to a General Circle. The general circle selects a "top circle"
that functions much as a board of directors. The "top" stuff drove me crazy
but John used an analogy this week that works for me.

A community is a ship in an ocean. The function of the crew (members) is to
keep the ship afloat and moving toward its destination. This requires
steering mechanisms, not rules.

Each circle is a steering mechanism and has a different horizon. The
galley's horizon is what is happening in the galley and getting the next
meal on the table. The crow's nest's horizon (the top circle) extends as far
as the eye can see, tracking icebergs that may never come near.

A ship requires attention at all these horizons. Miss a meal and the crew
loses energy. Miss an iceberg and the ship goes down. Forget to read the map
and the ship never docks to pick up or deliver its cargo.

The emphasis is on steering mechanisms, not on rules, trust, or quorums for
voting or reaching consensus or declare agreement.

The necessary functions are defining goals and what it takes to achieve
them, measuring and evaluating whether you are reaching them, and adjusting
to changing conditions or changing goals.

This creates a dynamic organization which is alive and responsive and
productive. 

When I explained this principle of horizons to one of our members after the
workshop she made a very illuminating comment: Here everyone has the same
horizon -- about a month out. No one is thinking about the day to day like
being sure there is toilet paper in the commonhouse or two years out when we
start replacing common elements.

I thought this was very perceptive. We tend to have everyone on deck in
meetings about actions we may take next month. Some one is at the wheel, not
quite sure where to go but "Hey, everything is fine!"

Sharon.

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