Cohousing-L Mailing List: Sociocracy and blocking

[Richart Keller (richart.keller]

I wonder how many (and which) communities currently have consensus with no
recourse if someone blocks? 

Whether or not they do have such recourse (and I suspect that most do, at
least on paper) in the rare cases where someone "blocks" an important
decision, it may be important for the community to spend the time giving
extra consideration to the concerns expressed for several reasons:

        1. to be clear that there is a thorough community-wide understanding
of the basis for the concern so that the outcome is well-
grounded--including in its rational and emotional dimensions, 
        2. by such consideration, to acknowledge and respect the consensus
process, and
        3. to use the opportunity to strengthen relationships within the
community. 

A healthy community should be a continuing, central goal in any
decision-making process.

As someone who has grown up with, excercised, and facilitated consensus and
consenus-like decision making, I have certainly experienced the frustration
and sometimes seemingly inordinate time required to make an important
decision.  At the same time, I know from experience that successful
communities are in it "for the long haul" and that the learning and
relationship-building that goes on in almost all cases benefits the
community and the individuals in it.  The pressures to make efficient
decisions are powerful, but we must not let them over-ride the movement
toward a peaceful and just world. 

In community

Rick



Richart Keller, AICP
Pioneer Valley Cohousing
120 Pulpit Hill Road #25
Amherst, MA 01002
413-835-0011
401 486-2677 (cell)
(richart.keller [at] gmail.com)


-----Original Message-----
From: Fred H Olson [mailto:fholson [at] cohousing.org] 
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 12:09 PM
To: Cohousing-L mailing list
Subject: [C-L]_ Sociocracy Workshop in Maine



Diana Leafe Christian <diana [at] ic.org>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> after restoring
subject line from "digest" and deleting quoted digest. Digest subscribers,
Please try to remember to do this.  Fred
--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS -------------------- Re
Sociocracy workshop at Belfast Cohousing

Hello,

I'm so glad the folks at Belfast Cohousing (many of whom I've met and like a
lot) are going to learn the Sociocracy governance and decision- making
method in their  April 27-29 workshop with John Buck. John is the man who
learned to read Dutch so he could write about it in English, in the book We
the People, which he co-authored with Sharon Villines.

AND I'm so glad Belfast Cohousing is inviting other cohousers to join the
workshop. I highly recommend Sociocracy for cohousing communities. I believe
it's far more effective and fulfilling than consensus decision-making, which
I taught for years.

If you're in the New England or Northeast US area (or in Quebec or
Toronto) I urge you to consider attending Belfast Cohousing's Sociocracy
workshop. Here's the link:  http://mainecohousing.org

I just taught an introductory Sociocracy workshop to my community (Earthaven
Ecovillage in North Carolina), and the people who attended loved the idea of
trying Sociocracy instead of what we have now: consensus-with-unanimity,
with no recourse if someone blocks.

Right on, Belfast Cohousing!

Diana Leafe Christian


http://www.DianaLeafeChristian.org
http://www.EcovillageNews.org
http://www.Earthaven.org

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