Cohousing-L Mailing List: Online Sociocracy Course for Communities - 2 free classes Jan 14, 16

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

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>

--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------

Dear friends and colleagues interested in community or member-led groups,

I'm offering a 10-week ONLINE SOCIOCRACY TRAINING Feb 8 - Apr 12

Mondays, FEB 8 - APR 12  $245 - $445
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - $225-$445 thru Jan 18
* Pacific, 5-7 pm  * Mountain, 6-8 pm  * Central, 7-9 pm  * Eastern, 8-10 pm
TO REGISTER: 
(https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sociocracy-for-intentional-communities-and-member-led-groups-tickets-127650904291)

And TWO FREE PUBLIC ONLINE SOCIOCRACY CLASSES Jan 14 and Jan 16 that show how 
sociocracy works and how it can benefit intentional communities and member-led 
groups, including two useful, good-will meeting processes people can use in 
meetings, even if they don't use sociocracy as a whole.
The first free overview class, Thursday, January 14 (5-6:30 Pacific Time, 
6-7:30 Mountain, 7-8:30 Central, 8-9:30 Eastern). Besides an overview of 
sociocracy, we'll practice an easy, fair, transparent process for selecting 
people for roles, which can be used to select roles for the whole community, or 
a committee or team.
The second free overview class, Saturday, January 16 (10-11:30 Pacific Time, 
11-12:30 Mountain, 12 noon -1:30 Central, 1-2:30 Eastern). Besides the 
sociocracy overview, we'll explore an easy, transparent good-will way to help 
people enhance and develop their skills in the roles they've been chosen for.
These two classes ‑ and the processes we’ll learn, Selecting People for Roles 
and Role-Improvement Feedback — go together and mutually benefit and reinforce 
each other. You are welcome to attend both free classes.  I'm offering these 
classes to help people get a sense of sociocracy and get a sense of the 10-week 
online Sociocracy Training, described below.
To register for one or both of these free short classes and get the Zoom link 
and handouts, let me know at diana [at] ic.org (mailto:diana [at] ic.org) .

“I’ve never seen a community meeting be so effective, efficient, and fun!” said 
a visitor to Hart’s Mill Ecovillage in North Carolina, a community using 
sociocracy. Sociocracy is an especially effective and enjoyable self-governance 
and decision-making method I now highly recommend for cohousing communities, 
ecovillages, and other kinds of intentional communities.

I’ve found that — when used accurately, and using what I call “all seven parts” 
— sociocracy tends to work better for groups than classic, traditional 
consensus and even modified consensus. If a group uses all seven parts of 
sociocracy they can experience:
(1) Better meetings
(2) Getting more done
(3) Being better organized
(4) Feeling more harmonious and better connected to other community members

Mondays, FEB 8 - APR 12  $245 - $445
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - $225-$445 thru Jan 18
TO REGISTER: 
(https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sociocracy-for-intentional-communities-and-member-led-groups-tickets-127650904291)

“I’m excited about each upcoming week in Diana’s sociocracy course. She’s an 
engaging and authentic trainer who truly understands how to teach sociocracy 
for communities in a way that people actually get it; I feel like I'm learning 
from the best. I think she should charge three of four times more though — I’m 
finding her course that valuable.”  —Chris Herndon, Life Coach, Seattle, 
Washington, Sociocracy Course, Oct-Dec, 2020

"Learning sociocracy in Diana’s webinar and using it in our urban ecovillage 
has easily been the most powerful catalyst to help our community thrive, mostly 
because of her deep experience and knowledge of sociocracy as used in 
communities. Her charm and teaching style kept the process light, fun and 
engaging.  I was involved in two communities that failed, so in the webinar I 
often had the insight, “Oh! We could have saved so much wasted time if I’d 
known this earlier!” or “Wow, now I know how to avoid that issue in the 
future.” I believe Diana’s training can help any group bypass the typical 
difficulties that challenge communities, and experience effective, enjoyable 
community governance instead!”     —Jordan Lindsay, Teal House, Calgary. 
Sociocracy Course, Jan-March, 2020

Groups like Chris’s and Jordan’s were able to use each part of sociocracy 
immediately after they learned it in the course.   (See more about what course 
participants say, below.)
The sociocracy training engages multiple learning modes and is engaging and 
fun, like this training in Montreal, 2014.

Mondays, FEB 8 - APR 12  $245 - $445
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - $225-$445 thru Jan 18
TO REGISTER: 
(https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sociocracy-for-intentional-communities-and-member-led-groups-tickets-127650904291)

The webinar is 35 to 45 hours of visual learning and live practice over a 
10-week period, with six different activities:
(1) For each week’s topic you’ll see watch-ahead videos of my drawing graphics 
while I'm presenting material, and short “readers’ theater” skits and songs 
about sociocracy by past training participants. 11-minute video – "Seven Parts" 
of Sociocracy https://youtu.be/InO5FsNIJQ4
(2) You’ll get visual, graphic-rich, read-ahead handouts to further illuminate 
each week’s topic, and a short quiz about that week’s topic which you can use 
as a self-quiz or send to me to check your answers. Two example course handouts 
are attached, The Four Benefits: Why People Like Using Sociocracy,  
(https://mcusercontent.com/78d9192faa1565860131ea96b/files/692234f5-f5a0-4ee3-b017-a665b5cba59b/1_Four_Benefits_of_Sociocracy.pdf)
 and Sociocracy: “Effective, Efficient, and Fun." 
(https://mcusercontent.com/78d9192faa1565860131ea96b/files/5d45ae20-a87b-42de-a98f-2b5e91a43486/2_Soc_Eff_Eff_Fun_6.12.20.pdf)
   The weekly videos and handouts require about 1.5 hours on average of 
learning time.
(3) (Optional) If you like, you can talk about what you just learned with 
another webinar participant on Zoom. The person you’ll talk with will be 
randomly chosen and you’ll meet a different person each week.
(4) You’ll have a two-hour lively practice session each week, practicing with 
the whole group and also in small breakout groups with other webinar 
participants.
(5) You’ll receive responses to any questions or comments you might email me 
about sociocracy during the course and for a year afterwards.
(6) You’ll have access to all course videos and handouts for a year after the 
course. During that year I will respond to questions to provide any additional 
help needed.

Mondays, FEB 8 - APR 12  $245 - $445
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - $225-$445 thru Jan 18
TO REGISTER: 
(https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sociocracy-for-intentional-communities-and-member-led-groups-tickets-127650904291)

(1) Feb 8:      Sociocracy Overview, and Feedback Questions in Proposals
(2) Feb 15:    The Circle Structure: Vision, Mission, Domain, Aims, Links
(3) Feb 22:    Consent Decision-Making, Part One (and Mission Circle/Top 
Circle/Board Circle)
(4) Mar 1:      Consent Decision-Making, Part Two (and Four Roles in Two Kinds 
of Meetings)
(5) Mar 8:      Consent Decision-Making, Part Three, and Selecting People for 
Roles, Part One (and Policy Meetings and Work (Operations) Meetings)
(6) Mar 15:   Selecting People for Roles, Part Two; Proposal Forming, Part One
(7) Mar 22:   Proposal Forming, Part Two (and The Circle Log)
(8) Mar 29:   Proposal Forming, Part Three, and Role-Improvement Feedback, Part 
One (and Three Aspects of a Healthy, Thriving Community)
(9) Apr 5:     Role-Improvement Feedback, Part Two, and Consenting to Circle 
Members, and Implementing Sociocracy, Part One
(10) Apr 12:  Implementing Sociocracy, Part Two

What participants say:

"I took Diana’s webinar as a member of two intentional communities using 
sociocracy, one in Turkey and one in Canada. Each group now has highly 
effective meetings — making decisions much faster than before. Our productivity 
has increased and we’re joyfully accomplishing previously daunting tasks. Diana 
presents sociocracy in an engaging, easily understandable, fun way — and in the 
context of how intentional communities function well — combining different 
teaching methods to ensure everyone fully gets it. I wholeheartedly recommend 
her training for smoother, more enjoyable community governance!”  —Ezgi 
Sarıoğlu, Kabile, Turkey, & Teal House, Calgary, Sociocracy Course, Jan-Mar, 
2020

"Source Farm Ecovillage in Jamaica has been working with Diana since 2006 when 
we read Creating a Life Together and took her workshop on starting successful 
new communities. Source Farm and two affiliated local organic farming 
nonprofits are now taking her Sociocracy webinar, which we see as the "next 
level up” from consensus. Diana is skilled in working across cultures — she’s 
blessed with the insight and skill to teach sociocracy effectively with every 
group and individual she works with. I highly recommend her unique sociocracy 
training to any ecovillage, cohousing community, or member-led group." —Nicola 
Shirley, Source Farm Ecovillage, Uijima Farmer’s Market, GWG Organic Farm 
Research Station, Jamaica. Course for Jamaican Groups, July-September, 2020.

"It was a pleasure to learn Sociocracy from Diana, one of the world's leading 
experts in this harmonious and productive self-governance method as it is used 
in intentional communities. She offers clear, concise practice sessions; 
engaging videos; and a detailed, illustrated Sociocracy Handbook. Her course is 
even more enjoyable because of her passionate energy about sociocracy and her 
gentle, inclusive, interactive teaching style — in itself a living example of 
Sociocracy principles.”  —Michele Geister, Source Farm Ecovillage, Jamaica. 
Course for Jamaican Groups, July-September, 2020.

"Our forming community in Tennessee is really grateful for Diana’s sociocracy 
webinar, as it’s been invaluable to learn directly from the author of Creating 
a Life Together. While we're learning each step of sociocracy we’re 
simultaneously gaining from her decades of experience in how intentional 
communities work well, and how sociocracy can be tailored specifically to help 
our own forming community be more successful. Diana engages multiple learning 
styles. She doesn’t settle for people simple understanding the concepts, but 
helps participants learn sociocracy thoroughly so they can start using its 
methods immediately in their group."   —Shayna Flynn, TN. Course for Forming 
Community in Tennessee, July-Sept, 2020

All Good Wishes,
Diana Leafe Christian

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