Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Consequences ?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Sep 9, 2023, at 11:00 AM, Ted Rau <ted [at] sociocracyforall.org> wrote:
> 
> I think there are two different cases here. One I'll call noise. The other
> is recurring behavior.

I think this is an interesting distinction. When is it just noise or too much 
noise, and when is it a specific behavior that is violating community 
agreements — governance and policy issues. Like the dishes sitting around, is 
it noise or is it purposeful disrespect? Or disagreement?

We probably try to solve a lot of noise issues by making rules that just make 
more noise because then the “enforcement” of the rules is added to the noise. 

On the issue of consequences, I have come as full circle on consequences as I 
have on workshare. In workshare, I have come to value most highly the work that 
can’t be measured in hours. Assuming responsibility and developing plans or 
programs are vital to everyone. They up the quality of life. This is the kind 
of work that is not quantifiable. 

The demand that hours be recorded is not effective when you are asking for 
commitment and self-organization. It is disincentivizing.

I think consequences do the same thing to behavior. I’ve given up on the idea 
that a policy is not a policy unless it has consequences. A policy is a 
community agreement about how everyone expects things to be done and why. 

But a policy can only apply to predictable circumstances. Not everything is 
predictable. 

So what we really need is not consequences but an agreement about how to ask or 
request an exception, or completely review the policy. With a process for 
handling unexpected situations, there is flexibility and no one needs to 
violate the policy.

If people are violating policies, the policies need to be reviewed. Policies 
establish a social order but that order has to fit everyone, one way or another.

Years ago Paul Hawken wrote a wonderful little book on starting a business, 
“Growing a Business." It accompanied a PBS series on innovative “new age" 
businesses. I had never understood what a business plan was or could do before 
I read this book. Hawken said that the business plan is an exercise in figuring 
out how to grow a business. You have to address all the components and then you 
have a plan. But just as you have the whole thing figured out, it is time to 
reevaluate based on new information. It grows and things change. Revise and 
keep going. The book was published in 1988, Growing a Business. It is still in 
print. https://amzn.to/3rp9cVg

I think policies are the same way. They help a group develop a context, a 
social order, but then they have to grow with circumstances. If the only 
alternative to a policy is punishment, what kind of social order is being grown?

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org