This article sets forth recommendation for Sociocracy, which in my 43 years of looking for the ideal system of governance and decision making for intentional communities, I have found to be the most effective.
This system is always being improved upon and can adapt to the needs of any community or organization–profit or non-profit. I have studied this extensively and currently (Jan-Mar 2019) taking an in-depth class where we practice the skills and learn the whole-systems approach needed so we can use this. Many in my class are starting intentional communities, and our teachers live in a co-housing community that has adopted Sociocracy. I am using these tools in real life, including the creation of Vegan Utopia Ecovillage, of which I am co-founder.
Governance is the most important aspect of how we interact in intentional communities. To use old school, outdated forms of governance like majority rule, Robert’s rules of order, and any other hierarchical system in a world where everyone is vegan would be contradictory with our value of the idea that every voice matters, all life is important.
Of course, the animals will not be sitting in the circle voicing their decisions, but we as members of communities and other organizations, can make sure that their voices are heard as decisions are made.
“Its principles and practices are very different from parliamentary procedure and majority rule. Majority rule can lead to a divided society and promotes competition and dominance instead of coöperation and equality.” From the website Sociocracy
Intentional communities traditionally have come into being because people want to cast off the status quo and find new ways of living that empowered people to grow and fulfill their potential. In 1851 Auguste Comté started to conceptualize the values and systems of Sociocracy. Here is a brief history.
Since then, this method of governance has been developed by many people to come to a place today where it is practiced all over the world in all aspects of society, including a growing number of ecovillages, co-housing communities and other intentional communities.
Ted Rau, cofounder of Sociocracy for All, writes from experience, since he lives in Pioneer CoHousing which transitioned to using Sociocracy several years ago:
“Members of intentional communities, like for instance cohousing communities and ecovillages, want to live and work in community. Sociocracy can help here. It is perfect for your community if you want to:
- make decision-making about content, not about people
- find a way of including people and increasing participation
- enjoy living and working together”
The Federation of Intentional Communities, which has provided extensive resources for builders and member of intentional communities since 1937, states on its website: “Sociocracy is a system of governance, using consent-based decision making among equivalent individuals and an organizational structure based on cybernetic principles. Sociocracy means the rule by the “socios,” people who have a social relationship with each other – as opposed to democracy: rule by the “demos,” the general mass of people. The sociocratic organization is composed of a hierarchy of semi-autonomous circles. This hierarchy, however, does not constitute a power structure as autocratic hierarchies do.”
Diana Leafe Christian, one of the most well-known, experienced intentional community coaches and author of the intentional communities handbook, “Creating Life Together,” recommends sociocracy in this excerpt from an article by Nara Pais:
“Sociocracy — which means “governance by peers or colleagues” (sometimes called “Dynamic Governance”) in the US — is an increasingly popular governance and decision-making method based on the principles of transparency, equivalency, and effectiveness. In Diana Leafe Christian´s experience, when an ecovillage or another kind of intentional community uses Sociocracy, their governance process tends to become far more effective and enjoyable than it was when they used consensus as their decision-making method. She is preparing a book about decision-making in communities.”
Diana Leafe Christian has decided to focus on sociocracy as a form of governance in communities. She completely changed a whole chapter in her book to replace it with describing sociocracy. This article describes her focus on Sociocracy after she learned from extensive experience how other governance was not working.
“She teaches workshops on Starting a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community, and on Sociocracy (also called Dynamic Governance), to intentional communities and member-led groups. She is an Associate Member of The Sociocracy Consulting Group (TSCG) and was formerly a Sociocracy trainer for the board of GEN International. Her third book will be about how groups can use Sociocracy for better meetings, to get more done, and to feel more connected.”
According to this article by Sharon Villines about using sociocracy in co-housing communities,
“Sociocracy allows communities to keep the collaborative and inclusive qualities of full group decision-making while providing a structure for delegating decisions to sub-groups—committees, teams, circles, etc. Policy decisions and a coordinating structure then guide the sub-groups.”
The values of sociocracy really support the values of a culture where everyone, including the animals, can thrive in this excerpt from an article by Nara Pais
“Sociocracy’s three values — equivalence, transparency, and effectiveness — are reflected in its practice. Equivalence is demonstrated by all circle members having equivalence of voice in the decisions that affect them. Transparency occurs because all policy decisions are made known to everyone through the linked-circles governance structure (and minutes of meetings, of course.) Effectiveness is a natural outcome because, when practiced properly, Sociocracy tends to take less time than other governance and decision-making methods.”
For a more in depth look at sociocracy, I recommend that you purchase the book, Many Voices, One Song by Jerry Koch-Gonzales and Ted Rau. Here is an excerpt:
“One person (or a small group) decides.
There are two contexts for individual or small group rule. Autocracy means having fairly uncontrolled authority. This seems unacceptable to town or national governance. However, it is still the norm in other areas: in hierarchical corporate structures, public education, families, and in the
executive branch of government. We think of autocratic decisions as simple and quick. A downside is that autocratic decisions can lead to a lack of shared information and ideas. And the reaction to autocratic decisions is limited to submission or rebellion.
In the other context in sociocracy, there is a validated form of rule by individuals when a holder of a role has been given authority by a circle to make operational decisions alone within a defined domain.
The majority decides.
In majority rule, a group can vote against or in favor of something or someone. The standard is a simple majority rule with 50%+1 of the votes. With plurality voting, the candidate with the most votes is elected to office, even if their vote total is less than 50%. There are also different levels of supermajority vote that refine majority vote.
Preferential voting is a variation of majority vote. Preferential voting is an attempt to include more votes in decisions where there are more than two candidates.
We are used to considering majority vote “fair”. Majority vote is fast and can be done easily with very many people and little information. Downsides: majority vote means that up to 49.9% of the group will be ignored – tyranny of the majority. We are likely to miss additional information from the people who vote against (or in favor), with an uncertain level of buy-in. Voting rewards divisive behavior because the focus can easily become about winning, not about making a good decision.
Consensus:
A decision is made when everyone agrees – a unanimous decision. Consensus seems to be the most inclusive way of making a decision. Buy- in will be high since everyone decides, and the hope is that accountability will also be high. Consensus works well in small, homogenous groups. It is hard to scale to a larger group or organization and can be time-consuming and frustrating in groups where needs and expectations differ. The hidden cost in consensus is that the voices of those who want to move forward may be ignored when decisions are blocked. Consensus tends to give too much power to individuals who can block a decision for an entire group – a tyranny of the minority. (See more on consensus vs. consent in section
3.2.5.)
We often don’t operate with intentionality around our choice of a decision- making method. This is noticeable when an argument turns into an argument about the methods of decision making as in example 82. If the decision-making method is unclear, the method itself becomes a contentious issue.
Sociocracy uses consent decision-making for policy decisions. Operational decisions are made by individuals or by groups coordinating operational decisions. By creating those “islands of authority”, operational decisions can be made fast. On the other hand, policy decisions require intentionality and equivalence and are made by consent by the whole circle.”
I hope that this article gives you incentive to look more into sociocracy and that as you go deeper, you will draw your own conclusions as to whether or not this governance system would be a good fit for your intentional community.
Resources about Sociocracy
Article about consensus decision making and the pitfalls
https://www.ic.org/busting-the-myth-that-consensus-with-unanimity-is-good-for-communities/
Nonviolent Communication training courses. Knowing the skills of NVC is helpful for anyone who wants to use Sociocracy https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/freeresources/resources.htm
Amazing free resources including a free training class: www.sociocracyforall.org
Article about intentional communities and Sociocracy including specific examples: http://www.sociocracyforall.org/community/
Sociocracy 3.0 has a lot of other tools to add to sociocracy, and this website has a lot of great resources: http://www.sociocracy30.org
