Sociocracy for Cohousers

Don’t want win-lose majority rule or ineffective consensus? Sociocracy is an increasingly popular governance and decision-making method based on an integration of equivalency and effectiveness. Sociocracy (also known as Dynamic Governance) is for everyone who dreams of a world where we can make decisions as equals and enjoy deep human connection while getting things done to create and sustain our communities. Sociocracy is used worldwide in a variety of organizations such as nonprofits, associations, communities, cooperatives and schools.

In this 4-week training, we will explore the core elements of sociocracy: consent decision-making process, the selection of members to leadership roles, the organizational structure of linked working groups (we call them “circles”!), and continuous evolution through feedback.

There will be slide decks, role plays, lots of practice and plenty of room for questions and further exploration. This program is intended to be useful for all, even if you are not familiar with sociocracy or planning to adopt sociocracy in your community.

Topics in the Sociocracy for Communities syllabus include:

• Basic principles of sociocracy/Dynamic Governance
• Consent decision-making
• Proposal generation
• Role selections by consent
• Dealing with objections
• Facilitation challenges
• Meeting format and agenda design
• Record keeping
• Organizational structure and operational roles
• The relationship between working teams, coordination teams and Boards of Directors
• The role of whole-community meetings
• Implementation strategies for existing and forming communities
• Bylaws and other governance ad policy documents

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the key principles and practices of Dynamic Governance/Sociocracy
2. Understand the basic elements of sociocratic organizational structure
3. Understand the basic process for making decisions by consent and for generating proposals
4. Understand the basic process for selection of people to roles such as leader and facilitator
5. Utilize the basic elements of effective meeting agendas

Timing

October 18th – November 8th. Sessions will take place at 4-6pm PT/5-7pm MT/6-8pm CT/7-9pm ET

Pricing

$240/4-session training ($180 for partners)
$220 Early-Bird by 8/31 ($165 partner Early-Bird)