Category: Getting it done
How do we implement democracy in our daily lives? What can we learn about getting it done?
The sociocratic election process is used to assign people to jobs, choose operations leaders, and elect representatives to policy-making teams. It can also be used when choosing between any of several options.
As groups of people who work together toward a common aim, circles have both a vested interest in selecting the best person for a job and the most information about who that might be.
The Election Process
The circle meets for the purpose… Read More . . . “The Sociocratic Election Process, Peer to Peer Elections” A commentary on an Op-Ed in the New York Times by Joe Nocera, “How to Fix the Schools,” 18 September 2012.
Joe Nocero’s post in the New York Times today points out that the reason the Chicago schools won’t be helped by the teacher’s union strike that began this week is that both the teacher’s union and Rahm Emanuel are both focusing on the wrong issues. He quotes Marc Tucker of the National Center on… Read More . . . “If Hospitals Were Run Like Schools” Q: Discussions of consensus on cohousing discussion lists seem to be focused on or limited to facilitated, time-bound, decision-making events rather than building a culture of relationships in a community. Is this intentional?
Questions about consensus generally do focus on the technicalities and problems of using consensus to make decisions in meetings. And building community is one objective of using consensus because it ensures that the interests of everyone will be taken into consideration. However,… Read More . . . “Consensus: Community or Decision-Making” Statement from the Endenburg Elektrotechniek Website about their sociocratic governance:
The word “sociocracy” is derived from the Latin word socius, neighbor or fellow, and the Greek word kratein, to rule. As a form of governance, sociocracy is based the equivalence of individuals, but not in the sense that “the majority rules,” as in democracy. In sociocracy a decision may only be made if one has a well-founded counter-argument. (This is called the consent principle). Sociocracy… Read More . . . “Sociocracy at Endenburg Elektrotechniek” Q: How can a developing cohousing community protect itself from a member who joins and immediately wants to review all the policies?
A:This is can be very difficult for forming groups, but it doesn’t’ stop once you are moved in. Almost every new member will immediately want to start redesigning the community as soon as they have their boxes unpacked. Often they have good ideas and bring new energy, but more often they are re-walking… Read More . . . “When to Review Policies” In 1972 with a group of parents forming a cooperative school, predominantly young Yale faculty members who had moved to town to join a new college. We were committed to diversity and having a hard time recruiting people of color and from a different socio-economic class.
We were having an equally hard time finding appropriate space that we could afford. This was long before charter schools so we were funding the whole thing ourselves. We… Read More . . . “My Pivotal Consensus Experience” 
A practical handbook on sociocracy with more than 200 diagrams and examples of sociocratic processes. Spanish and Portuguese translations.