Ted Rau joined us Wednesday for an in depth look at rounds, a core element of sociocracy and a useful tool for consensus or any type of small group meeting.  Ted explained that rounds help with equivalence, clarity in structure and saving time.   Ted suggests using rounds for small groups when people can contribute. Rounds... Read More

In sociocracy, consent and consensus decision-making are only used for policy decisions. Policy decisions are those that govern actions and allocation of resources (budget, people, etc.). But this leaves questions for many people about when to use consent and consensus decision-making. It helps to look at policy decisions v, operations decisions. Operations decisions are the... Read More

The use of sociocracy as the governance system and form of decision making in communities is growing. In the last few weeks I have talked to members of Champlain Valley Cohousing, Ten Stones Cohousing and East Village Cohousing in Vermont, Belfast Cohousing in Maine, Cambridge Cohousing in Massachusetts all of whom use some or most... Read More

A woman in the sociocracy discussion group at the cohousing conference asked about people who join being able to change policies. The group has a pet policy but the new person wants it changed. My response was that policies are always open for reconsideration. The answer was too short and I’m hoping she or someone...

One of the ways the principles and methods used by sociocracy speed up decision-making is going directly to objections instead of discussing the proposal. The proposal should state the perceived advantages or reasons why a decision is needed. The presenters will also have presented the issues and options they considered. After clarifying questions, there is... Read More