* Governance and Decision Making*

Unlike most organizations that we have participated in during our lives, based on majority rule, winners and losers, etc., our community will strive to work and live under a governance model that is based on participation, collaboration, cooperation, equality, and inclusion.  A participatory democracy. As we begin our community, we are working to learn and practice a new forms of governance and decision making that many of us do not have a deep knowledge of nor practice in implementing.

We began using consensus as a decision making method, and we have slowly learned to work together with this method.

Consensus decision-making processes are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the aim, or requirement, of acceptance by all. (Wikipedia)

Sociocracy is a system of governance that seeks to create psychologically safe environments and productive organizations. It draws on the use of consent, rather than majority voting, in discussion and decision-making by people who have a shared goal or work process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociocracy

We then were exposed to the concepts of Sociocracy or Dynamic Governance which we are now investigating. Fortunately for us, we have several people in our Path to Membership who have theoretical and practical experience studying, working and living with Sociocracy. as a governance model. From what experienced friends have told us, we will need to create a system that works for us, that is flexible and open to change as we change.

We ask that all visitors considering joining our community become familiar with these concepts and assist us as we move away from majority rule and voting with winners and losers to a system that allows all to be heard and participate. Below are some links with further information to aid us all in our education.

  1. Consensus Decision Making Resources
    1. Consensus Decision Making Online Training : A 19 minute video by Dr. Tim Hartnett
    2. The Basics of Consensus Decision Making: A 5 page pdf file to serve as an introduction
    3. What is Consensus Decision Making? 3 videos -under 5 minutes-
    4. Consensus_decision-making: Wikipedia article
  2. Sociocracy Resources:
    1. Sociocracy – Basic Concepts and Principles – A webpage to read by Ted Rau at SociocracyForAll.org
    2. What is Sociocracy? – A video from Sociocracy for All. 19.24 minutes
    3. Sociocracy Wikipedia article