SocioNet

Calling the Circle

Circles are core to sociocracy. One interesting book about circles is Calling the Circle: The First and Future Culture by Christina Baldwin. This book begins with the question, what is a circle? It starts out with a teenage son asking his mother, “Why do you always light a candle when you want to talk seriously with me?” The mother answers (paraphrasing), “I want you to notice that we are having a serious conversation – not just passing each other in the house” “Ok, cool,” he says, and they are in a circle.

The book goes on to talk about circles in first cultures, circles in the modern world, and then the circle and the triangle. It mentions circles at the spiritual center of everyday life, and finishes with practical advice about how to prepare and hold circles – and what happens if a circle shatters. Is a great read!

The second book is The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea. This book has a distinctly business

The Circle Way

flavor. It’s opening scene depicts a business meeting of 12 men and women seething with tension around a key decision. Yet the message is eerily the same – in a different context. The book describes the circle as being a social container in which people’s greatest clarity and deepest confusion show up. Circles are a place for people to see deeper into themselves and have collective healing. Circles are a paradigm shift and can become part of a way of life. Again, a great read for anyone interested in sociocracy.

These books help underscore the value of the circle process that we find in sociocracy. Circles can become parliaments, the way for everyone to have a meaningful voice in policies that affect their lives. Just as we need a legislative function in our governments, we need one also in our day-to-day organizations.

Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community from the Air

Sociocracy addresses the challenge of governing intentional communities, including cohousing communities. Governance challenges are a factor limiting the growth and popular adoption of such communities. Last month, Diana Leafe Christian, a well-known advocate of intentional communities and expert in community governance and decision-making, spoke recently to Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community in Amherst, Massachusetts. The set of youtube videos, below, record the whole presentation – about 2-1/2 hours.

In the first part of the presentation Diana talks about the requirements of any good community governance system. The system must:

• Create community glue. That is it must establish lots of opportunities for the community to be together socially from adults and kids playing Frisbee to common meals to gardens and other community projects.
• Establish sound project management. This area should include operating and capital budgets, careful documentation, care for the physical facilities, and so on.  
• Train good communication skills. She recommends that everyone in the community receive communication skills training such as nonviolent communication and restorative circles. There should also be and emphasis on personal development plans so that learning to communicate is an ongoing process.

Then Diana explores more about the cohousing project management area and relates it to sociocratic principles. Effective project management requires:

• Governance – which she relates to the sociocratic principles of circles and double-linking
• Decision-making – She advocates consent decision-making. She emphasizes that objections are a gift. She says that she used to advocate consensus with unanimity and now believes that consent decision-making is more fair and efficient.
• Feedback loops – which help you in evaluating and responding to what you’ve implemented.

Here are the youtube videos of her presentation:

• Pioneer Valley Cohousing Governance: Part 1
• Pioneer Valley Cohousing Governance: Part 2
• Pioneer Valley Cohousing Governance: Part 3
• Pioneer Valley Cohousing Governance: Part 4

Pioneer Valley Community Gathering