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consent consensus

Policy Decisions

Consent & Consensus

Policy decisions are defined in management theory as those decisions that define the basic principles of the organization. Policies set the parameters within which operational decisions are made. Examples include: Vision, Mission, Aim Budget and Finance Practices Allocation of Resources Organizational Structure Policy decisions limit the actions an organization and its members can take without [...]

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Switching to Sociocracy

Adopting Sociocracy

With the exception of those who have switched to sociocracy, virtually all cohousing communities use full group consensus decision-making as their primary method of making decisions. This means that policy decisions are made in meetings of the full membership. As these communities grow larger and more diverse and adopt more complex aims, full group consensus [...]

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Why Consent? And Why Sociocracy?

Decision-Making

I have been participating in groups that make decisions by consensus since about 1972. The definition of consensus then and now is exactly the same as the sociocratic definition of consent — not whether I agree, but under the circumstances whether I think this is the best decision we can make at this time. Or [...]

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My Pivotal Consensus Experience

Decision-Making

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 [...]

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Consent & Responsibility

Decision-Making

In dynamic governance there is no option to stand aside — the only options are consent or object. If you don’t have tangible objections, ones that can be teased out and addressed, then you consent. It maybe a passive consent, “I don’t see any reason not to do this”, or an active consent, “I really [...]

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The Love Assumption

Decision-Making

There is a persistent assumption in cohousing and other consensus communities that lack of love is the cause of conflict. That conflict arises when we allow ourselves, our ego, our self-centeredness to isolate us from others, from understanding their needs, from caring. If we confront our isolation and commune with our neighbors, we will “feel [...]

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Sociocracy for One

Personal Rights & Responsibilities

(Formerly named “Applying Sociocracy as an Individual”) Even if you do not live or work in a sociocratic organization, you can still apply sociocracy in your every day life to achieve greater harmony. By demonstrating that sociocracy produces fairness, effectiveness, and collaboration, you also increase the possibility that sociocracy will be implemented in the organizations where you live and work. The small changes suggested here can make a big difference in your life as well

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Central Authority?

Principles & Practices

Does anyone believe that there should be a world-wide hierarchy of double-linked sociocratic organizations? There definitely are. They don’t perceive the Big Brother implications of this because of consent and double-linking. If an organization, through its double-links can object to the decisions of the world-wide organization, there is no possibility of establishing a dictatorship or [...]

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Building Consent — Compromis or Payoffs?

Decision-Making

On the demands of its membership, but failing at building consent, the board of a wildlife federation passes a controversial plan to save a wild bird’s threatened habitat but then quietly deletes the budget for legal action. A Senate committee unanimously recommends proposed legislation after amending it until all the committee members have added unrelated perks [...]

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