You want to explore sociocracy in communities
You are already part of a sociocratic community
Ecovillages, cohousing, communes, cooperative housing and other intentional communities are now widely using sociocracy as their governance system. An intentional community is a group of people who decide to live together, whether on the same land or in the same building, to carry forward a mission common to all the residents. The mission can either be environmental, social, spiritual, or all of those. They often strive for sharing the power, and often struggle with the challenges of such a culture shift. Sociocracy answers many questions, like “how can we get things done efficiently”, “how can we distribute power and make sure every voice is heard”, “how do we share responsibilities” and “what is the best format for a meeting”. This page is dedicated to support you in your sociocratic community journey, from discovering sociocracy, to implementing it in your community.
We have resources for you!
Represents Ecovillage and Co-housing Organizations using Sociocracy
Sociocracy (also referred to as Dynamic Governance) is used in dozens of communities and ecovillages worldwide. Depending on how your culture is set now, there is definitely a learning curve. However, that learning is often experienced as liberating and clarifying.
We have noticed that sociocracy is easiest to implement in a forming group. Yet, even communities that have used consensus for decades have been able to switch and enjoy smooth, action-oriented and connecting governance.
Read and watch the information on this site. If you are interested in suggesting sociocracy to your community, make sure to read The Sociocracy Starter Kit first. You will notice that it suggests to involve other people in your exploration as early as possible.
“What is in store for Bridport Cohousing and Sociocracy? ‘We’ll just get better at it!’ laughs Judith. ’Nobody has suggested dropping it. The opposite in fact – using Sociocracy has helped us attract new members.’”
Treehouse Village Ecohousing is a project to build a cohousing community, the first in Atlantic Canada. It officially launched on Sept 29, 2018 with a first public meeting.
An urban sociocratic cohousing community in Quebec, Canada, that values non-violent communication.
Sociocracy and Nonviolent Communication (NVC) are often used together. For a good reason! The essence of Nonviolent Communication is “Everyone’s needs matter”. The essence of sociocracy is “Every voice matters” […]
A recurring question in our teaching is to describe the difference between consensus and consent, and between whole-group consensus and Dynamic Governance (sociocracy) used in a community or a cooperative. […]
Our most popular training with intentional communities are the two following ones. Our sociocracy courses are online, self-paced, and they could be taken individually or as a group. Take the quiz if you would like to discover other types of training that fit the exact level of your community.
2-4 hour sessions to learn by practicingwith your own group, at your pace.
Would you like to discover other types of training that fit the exact level of your community?
From your very first discovery to continuing education, our trainers specialized in Intentional Communities can design a personalized program for you.
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez, certified sociocracy consultant
Location: USA, Language: English
Audrée Morin, trainer in training
Location: Canada, Language: French and English
We exist to support you with your sociocracy implementation!
Are you curious how well your community is doing with sociocracy? Here is a questionnaire that you can use as a regular evaluation tool for continuous improvement. How often do you do rounds? Are all your circles double linked to the general circle? How often do you use the consent decision-making process? Fill out the community governance audit form and get your decisions, structure, culture, feedback and overall “sociocraticness” scores.
We gather monthly to support each other in using Sociocracy in our co-housing, ecovillages or other intentional communities. We discuss themes such as how to implement Sociocracy, conflict resolution, policy vs operations, managing objections, and much more.
This community of practice will allow you to find companionship and build relationships with other sociocratic communities, like Port Townsend Ecovillage (OR), Cherry Hill Cohousing (MA), Bridport Cohousing (UK), Eden Community (TX), and Kawartha Cohousing (ON-CA).
It’s a drop-in group, and we’d be delighted to meet you and learn about your community in our next session.
Attend a first session to try it out!
Organizational Learner communities receive many benefits as an organization and as individuals!
The annual fee for organizational membership starts at $150.
Schedule a free zoom call with Audrée, the Intentional Communities Organizational Learners Administrator.
That’s what our “Find a Facilitator” service is for! Fill in the form, and a facilitator will be assigned to you. You can make a special request for one of our certified facilitators specialized in Intentional Communities: