When it comes to deciding who gets to make decisions and how decisions get made, the communities movement has done a lot to innovate more equitable and transparent strategies. In today's conversation with Diana Leafe Christian, we talk about the importance of solid governance models and decision making structures, how these structures and a lack thereof can impact everything from relationships to the ability to get things done, and specifically about Sociocracy, her preferred governance model.
Diana Leafe Christian is the author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, and Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community. An Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) trainer for Gaia Education and editor of Communities magazine for 14 years, Diana has contributed chapters to three Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and Gaia Education books: Beyond You and Me, Gaian Economics, and Ecovillage: 1001 Ways to Heal the Planet. She is a Board Member of GEN-US. In 2017, she received the Foundation for Intentional Community’s Kozeny Communitarian Award, a lifetime achievement award for contributions to the US communities movement. She speaks at ecovillage and cohousing conferences, offers consultations, and leads workshops in person and online internationally. With the ability to make things simple and clear, and drawing on a deep and broad understanding of community dynamics, Diana encourages effective and harmonious ways for groups to become healthy and thriving, and resolve the typical interpersonal challenges that can arise in any community. She has an upcoming six-week online Sociocracy course starting on April 30th and will be offering an Introduction to Sociocracy for Co-housers course on August 25th, ahead of the National Cohousing Conference in Madison, Wisconsin where she will also be speaking on her recent Communities magazine series Working Effectively with Especially Challenging Behaviors. You can find out more about these courses, trainings, and services by reaching out to her directly at Diana@IC.org
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