Hi @ChrisM,
I’m not sure I understand why we need to change our governance model just because we would hire an external facilitator.
There are two fundamental things taken from sociocracy that we will always rely on:
- Separating a decision-making process into understand-explore-decide
- Deciding by consent (consensus for level 5)
My experience is that sociocractic rounds run into their limitations when the group becomes to big. I have made a suggestion about that one year ago (Team Facilitation: two small things in the context of the 2023 review). It was completely accepted last year, just not followed up upon (which I admit has been a bit of a source of frustration to me). Using alternative methods, especially for difficult and important decisions, is what I understand to be something most cohousings have done.
The idea of hiring an external facilitator would only apply to the “explore” stage, not the “decide” one. I therefore don’t see a problem related to our governance model.
As for having a person without skin in the game, I do believe this has added value in difficult conversations. I am not saying you are not doing a good job as our facilitator, it’s just that I believe that somebody has no stakes and no history in the group, will have a different view on things, which may help us to get to a conclusion faster and with less friction.
On Signal you proposed that I facilitate some topics myself on the 25th, because I have some training and experience, and because I know The Reef inside out. To be very honest, sometimes I do have the desire to facilitate a bit, because I enjoy it. At the same time I worry that it can be difficult to combine with the role that I am in. So depending on the topic (the ones that leave me cold), I’d be happy to contribute where I can.
Happy to hear how this lands with you.
Plus a request to @mieke: as the Coordinator of Team Facilitation, would you be willing to go back to my post of last year (linked above) and see whether this something the team would be willing to pick up again?