Elysia Commons In Practice

An early paper discussing how the Elysia Commons will work

The Elysia Commons is a container that supports organisations that are united by a single purpose.  The purpose is:

The Elysia Commons meets human beings’ yearning for meaningful work by creating and sustaining a successful ecosystem of organisations that have an ethos of purposeful, accountable activity.

One concrete principle is transparency.  All formal reports are public, everything is transparent, and the information is contained in a central elysia.org website.

Around the outside is a partnership that everyone who is a co-worker in any organisation in the Commons belongs to.  No profit is distributed.  As the Commons is forming leadership will be held by Sebastian Parsons as Founder, but once it is established then leadership will move from the Founder to a democratic body elected by all the Partners (co-workers) of the Commons, see below for more details.

The Elysia Trust is to be created and will be a charity. This Trust will support organisations in the Commons, the Commons itself (for training, PR and so on), and will be funded by profits that the Elysia Commons’ organisations may choose to direct to it, plus whatever other funding it may attract or generate.  This process, in the sense of Steiner’s three-fold, is a mechanism for money to die out of the economy through consumption in charitable activity.

Case Study – The Elysia Consortium of Social and Therapeutic Renewal

A number of therapists some of whom used to work at Park Atwood and were inspired by its therapeutic model, got together after PA closed in order to create a therapeuticum in Stourbridge. In the process they formed a consortium of health care professionals and were the first organisation to be founded in the Elysia Commons.

The vision rests on a fourfold activity of healing leading to wholeness, celebrating imbuing with meaning, being underpinning the work and learning allowing the human being to engage in freedom with their life and their world.

The group meet every month to manage the Consortium, to develop the Therapeuticum and for a Bible Evening in which the Being of this organisation is nurtured.

The flip chart image shows the Elysia Commons (called Elysia Org at the time of the creation of the flip chart) with the various different organisations in it.  The arrow at the top right shows the single purpose that all organisations have in common.  The blue writing at the top and bottom relates to the purpose of the Elysia Consortium of Social and Therapeutic Renewal.

Case Study – Elysia Company

The Elysia Group is the distributor of Dr.Hauschka in the UK and the owner of the Liv organic clothing brand.  It also owns Rush Farm, a 200 acre biodynamic farm in North East Worcestershire, and Stockwood Business Park, based on Rush Farm.  The Elysia  Group is the company co-founded and run by Sebastian Parsons.

Case Study – Commercial Services

It is planned to have a commercial services company which will be dedicated to the task of keeping financial records, producing financial management information, managing HR tasks and supporting other routine administrative matters.

Services include:

• Finance
• HR
• Administration
• IT
• Reprographics

Services available direct from the Elysia Commons include:

• Leadership training
• Elysia Life co-worker magazine
• elysia.org website
• PR (PR is co-ordinated at the level of the Commons, even if it is delegated to different teams throughout the system for different tasks)

Elysia? What’s in a name?

Elysia stands for meaningful work and indicates a committed to a values driven organisation.  The name Elysia can be added to an organisation with agreement of the Elysia Commons, but an organisation does not get to, or have to add the name “Elysia” just because it has joined the Commons.

Governance of the Commons

The task of the Commons is two sided.  On one side it has to contain and support, and on the other side is the activity of holding to account, to their own purposes, the contained organisations.  It has an executive that supports the activity of the organisations.  It has specialist legal expertise for supporting the creation of all the partnership and commercial agreements and it has marketing expertise for the newsletter (inner), website (inner and outer) and PR (outer) tasks.

As part of the negotiation before an organisation joins or is created decisions are made about the relationship with the Commons.  This includes whether or not there will be any ownership and if so the way in which that ownership will operate.  Agreements may also need to be made to facilitate the use of the “Elysia” name if that was desired.

After the initial founding phase a Council is to be elected by a democratic process from the Commons Partners.  This Council is then re-elected every 5 / 7 years thereafter.  The power that the Commons has in each organisations life is strictly limited, as the highest sanction is of leaving the Commons, and that is only as powerful as the Commons is effective.

Possible Organisation of the Governance Process

The Council has 12 seats including a chairman.  Any Commons Partner can put their name forward for Council membership and to be the Chairman.  The names are then put to the members.  The election also elects the chairman, who has a casting vote.  If there is a tie for the election of the chairman then the elected Council members get a second vote, if there is another tie then a coin is tossed.  If there is a tie in the Council Elections then the Council can be larger.

Certain things, like the Commons’ Purpose Statement require a vote of the whole membership and require a 90% agreement to be carried. These rules are laid down in the partnership agreement of the Commons.

The Council meets 4 times a year.  Council decisions only become “formalised” when signed off by a person who has a role called "President".  The remit of the Council is the operation of the Commons, not the organisations within.  This includes the actual partnership agreement of the Commons.  All Council members must be co-workers in contained organisations.  Training is developed to support Council members in understanding and carrying out their roles.

When the President steps down he appoints a single successor, who must be approved by the Council. The President is the ultimate container of the whole system, but has strictly formalised power and is therefore principally a figurehead, with a certain amount of ultimate power that gives the role relevance.  This role has a sting like a bee such that if the President refuses to sign a decision off then this triggers an election process of the President and the Council.  Presidents are appointed for an indefinite period.  If no successor is appointed then the President is elected.  If the President overturns a decision of the Council then that will force an election for the successor.

The way the function of Ownership is held in more and more peripheral containers feels a bit like looking out of a railway carriage at night with the carriages reaching out in to the darkness.  Each layer of containment, the organisation, the Commons Partners, the Commons Council, the Chair of the Commons and the President or the Founder is in a flow of accountability, back and forth.  As the containers stretch outward the capacity of the power to act changes until at the outer extreme there is a certain element of dis-interest, and a strong element of self-sacrifice required if the power is to be mobilised.  This force is balancing the executive forces radiating out from the centre and filling the container with activity.  See the paper called “Leadership and Power” by Sebastian Parsons, 16/8/2011.
With this self-balancing  structure, no matter how big the Commons becomes, the system will be able to accommodate it.  If there were loads of schools, hospitals, doctors surgeries, the university, arts organisations etc then the Council would become bigger and meet more often.  If it works that well then there is likely to be other organisation that set up and compete.  Which is ideal.

Legal Basis for the Elysia Commons

A key principle of the Commons concerns the legal basis for the Commons, which is knitted together by agreements, and which will inevitably result in disputes occurring when agreements are not lived up to.  In all legal matters the Elysia Commons sits in the national legal system and processes of England.  The contracts that exist within the system are controlled by the national legal system and so justice within the Commons is delegated outwards to the national container.  This is in accord with the fundamental principles of the Rights Realm and a prerequisite for good organisational health.

Leadership and Power

I often hear that people do not believe in “hierarchical leadership”, and are strongly opposed to it.  Effective leadership is a core value of the Elysia Commons and this paper sets out some thoughts on the subject that seek to define the terms to allow the discourse to develop.

For I perceive there to be a danger that this statement paralyses our Will through the difference between “leadership” and  what is meant by “hierarchical leadership” not being clear.  The statement “we don’t believe in hierarchical leadership” is so strong that in the presence of any doubt at all, the concept of Leadership, as a whole, becomes forbidden.

Firstly I would like to differentiate ownership from control.  Ownership is the ultimate container and determines how control will deploy.

Control directs the activity of the organisation by deploying authority and through the authority flows the power of the human beings as they carry out their tasks.

Power deployed in directions that are not authorised is essentially abusive.  This can easily occur, particularly when power gets conflated with position and status becomes primary.

Perhaps “hierarchical leadership” has become a codeword for when power is wielded in an organisation in accordance with status instead of authority.

There is nothing in the research in to the Hierarchies to suggest that authority does not flow through a hierarchy.  There is also nothing in the way that Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society to suggest that he did not believe in leadership. On the contrary, the big decision for Steiner himself was whether to directly take up leadership of the organisation or not.

Our research in to the Hierarchies leaves me with a sense of order and task, of each Being knowing its task and taking it up fully.  In Earthly life, in our organisations, we access our tasks through our roles.

It is interesting to notice that when authority is assigned to the role rather than the person it provides a layer of separation from the person, which is effectively a buffer against the power of the authority seeping through to the person and becoming power mobilised according to status.

Role offers us a critical frame to view ourselves through, because through that frame we can catch sight of ourselves, our system and the context of all.  We can clearly identify our authority, from whence it originates and to where it will flow through us.

It can be seen in this diagram how the ownership is a peripheral force that works inwards and will suffuse the organisation with a particular atmosphere, and that the leadership / management of the organisation is a force that works outwards and permeates the organisation through the paths and channels of authority.

The Elysia Commons offers to support the forces of ownership in properly containing the organisation, suffusing it with a healthy atmosphere, which will in turn support the forces of leadership in permeating the organisation with healthy authority, to foster effective, competitive action.

The Elysia Commons

What is the Elysia Commons?

The Elysia Commons is an ecosystem (association) of organisations that provides benefit to the organisations and the people working in them.  It is supportive in all that each one has in common, and it sharpens all that is particular in each one.  In consequence, it offers competitive advantage against other organisations in society.  The Elysia Commons actively encourages organisational effectiveness through applied values.

In this diagram the Commons is shown weaving between the co-workers and the organisations. This engagement of the co-worker in something bigger than the organisation allows the co-workers to take up a higher perspective that can deepen understanding, a sense of ownership and motivation.  On the other hand, it also allows the member organisations to engage with the “spiritual physics” of ownership in innovate ways that open up freedom and engagement.

Competitive Advantage

Organisations are the creatures of the mesosphere , that sphere which man generates in the course of his own activity in collaboration with others.  These “creatures” all represent different ideas, and through the competition between the organisations, the different ideas strive, evolve, compete. Thus society itself evolves and in it the human being too.

The Elysia Commons embodies a particular idea, the idea that there is meaning to life.  This idea is embodied in the Purpose Statement in a way that is relevant to the activity of the Commons, the activity of being an organisation.

An organisation is an organism of the mesosphere ( from macro = big, micro = small and meso = middle).  It is a contained activity directed to a single purpose.  It is made of people working together.

Purpose Statement of Elysia Commons

The Elysia Commons meets human beings’ yearning for meaningful work by founding and sustaining an ecosystem of organisations that have an ethos of purposeful, accountable activity.

The Administration of the Elysia Common

Organisations join the Commons through an application process.  The key to being accepted is to have a Purpose or Mission that aligns with the purpose of the Elysia Commons and to convince the Commons Leadership Group that your organisation has the intention and / or capacity to actively pursue its chosen purpose.  The following forms / processes are needed:

• Application to found an organisation in the Commons
• Application for your organisation to join the Commons
• Co-worker Induction form
• Elysia Commons Annual Return

The Annual Return is completed once a year before the Organisational Appraisal interview.  The annual return reports on the success of the organisation in working to purpose and fostering a culture of Living Business

Method of the Elysia Commons - Living Business

The method of the Elysia Commons is to enhance consciousness of purpose and to provide support to co-workers in their different roles in taking up their working tasks more effectively.  In particular, attention is paid to supporting a culture of agreement and accountability.  The method can be summed up as fostering Living Business.

Source of Inspiration of the Elysia Commons

The Elysia Commons is, in considerable part, a deployment of thinking that was set out by Rudolf Steiner.  A number of key works by Steiner cover this area, and these include: The Philosophy of Freedom, The Threefold Social Commonwealth, Towards a Social Future and World Economy.

The Elysia Commons support organisational life through a number of different activities:

• Developing Living Business
• Attention to purpose
• Transparency.
• Training to support co-workers in finding freedom of choice in the workplace
• Training to support management and leadership in a way that fosters Living Business
• The Elysia Commons actively supports the health of its co-worker Community
• Monthly co-worker journal, Elysia Life
• Website for co-workers

Supporting Accountability

Tough accountability fosters focus and therefore business success.  Accountability becomes human when it is to a purpose that includes the human being.  The Elysia Commons supports the leadership of the organisations in the eco-system through an annual report and organisational appraisal to ensure that the organisation is making the most of the Elysia Commons.

Leaving the Elysia Commons

An organisation can leave the Elysia Commons, or may be ejected. Ejection, would be because it is not working, in the view of the Commons' Leadership, to the purpose of the Commons.  As a consequence of leaving, the organisation no longer has access to the services and benefits.

Supporting Funding

The Commons seeks to support the flow of money from purely economic activity towards cultural activity.  It operates a Charitable Trust that profit generating businesses within the Commons pay in to, and this Trust pays out to charitable activities operating within the Commons.  The culture of the Commons is self-sustainability, but the reality of certain cultural activity, such as health and education, is that some extra funding is required.

Supporting Ownership

The Elysia Commons fosters a climate of ethical ownership in which the organisation is handed on to the next generation of leaders instead of being sold. This is quite normal in the charitable sector but is unusual in the business sector.  The Commons provide specific training for Trustees of charities.  When a business, with ethical ownership, transfers control from one leader to another the Commons can support the process.  In particular, it can provide consulting, mediation and in the case of a complete breakdown in the transfer process will appoint the next leader.

The Founding of the Elysia Commons

The Commons was founded by Sebastian Parsons.

Establishing the Elysia Commons

The task of establishing the Commons, sensing it, creating it, operating it, in the particular, in the general, bit by bit; this will be lead by Sebastian too, in collaboration with others who feel themselves drawn to the task.

Control of the Elysia Commons after the Founding Phase

Once the founding phase is completed then control will move to a democratic process.

Serving the Archangel Michael

The Elysia Commons is an activity intended to serve the purpose of the Archangel Michael.