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 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
- 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.
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