Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Meeting strategies--check-out/Check in

[Robert Hartman (hartman]

> Date: Fri, 3 Jun 94 15:05:15 EDT
> From: wight [at] wal.hp.com (Nancy Wight)
> 
> Rob Sandelin <robsan [at] microsoft.com> wrote:
> 
>  check in and check out are EQUALLY as important as the
>  business of the meeting, and sometimes, more so.  When the people in
>  the group know and trust each other, feel secure and part of the group,
>   the business is usually  free from distractions.
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> In a perfect world, yes, I would agree with you.  But the cohousing
> development world is far from perfect, and I think you have to set
> priorities depending upon what is going on at the time.  

I think you both have a point, and that this discussion boils down to
what the current priorities are.  There are times when cultivating the
sense of community is paramount.  There are other times when a specific
task is paramount.  Most of the time, though, there is a mix of task
and process orientations in any meeting and both require attention.  

Because our mainstream culture tends to be so task oriented, and
assumes that task success means group success, I think it is important
to build in time during any meeting to discuss group process.  It can't
be taken for granted and can't be dispensed with lightly.

However, I've seen times when a group really does want to defer the
process discussion to accomplish something specific.  This does create
a backlog that needs to be made up later, and as long as a group is
willing to set aside the extra time later to get "caught up" socially,
and "debrief" their task-oriented session, I don't see that as a problem.

-r