Process Workshop Recommendations?
From: Becky Schaller (bschallertheriver.com)
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 23:02:16 -0700 (MST)
Rob, thanks for  your input on this subject.  I think you make some good
points as I've noticed that we seem to have been more successful consensing
on process workshops when we have a crises to deal with.  I've also been
surprised at how difficult it has been to follow through on some of the
recommendations that consultants have made.  I wonder if that is because
process work usually doesn't have either the urgency or the glamour which
seem to drive other issues.

Would you be willing to elaborate on what are some of the institutional
boudaries built into cohousing groups which creates limitations on what
group members are able and willing to take on?  I've been surprised at how
my community has moved much slower on various process issues than I had
wanted.   I don't have the broader perspective that comes from working with
many kinds of groups that you do.  If you would be willing to say more about
this, I would appreciate it.

Becky Schaller
Sonora Cohousing
Tucson, Arizona





> From: "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com>
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 10:54:34 -0800
> Subject: [C-L]_Process Workshop Recommendations?
> Reply-To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> 
> Having done a few process workshops for various cohousing groups I'd offer
> some advice. Find a way to get a commitment for people to show up. One
> pattern I observed was that often important people, who apparently REALLY
> needed some skill development, did not show  up. This became almost routine
> in cohousing workshops, where I would hear about so and so, who decided to
> go sailing that day or whatever. Sometimes a process group would initiate a
> workshop because they clearly saw the need for it, but failed to convince
> the rest of the membership of the importance and need, and thus people
> skipped it.
> 
> So before you spend your money, build a groundswell of support within your
> membership that this is important. Reach out to people to make them feel
> welcome. One of the better cohousing workshops I was part of happened when a
> group completely broke down and failed on some important consensus item.
> This spurred people to show up, and more importantly, do the work involved
> to make things better.
> 
> All too often people expect some kind of easy magic wand that will fix
> everything and they become dismayed when they discover there is a lot of
> commitment and work involved, both as individuals and as a group. So gauge
> your group. Are you REALLY willing to do the work involved, or is this just
> going to be another weekend blip, forgotten and ignored three months later?
> 
> When you finish your workshop, you would be wise to make a set of
> implementation plans, with benchmarks and deliverables, and a evaluation
> check at some future point. Are we actually following through on what the
> workshop taught us? How can we apply and follow through better?
> 
> I largely stopped working with cohousing groups out of awareness that I was
> not able to really help groups in a long term way, they seldom actually took
> on the work, and they were therefore wasting money flying me in to teach
> them stuff which they were not able to accomplish. Some of this failure is
> certainly mine, but some of it is part of the institutional boundaries built
> into cohousing which create limitations on what group members are able and
> willing to take on.
> 
> Good luck on your workshops, If you find some great stuff I encourage you to
> share it widely,
> 
> Rob Sandelin
> South Snohomish County at the headwaters of Ricci Creek
> Sky Valley Environments  <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
> Field skills training for student naturalists
> Floriferous [at] msn.com
> 


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