Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Getting the Work Done

[Denise Leah Coté (denise]

On Sept. 13 Peter Scott wrote:
>Our group has grown from 3 to 20 ... we have 
>4 task
>groups meeting fortnightly with full group meetings on the off week. 3-5 
>seem to
>be the optimum number for the taskgroups. The process of choosing which task
>group to work on is not always easy.

At Geneva we have a similar process (we call them Action Groups) and 
schedule.  Anyone interested can be on an Action Group (no size limit, 
except there must be at least two members in the group). We've empowered 
the action groups to make "minor" decisions and expenditures on their 
own; they report on those decisions at general meetings, and they bring 
options and proposals for "major" decisions to these meetings. This has 
been very efficient. It requires us to take responsibility because it is 
our choice to participate on an Action Group or trust others to do the 
work.

>... we run 4-8 weekly 'hui' (full day gatherings). These we use for fun stuff 
>and longer exercises.

Good plan, 'cause it's so important to keep having fun and building 
community while in the thick of making decisions and getting it done.  I 
like that word, "hui."  Where is it from, and what does it mean, exactly?

>It is clear to me that one of the major inhibitors of cohousing is this
>supremely huge learning curve we all seem to go through. I am thinking 
>that with
>such exercises as this and the timeline game etc, that deal with common
>cohousing steps, we may be able to develop something of a formula.
>
Yes! Yes! Let's do it.  And let's do our best to make it a formula that 
works for the tremendous variety of groups, goals, and environments that 
make up the cohousing community.

-Denise Cote'
Geneva Community
Lyons/Boulder, Colorado
Dare I say it?  We will break ground this Fall!  Maybe just the workshop, 
maybe the common house, too, but it's a start.  And we still have an 
opening, if anyone out there is interested in living on a river, in a 
meadow, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.