Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: [C-L]_Refining concerns / needs in a timely way

[Becky Schaller (bschaller]

Hi Rob, I'm a bit unclear as to why you say examining concerns and needs
takes so much time.   Admittedly, in my community, we often shortchange this
step, but I have also seen it work quite effectively.  And when we by pass
this step, we often pay big time later on.

I think it helps to ask people which concerns and needs are essential for
them and which are simply desirable.

I am also finding that sometimes it's helpful to have at least one proposal
that no one is invested in that helps people identify their concerns and
needs concerning the issue. I also understand an informal discussions can
help in this way also.

In short, Rob, my experience is if you don't deal with concerns and needs
upfront, you deal with them later on. Then it's a much more lengthy and
controversial process.  Would you be willing to be more specific about what
part of identifying concerns and needs takes hours and hours?

Becky Schaller
Sonora Cohousing
Tucson, Arizona
I need to go now because we have a carnival starting in about five minutes.
It's organized by a brother and sister ages 9 and 6.



  
> In a group meeting with 25 or more people, I would be interested in ideas of
> how you can examine concerns and needs in a timely enough way as to not
> spend 4-5 hours in meetings. I often find these kinds of things to be useful
> and desirable but they often take hours and hours, which totally frustrates
> those who are NOT interested in this stuff, and tends to drive them away
> from attending at all.
> 
> 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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