Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Tragedy of the commons

[Tim Mensch (tim-coho-l]

Sharon Villines wrote:
> On Sep 27, 2007, at 7:44 PM, Lyle Scheer wrote:
>
> >> I think not because the person can be overruled at any point -- and
> >> some people have been. People sort of cycle through jobs until
> >> something sticks.
> >
> > I guess that means it's a benevolent easily overthrown  
> > dictatorship, but
> > someone has to be dictator.
>
> I suspect you meant this humorously but in case this gets confused in  
> the minds of any readers of the list, a dictator is a ruler who is  
> not restricted by a constitution, laws or any opposition, one with  
> absolute power and authority, especially one who exercises this power  
> and authority tyrannically.
>
> Taking responsibility and exercising leadership is not being a dictator.
No, but simply exercising leadership in a cohousing situation isn't 
enough: That role needs some level of authority to make decisions stick, 
or you'll end up with teams that make decisions that are repeatedly 
vetoed by the community. That's the difference between exercising 
leadership and actually being an easy-to-overthrow dictator in my mind: 
Having authority while in the position, and using it well knowing that 
you can be removed if you don't use your authority wisely.

If every little decision needs to be vetted by a complete community 
consensus, it's beyond just inefficient:  it's maddeningly frustrating, 
and it burns people out. If you don't like the word dictator, then call 
it something else--but delegate real authority to that person or team, 
and make sure that a single community member can't join a team and 
sabotage it and/or harm its efficiency. I've seen that happen in a 
community, and I think we've all heard stories on the list of similar 
community issues. Burn-out is an oft-mentioned problem in cohousing 
participation, and I think lack of real authority of teams is a root cause.

Tim

--
Tim Mensch

Currently at Wild Sage (Boulder, CO): http://www.wildsagecohousing.org

Founding member of Tumblerock, a Boulder, CO area community in its forming 
stages: http://tumblerock.org