Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: committees

[R Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

I once did some research on community budgets.  One can make a case that the 
annual budget is a decent proxy for how a community structures and sees itself, 
politically and culturally.  The budgets I saw were mostly configured around 
three categories:
     (1) ZONES OR COMPONENTS of the physical plant, like “barn”, “pool and hot 
tub”, or “gardens”;
     (2) FUNCTIONS, like “finance”, “insurance”, or “membership”; and
     (3) TEAMS OR COMMITTEES, like “steering”, or “board/admin”.
There was considerable overlap between the categories, and among the 
committees.  For instance, at one community “sustainability and environment” 
was both a function and a committee.  And there were plenty of special cases, 
like the community that had both a “coordinating team” and an “operations 
team”.  Or the community that had a unique budget category for “zig zag fence”. 
 The main take-away from my research was that there’s enormous diversity of 
organizational thinking on Planet Coho.  So my findings are consistent w/ 
Sharon’s.

I made a diagram of the various budgets I looked at, and if any of you are 
interested, write me and I’ll send it along.

Thanks,
Philip Dowds
Cornerstone Village Cohousing
Cambridge, MA

mobile: 617.460.4549
email:   rpdowds [at] comcast.net

> On Mar 26, 2019, at 12:49 PM, Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> Basically, you need buildings, grounds, community, and admin/legal. From 
> there a group will form around any issue or opportunity that comes up. Beyond 
> that I would be here all day making a list.
> 
> We have 3 teams set in the Bylaws — facilities, admin, and community. In my 
> opinion, facilities is over whelmed and needs to be split between interior 
> and exterior. By that I mean the large tasks take so much focus that smaller 
> tasks just slide by. Rehabbing all the decks and balconies will take 2-3 
> years of research, bids, decisions, installation. In the meantime the fix for 
> the potentially dangerous stairs to the basement is pushed farther and 
> farther down the to-do list.
> 
> More important, I think is the structure that has evolved for task oriented 
> groups. We have the 3 major teams and the board that are constant. Then we 
> have Pods that are mostly constant — gardening/landscaping, kitchen, safety, 
> etc. These form around people with an interest in leading who joins people 
> together "to do this.” Pods are attached to teams, sort of. The amount of 
> contact is varied. Gardening’s budget is in the facilities budget but 
> otherwise has no contact. Other Pods may attend the Team meetings and work 
> closely with them.
> 
> Then we have task forces and working groups that appear when there is  a 
> specific task. A working group may take on research into Solar Panels and 
> getting them installed. Task forces have been put together with volunteers at 
> a community workshop where a more systemic problem has surfaced — firming up 
> the consensus process, looking at how other communities handle workshare. 
> Some last for years and others few months.
> 
> Then we have people who are “stars” on Jerry Koch-Gonzales’s sociocratic 
> chart of circles. They hover around circles. The people who just do things 
> individually (and fairly autocratically) like sorting the recycling, letting 
> everyone know when rules change, and finds new trash companies when 
> necessary. When he needs back up, he asks. 
> 
> We used to have a person who swept the sidewalks every 2 weeks or so. He was 
> a star functioning on his own steam at his own pace on his own schedule.
> 
> The most important thing is to remember that your human capital will 
> determine what clusters of activity you have. If there is a person with the 
> drive to do something, great. You might end up with the beer brewing team. If 
> there is no one, it won’t  be done, so hire it out — buy beer as needed. 
> 
> However, we also have a decision-making policy that makes the full membership 
> the ultimate decider. And a structure of decisions that can be made with 
> routine notice all the way to has to go to a meeting. So all these groups can 
> form fairly freely but their decisions have to be run by the community and 
> they have to work out any objections, conflicts, budget issues, etc.
> 
> Don’t spend too much time on it. It will evolve. I asked this question a few 
> years ago and intended to summarize the responses. I was particularly 
> interested suggesting circles in a sociocratic circle structure. Beyond the 3 
> biggies, the variation was huge with unique names.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
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