Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Group vision: An example scenario

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

In order to make the importance of having a group values/vision 
statement let me offer an example scenario for clarification.

At Sharingwood, one of the values we hold is religous tolerance and 
freedom. You can hold any religon you wish as long as your worship does 
not infringe upon anyone else.  Lets suppose that this value was not in place.

Now, suppose an extremely evangelic person joined Sharingwood and 
wanted their religous values to be the stated community values.  
Suppose even after they had received behavior-feedback which told them 
that no one else supported their view, he  consistently continued his 
evangalism and continued to work it into the group agenda at every 
opportunity.  The end result of this would be significant conflict, 
with this person probably ending up ostracized and being asked to leave.

SInce Sharingwood is a pretty well established group, we have land, 
houses and no major debt, we could  absorb a major conflict such as 
this, although it would  distract us and derail our current group 
efforts for awhile.  If we were just developing our community, this 
kind of fundamental values conflict might easily destroy us as most 
forming groups don't have the energy, skills and time buffer to handle 
this sort of major conflict.

Having a clear values/ vision statement early protects you from these 
sorts of major values conflicts later and will ideally bring together 
people who hold enough similiar values that they can work through their 
differences.

The evangelic person could form their own community, with their own 
stated values, and would attract people who hold those values. This is 
not bad, it is the way community building works.  The key is to state 
up front what your values are or what you will tolerate, otherwise you 
may find yourself several miles downstream in a boat full of people you 
really don't want to be with.