Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: purpose and goal statements

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

Sharingwood has a document we call our principles and commitments. It 
has stood for 3 years now without modification and has not lost any 
relevance. These are not meant to be hard and fast, enforceable rules, 
but rather the guidelines of where we are going (hope to go) as a community.


We have joined together on this land to create a mutually supportive 
community where there is respect, caring and appreciation of each other 
and our surroundings.

*  Where each person feels accepted and valued as they are.
*  Where decisions are reached through consensus.
*  Where responsible environmental choices are encouraged.
*  Where children and adults can play, grow and learn in a nurturing 
atmosphere.

I will do my best to:
 * Become conversant with the Articles, Bylaws, Declarations and any 
other policies decided upon by the Sharingwood Community
 * Be attentive to the needs of the Sharingwood environment and community.
 * Contribute my skills and talents to the Sharingwood Community.
 * Be an active participant in the committees and governance of Sharingwood.
 * Help resolve troublesome differences in the Sharingwood Community.


At the recent Northwest Intentional Communities gathering on conflict 
resolution and community sustainability one of the wisdom's shared by 
intentional communities was to keep your vision document short, simple, 
and easy to digest.  If it takes more than a couple of minutes to read 
it may not be remembered.  If it is not clear and direct it may not be 
understood. If it is not remembered or understood it has little value.

My own experience teaches me that these sorts of documents are  filters 
for your community.  For example if your community is spiritually 
based, the vision document should reflect what you believe. This will 
filter who joins you.  Be careful that your words convey what you want 
them to.  It is a good idea to have someone outside your group read 
your vision statement and give you feedback on what the words mean to 
them.  I know one core group who put out a very vague, "new age" sort 
of vision statement for their community which was not at all what they 
were about, and they ended up being "categorized" as new age, which was 
a label they didn't want, which didn't clearly reflect what their goals 
were, but the words they used in their vision statement implied. Not 
surprisingly many of the people who came to the meetings had a new age 
metaphysical orientation which caused the untimely demise of the group. 
(transformation actually. The newcomers ended up creating a support 
group for their new age beliefs).

Vision statements can also be used to clearly identify core values such 
as non-violence, environmental, etc.  If you give specifics, realize 
that  will filter people. I saw a vision statement once that supplied 
specifics which indicated that pets and guns were not allowed, 
recycling and energy conservation were expected. Obviously this 
filtered out anyone with guns, pets, and who wanted a personal freezer 
and electric heat and didn't care about recycling.  This is not 
necessarily bad, just limits who inquires further. This can actually 
save you problems with values conflicts later.

Rob Sandelin
Puget Sound Cohousing Network