Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE:Hiring from Within

[Merlin Porter-Borden (merlpb]

Generally, don't hire from within the group, say the experts, Katie &
Chuck; BUT, it saves money (maybe). And time (maybe). On the face of it,
it puts the hiree in a Conflict of Interest situation. Not good.

Our group has two partners doing professional work: Project Manager
(paid)(BS in Architecture; Masters in City Planning); Architect
(unpaid)(35 years of experience in design & Project Development). One
was in the group for five years before we chose to hire him; the other 6
months before he volunteered a trial run at home design. It works
because they both are VERY diligent in taking direction from the group &
they insist upon group decisions. They are strong believers in group
process, and clearly see the creation of community through that work. I
KNOW that they want to tell the group what they should do, but they
NEVER do. They have created trust, and continue to nurture that trust. 

Hiring from within probably has more horror stories than good stories. I
aim to keep ours Good; I'm a semiretired civil engineer/manager and
self-proclaimed watchdog of the hired help from within. I've said a lot
that might look like support of hiring from within, but my advice on
hiring from within is: don't, or, at least, know the risk, watch closely
and remember: CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

Merlin Porter-Borden, Liberty Village, Maryland, 19 partners, 35 homes,
dirt digging imminent.