Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Supporting Facilitators

[Dahako (Dahako]

Hi all-

Our core facilitators - of which I used to be one but am laying out while I
work on other things - support each other by having meetings between business
meetings in which they discuss the previous meeting and plan the next one.  
At least, that is the theory - last I heard, in the past couple of meetings
there was more planning the next one than discussing the previous.  The point
is, the facilitators organized to help themselves.  

Last year the facilitators spent group money on sending themselves to a
formal consensus workshop; buying a wall thingy at Duke surplus that has a
giant whiteboard, projector screen, and plenty of space to hang flip chart
paper on either side; and some misc. office supplies.  I don't know what the
plans are for this year's money (*hey y'all, how about a retreat??*).

From my experience as facilitator, I can state unequivocally that, although
people don't always give you the straighest scoop on how you did right at the
end of an arduous meeting, if you give them a day (or even a couple of hours)
and then go ask, you get to hear many home truths.  After I facilitated, I
made a point of checking with at least three people (starting with my
husband) to see what I did right and what I could do better.  Over time, I
think the group as a whole has gotten a lot better at constructive criticism
and the facilitators have gotten better at assimilating the feedback into
their practice.  Each facilitator is more familiar with his/her strengths and
weaknesses.  (For example, My strength is meetings where the goal is an
action decision - less good at explorations of policy.) Not that we're
anywhere near perfection most of the time, but sometimes we have a meeting
that just hums.

Jessie Handforth Kome
Eno Commons
Durham, NC
Where we are back in mini-development mode putting in our pedway, some
drainage, and related landscaping.  Also have a 3-bedroom house for sale.