Cohousing-L Mailing List: team-building resources, compilation

[Tree Bressen (tree]

Dear Facilitators and Cohousers,

Here is the original query from Becky Schaller at Sonora Cohousing,
followed by a compilation of the suggestions people sent in response.

Original Post:
"Most of what I read about  group facilitation seems to pertain to larger
groups and not committees.  I believe that in our community,  we need to pay
more attention to how the committees are working since that is where
relationships are getting strained. Because these groups are so much smaller
than the larger general meetings, they tend to be more informal which some
people really like.  Does anyone recommend any resources which address
questions about how committee members can best work together?"


ANSWERS:

(1) Karen Hannan

I suggest you include "Reaching for Higher Ground in Conflict Resolution"
by Frank Dukes et al.

This isn't really a teambuilding or small group facilitation book per se,
but I think it gets to the heart of why some committee member relationships
break down and what could be done to prevent it from the "get go" (or
perhaps to fix the issues if they've already arisen).  The authors have
taken a look at the whole concept of working agreements and pushed it
another notch by advocating for more explicit, deep and shared commitments
-- they encourage people to work toward not just reaching common ground,
but "higher" ground.  The book offers practical "steps" or things to do in
a range of situations and back it up with great demonstration
examples/stories.


(2) Robin Gast

More Than 50 Ways to Build Team Consensus by R. Bruce Williams was
recommended to me through this discussion group a few months ago when I was
searching for a team building exercise.  I have done at least one of the
exercises in the book with great success (IMHO).  It is currently out of
print but can be found on the internet.


(3) Kimberley Ann Klint

"Essential Elements of Facilitation" by Priest, Gass, and Gillis.  I think
it is now out of print in most places, but I hear it is coming back in a
new edition soon.


(4) Jeffrey H. Goldberg

The work that I do is mostly team building related, and is primarily
experiential in nature.  The resoureces that I keep going back to interms of
books is anything written by Karl Rohnke, and specific books are Islands of
Healing,, Processing the Adventure Experience, and A Manual for Group
Facilitators (by the Center for Conflict Resolution).

* * *

The other items people sent in were recommendations of standard
facilitation material which they thought would also be applicable to
team-building: Dynamic Facilitation as taught by Jim Rough, Sam Kaner's
book on Participatory Decision-Making, and the work of Chris Argyris.  

By the way, while A Manual for Group Facilitators (mentioned in #4 above)
was originally published by the Center for Conflict Resolution, it went out
of print for a long time until it was brought back a few years ago by
Fellowship for Intentional Community.  It is now available through FIC
online at store.ic.org, or call 800-995-8342.  (I'll also mention that FIC
would like to give the book an overhaul before its next reprint and is
searching for a volunteer to create a new cover design, so if anyone out
there knows of anyone with the talent and time to help, they can get in
contact with FIC at 800-995-8342 or email fic [at] ic.org.)

Cheers,

--Tree



-----------------------------------------------

Tree Bressen
1680 Walnut St.
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 484-1156
tree [at] ic.org
http://www.efn.org/~bressen
_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l