Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: improving group dynamics?

[Elaine (itchyink]

Thanks for your responses. We did have Laird help us with a sticky situation
here and it was a revelation. And yes, i do get disgruntled with the
academics of cohousing. Of course i understand how proper communication can
prevent problems, but i have also seen it censor people who don't feel
intelligent or educated enough to contribute.

>That it is a trap for
> consensus-based groups is my own conclusion, from all those times we are
> discussing how to actually get something accomplished (you know, paying the
> taxes, repairing a broken window ...), and somebody defends the lack of
> progress or participation by saying that relationships are the true work of
> the community, or similar sentiments.
So what is the way out of that trap you think?

>Or puts the cart before the horse by
> insisting on relationship building before tackling taskwork, rather than
> relationship building _through_ taskwork.

That's a great point. I'm sure it is heaps more effective than some
contrived exercise (thinking back to my corporate days). There seems to be a
high level of frustration in my comm. with things getting bogged down for
ages before we can actually get to the task.
Elaine
Cascadia, Portland, OR

_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L