Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Group Think

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

IMO it might be useful to define what it is that people need to agree  
on in order to work together well, and where diverse opinions and  
varying POVs
are useful.

On PROCESS it's important to have strong agreements, especially in  
groups who wish to work by consensus.  I think that most people who left
our community unhappily (or who are still here but have a hard time  
fitting in) are ones who either disagree with consensus work - in  
practice,  or in theory
as well as in practice.  So, this isn't the place we wish to have many  
opinions  in general, even though there might be differences of opinions
on how to do it, how it's applied, etc.  (We need to keep all those  
nice process trainers there alive, right? :))

But diversity on "content" is really a good thing.  And my experience  
has been that the people who are hard to work with are not the one  
with whom
I disagree on that level, but ones who have low tolerance to not  
getting their way.  That's where and how unpleasant vibes (or worse)  
creep in.

Racheli, Sonora Cohousing, Tucson.



On Jul 3, 2011, at 5:12 PM, Sharon Villines wrote:

> On 3 Jul 2011, at 6:27 PM, Racheli Gai wrote:
>
>
> > I don't believe that people naturally and easily think the same.   
> > Yes,
> > they do sometimes, but all the time?
>
> People choose their contexts and tend to choose familiarity and  
> similarity. The context of this discussion is decision-making  
> groups. I find that teams tend to become filled with people who  
> think the same way. People who don't think that way change teams.  
> It's more pleasant.
>
> Rob Sandelin used to say that cohousing communities grew less and  
> less diverse over the years, not more diverse.
>
> People with similar backgrounds, likes and dislikes, etc. will tend  
> to think more alike than those who don't share those backgrounds.  
> That's what leads to group think. Otherwise group think wouldn't  
> exist.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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