Category: Common-frictions


What about meeting participants?

Don’t they need training?  Well, yes, in an ideal world everyone participating in decision making, or even just living in community would take some time to learn how it all works, to develop some skills, and to grow a little toward their best self. I’d love to offer that course, but so far we haven’t... Read More

Who Should Facilitate Meetings?

There is no one right answer to this question, but I think there are a lot of problematic approaches that are worth reviewing and some strategies for overcoming the challenges.   In general, we would like facilitators to be willing, skilled, and varied. We’d like facilitation to be a joyful experience that the facilitators find rewarding,... Read More

Stories from the Field – Three Examples of Facilitation that made a difference, based on true stories

In these examples, exercises are used that are described in detail in The Cooperative Culture Handbook (CCH). This book may be purchased from FIC or Amazon.   Working Toward a Goal A member requested time at a meeting to address the ongoing problem of dog droppings around the community. The facilitator met with the member, we’ll... Read More

Tough Topics in Cooperative Groups

Not all topics are created equal. In the context of cooperative culture, some topics are much tougher to get at than others. Here are half a dozen that I encounter regularly. These are by no means all, but they’re representative. If your group consistently handles any two of these well, you’re way ahead of the... Read More