Cultivating Community
October 29, 2007
The Mentorship Approach With Teams & Groups
What makes a community? This is the question my friend Sarah Sharp used to begin a telecourse called Cultivating Community we co-presented at the beginning of the month.
Our participants suggested that community is defined by many things. These included:
• Having similar interests
• Being a supportive environment
• Accepting other people
• Encouraging members to grow through their involvement and become more than they were
Next we asked, What other qualities do communities have?
They said communities usually have:
• Mutual goals
• A specific culture with values that define it
• Strong ethics
We agreed communities need:
• A commitment to personal growth
• Sharing
• Compassion
• Justice
• Heart values
One participant provided a metaphor from the story of stone soup, where one stranger helps all the group members share what little they have to create a wonderful meal of abundance when they otherwise think they are poor.
People come together in community by focusing on the group’s shared goals. This helps them let go of their individual agendas and helps create a spirit of cooperation. Decisions are made jointly, through consensus. In a genuine community differences are respected and even seen as valuable.
Conflicts are resolved openly and with honesty, but with enough care and respect that individuals feel comfortable to express their feelings and opinions. At the highest level of connection—a very rare thing—a community can be a place of great personal safety, where individuals can disclose thoughts and feelings and past experiences they normally keep private. The group’s empathy and acceptance can bring healing and transformation.
Each of us can take steps to cultivate community in groups we are in. We can take courageous steps to model honesty and openness. We can go out of our way to see things from someone else’s perspective. We can encourage discussions that help the group discover its goals, and we can help the group stay focused on them.
Posted in The Mentorship Approach With Teams & Groups, Zine 1: October 2007, Zines in 2007
