Group XII (2006-2008) News

Right of Individuals & Community, Tomahawk, January 9-12, 2007

by Jennifer Ondrejka, Group XII

Sponsored in part by:

After almost an hour of driving along unlit roads on a cold, dark night I had almost given up hope of finding Treehaven.  Finally, I stopped at the only place with lights on, the aptly named Last Chance Landing.  The patrons in this tavern all appeared to know each other and were engaged in a cacaphony of overlapping conversations. When I asked the bartender for directions silence fell and one of the patrons said ominously, “You’ve come to the wrong place—we’re all lost here”.  After a beat they all laughed, and the bartender gave directions.

I couldn’t help but think of that experience the next morning when Randy Stoecker, seminar co-chair, challenged us to think about what makes a community. Clearly some of the basic features were there in the Last Chance Landing:  the people in the bar shared a location, interacted, identified with the group and acknowledged each other.  It would be natural to label them a community, but at this seminar we learned there is much more to the concept. 

We talked about factors that make a good community: fair use of the commons, diversity, mutual responsibility, a shared sense of mission.  These factors all relate to the common experience, yet each member of a good community is expected to have freedom and personal choice as well. This delicate balance of freedom and interdependence was the seminar’s theme.

We learned how to analyze the community “power structure” and utilize the existing power bases in the community to effect positive change.  Given this framework, we broke into small groups to analyze the projects we had each been working on and develop strategies.  There were cries of enthusiasm as many of us discovered breakthrough strategies with the help of our fellow Group XII members.

That evening we discussed Milton Bennett’s article, “Overcoming the Golden Rule: Sympathy and Empathy.”  The very idea of “overcoming” something so basic to our culture was a struggle for many, but we came to see how sympathy may be based on self-interest, while empathy demands the setting aside of self-interest to focus clearly on the needs of the other. 

On Thursday, Seminar Co-Chair, Gerry Campbell, had us reflect on the mystic poetry of Rumi to delve into the importance of listening as the key to moving from mere discussion to genuine dialogue.  

            What is the deep listening? . . .
The branches of your intelligence
grow new leaves in the wind of this listening.

Our philosophical reveries ended abruptly when Randy Stoecker announced “I am a conflict” and instructed us to move our chairs to a position that would illustrate our comfort level with him.  A few brave souls circled around Randy; the majority clustered about 10-15 feet back.  The rest of us took cover in the farthest corner of the room, with one person carrying his chair to a position of safety in the hallway.

We then talked about why we chose one spot or another, and what it would take for us to be more comfortable with conflict.  On the next try, most of us moved at least a little closer. 

Friday morning Gerry Campbell reviewed historical approaches to management and organizational development.  He explained the “Ladder of Inference” a simple model that encapsulates many of the concepts we had learned over the past three days.  The “ladder” is really more like a circle in which we selectively interpret data (real experience); those interpretations lead us to develop assumptions; and those assumptions for the basis for our beliefs and actions, which in turn create additional experience.

It is our personal and collective challenge to break this cycle by recognizing our assumptions, realizing that others may interpret the same data differently, listening intently and communicating clearly.  After sharing our reflections, we headed back home—fortunately while it was still light out.

Seminar Chairs: Randy Stoecker, Associate Professor, Department of Rural Sociology, UW-Madison & Center for Community and Economic Development, UW-Extension; Gerry Campbell, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW-Madison & Center for Community and Economic Development, UW Extension; Beverly Stencel, Professor, Community Resource Development Educator, Washburn County Extension

Carolyn Davis is Assistant Dean for Administrative Services, UW Baraboo-Sauk County; Jennifer Ondrejka, Executive Director, Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities, Madison; Ron Kuramoto, Principal Consultant, Time for Change Consulting, Whitefish Bay

FREE TIME!!

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