Exercise

Creating Community - Getting Started

This exercise is designed to help you to start discussion with colleagues on ‘creating community’.

Part 1

Consider these questions:

1. What different kinds of communities do you belong to?

2. What are they like (what characterises them)?

3. What is important about being part of a community?

If you were to identify an object that represents what is important to you about ‘community’, then what would that object be?

Part 2

Now think about your own work environment. Where is there a sense of a ‘community’ operating? Where is it evident that a sense of community does not operate? In order to identify what the differences might be between these two things, we’d like you to do an observation exercise.

Spend 15-20 minutes in the place where you think a sense of community does operate, quietly observing: what do you notice (consider what you see, hear, smell); what is the atmosphere like; what is happening? Then do the same in the place where you think a sense of community does not operate.

Record your observations and discuss with your colleagues.