Blog du Wren

Group Dynamics II

As a people watcher, I see group dynamic watching as the next logical step. (Last time I ran away with the circus, it was one of the first things I posted about.) When you put 60 or so people (with people coming and going daily), group dynamics is something that exists in abundance. Who contributes and who doesn't really pull their weight, who complains and who makes due, who gets along with whom, who are snuggle buddies, etc. etc.

One of the things that intrigues me most about this ever-morphing animal that is called Chautauqua is the way responsibilities are handled. There is no end-all buckstopper to whom you can take your questions or even figure out who you should take your question to. In general, if you start asking the questions, you become the one that has to answer them. Take "When are we going to leave?" for example. A simple question, right? Well, try asking it around a Chautauqua camp the day before a travel day. You quickly become the one to coordinate between all the people that know what else has to happen and when, such that you become the authority.

This whole concept of responsibility for the taking is one that has its ups and downs. Ups: everyone is responsible for the experience, rather than being able to point to just one organizer; each year is very different (so I'm told); everyone has a say in how things go down; you can be as involved as you want; the fact that it works is just plain amazing. Downs: it is easy for people to decide not to pull their own weight since there is no one to call them on it; each year is different*, the people who care often get overworked and burnt out; personality conflicts can have a bigger impact.

Sufficive to say, it is a trip, both on the performance/travel/circus side as well as the group dynamics side.

Thursday July 30 2009

File under: chautauqua

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on Thu 30th Jul, 2009 11:37 pm PDT maggie said:
will you still be on crew in Port Gamble? if i can find transport, i'll be there sunday.
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