Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The group gets things done; they have a list of milestones and they actively work to accomplish
them.
People are comfortable around each other.
Everyone participates in the conversations.
People's feelings are as welcomed as their ideas.
General agreement fuels decisions, and dissention is heard and respected, not pushed aside.
Members keep their promises.
Disagreement and critical opinions are not seen as negative; expressing an opposing view is relat-
ively comfortable.
Leadership shifts among a number of individuals.
THE SECOND MEETING
You've laid the groundwork at your first successful community meeting. A set of group norms is start-
ing to form, you know many of the potential players (and pitfalls), the community's assets are starting
to show themselves, interest has been sparked, and people are engaged. The goal of the next meeting
is to funnel all that energy and information into creating the garden's mission statement—or at least to
work in that direction. The mission questionnaire discussed and provided in
chapter 1
will be your road
map. The discovery process could take a few meetings, though, and that's fine. Just work toward the
goal with the group, reminding them that the questionnaire will help in the formation of the new com-
munity's all-important mission for the garden.
Understanding the Importance of the Mission Statement
A mission statement or, as it is sometimes called in the business world, an elevator pitch, is a quick,
descriptive paragraph about an organization. It should be brief (no more than about five sentences), to
the point, and ideally short enough to memorize.
This might seem like a silly exercise. It isn't. It is fundamental to your organization. By having a
consensus-driven mission, you not only have buy-in from the community, earned through valuable dis-
cussion and group learning, you also have a reference point for the future.
If, down the road, individuals or a group join the community and have a different vision for the
garden, you can point to the mission statement as a guiding principle or, if things have changed over
time, reflect on the original mission statement as a discussion point for evolution.
One of the great things about a community deciding things together is that it generates a lot of good
ideas. Of course, so many ideas may also be a challenge; you can only do so much with the available
time, dollars, and energy. This makes understanding the mission of your garden all the more import-
ant—your mission can help channel all those thoughts, ideas, and passions toward a unified goal.
A mission statement can also protect you from rogue or out-of-scope ideas that might arise. If it
is stated that the mission of your garden is growing food for others, that clarity and specificity will
help you if someone jumps in and wants to start a for-profit urban farm on part of the garden space.
You can politely decline on the grounds that it is contrary to your mission. Or if a community member
