Open for Discussion: How to successfully share the workload in community?

Through years spent at various intentional communities, my experience begs the following question: How to keep everyone, including volunteers, constantly engaged and happy, and to keep the community active and productive?

In intentional communities, there seems to always be so much to be achieved and numerous projects underway, that taking a break feels almost like a crime. What's more, just to keep systems in place and running smoothly, a huge amount of work needs to be done: The living spaces need to be cleaned; the animals need to be fed; the gardens need daily watering (which, depending on the size, could take hours in itself!), not to mention weeding, mulching, planting/harvesting/seed-saving; wood needs to be chopped and piled to keep us warm in the evenings; the hot compost pile needs to be flipped; meals need to be cooked for the whole group; compost toilets need to be taken care of; gas levels checked...Evening comes, and the fires and candles need to be lit; garden beds need to be covered to protect from frost; greenhouse doors closed; animals fed and put away... It's a never-ending cycle of labour and work. Just upkeep could keep us busy all day, especially in the larger communities! Let alone new projects, growth, development.

So how to make sure that all these tasks get achieved in a way that the people doing the tasks feel happy and not like slave-drivers?

Individual needs must be taken into account. Everyone requires a different amount of rest, free time, and personal space in order to give their best and function at 100%. Some people require more structure than others in order to feel motivated. Should the community have a set schedule? Breakfast at –, group circle at –, work starts at –, break at –. Or do we hope that the volunteers are self-motivated, and mature enough to take breaks when they need? Place our trust in the maturity, dedication, and good work ethic of those who are coming to help out and learn?

At Ka'Way Monti our general requirement has been 24 hours a week, a pretty low commitment to make. This is influenced also by the harsh climate, the afternoon rains, and the extreme cold or baking sun that forces us inside for a break. Perhaps in the months with a more gentle climate, we work longer hours. Perhaps the days of the cob-oven pizza-party, we're ready to work from 9am to midnight, but that includes hours of pizza prep while drinking wine and dancing, followed by hours of cleaning up! (Everything changes, there are always exceptions to the rules)...

Upon visits to other communities, twice I have noticed that an overly energetic leader/host is the key to the success. In Sachawasi, Bolivia, we would chew coca leaves and spend hours after hours handling machetes to prepare wood for the construction project, or weeding giant fields of crops (which was a never-ending feat, as a few weeks later all the weeds we had taken out would be there again!). Meanwhile, in Bioconstruyendo, Argentina, the host leader had an incredible undying energy that left everyone feeling the need to work as many hours as he does (ie. From the moment you wake up until the moment you collapse, exhausted, into bed), as he always needs help, and there's always lots to be done.

Different systems or games can be created in order to fairly distribute regular upkeep community tasks. At Ka'Way Monti, we use the 'Community Wheel', and divide tasks up between the community members every 2 days, and place an importance upon celebrating once the tasks are completed. I have also seen a rotating system based upon the Permaculture Flower, putting people into groups, and each group being in charge of different areas for different days of the week. In this system, the tasks were referred to as 'Servicio Amoroso' (Loving Service) which helps soften the attitude and approach with which we complete our chores.

Chris Dyson, the founder of Ka'Way Monti School for Sustainability, says that he prefers to not put a strict timetable on the day, as it dampens volunteers sense of independence and ownership of projects: “The vast majority of the volunteers are volunteering because they are curious about the various things we're up to, so they tend to motivate themselves. we have never had an unmotivated student over the three years we've been running programs. More often than not, the volunteers are up and out to work before I am after breakfast just because they want to see how much of whatever it is they're working on at the time can get done before lunch. A number of volunteers have extended their stay just to see something they've been working on through to completion. Ownership of a project is encouraged here without really saying a word about it. When someone shows up to help out, we always ask what it is they're interested in experiencing here. There are enough projects going on that we can accommodate their interests, thus, when they start working on it they do so on their own time and no motivation is needed. If I were to sit and dictate which hours of the days they should work, I am quite convinced that we would have neither the constructions or garden beds that we have, nor the relationships that we continue to keep up with around the world with our past volunteers and students.”

While he makes some very fair and real points, I've seen great friendship and future contact with old volunteers from ecovillages that have a strict timetable and rigid work-hours to be adhered to. What's more, other ecovillage founders have told me in the past that a strict timetable for volunteers is key to their success in keeping everything running smoothly...

So... over to you, the readers. What do you prefer, and what do you feel is successful?