Here is some vital information provided by the editor of Communities Magazine, listing the essential ingredients needed to form and sustain a successful community. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 Intentional Communitites fail and only 10% actually make it a success:
Six Ingredients for Forming Communities
(That Help Reduce Conflict Down the Road)
1. Choosing a fair, participatory decision-making process that is appropriate for the group. And if it's consensus, getting trained in it.
2. Identifying their vision and creating a vision statement.
3. Learning what resources, information, skills, and tasks they would need, and then either learning or hiring them.
4. Drawing up clear agreements, in writing.
5. Learning good communication skills, and making clear communication a priority, including ways of reducing conflict.
6. Selecting cofounders and new members for emotional well-being.
So the last ingredient is to choose people who've already demonstrated they can get along well with others.
Creating healthy, viable communities is one of the finest projects we can undertake. And we can learn to set systems in place — right from the beginning — that give us the best chance of success.
You can read the whole article here:
http://www.ic.org/pnp/cdir/2000/20diana.php