fg

Workshop Instructor

Laird’s specialty is up-tempo inclusive meetings that engage the full range of human input, teaching groups to work creatively with conflict and diversity—all the while being ruthless about capturing as much product as possible. As both a consultant and a teacher he pioneered a facilitation and leadership training program where students meet eight times in three-day weekends spread out over two years.  Since 2007 he’s authored a blog that has more than 1200 entries, writing about group dynamics, intentional community, and his life along the way: http://communityandconsensus.blogspot.com/

Laird Schaub lived for four decades (1974-2014) at Sandhill Farm, an income-sharing rural community that he helped found. He also helped found the Foundation for Intentional Community and served as that organization’s main administrator for 28 years (1987-2015). In 1987 he created a self-insurance fund for health care needs among income-sharing communities called PEACH (Preservation of Equity Accessible for Community Health) that he ran for 22 years (1987-2009), growing it from a dream to a loan fund with net assets over $500,000. In addition to his expertise in community living, he’s parlayed his passion for good process into a consulting business focused on cooperative group dynamics, styled CANBRIDGE (Consensus And Network Building for Resolving Impasse and Developing Group Effectiveness), which he’s been doing since 1987.