Hello @reef-associate,
Somewhere half way the summer break we noticed in the group of Full Members that we may be dealing with a bit of an under-the-waterline emotional hangover from the site purchasing process, and so we decided to contract a professional facilitator to help us with a little group dynamics spring cleaning.
Just to be clear: there is no drama, there are no fights and - as far as I am aware - there are barely any out-of-the-ordinary interpersonal tensions. We look at it more as a matter of hygiene: we have been through a rather stressful period together, and so if we don’t take the time to bring up an leftover tensions now, there is a risk that they will get out of proportion later on, with a risk of explosion that is going to cost us much more emotional energy.
A first session has been planned on 18 September, with Mia Vranken, one of the founders of Cohousing De Okelaar. This we are going to do with the people who were in The Reef at the moment of the purchase. This is not because we want to keep any secrets from you, but more because this will allow all of us to speak freely, without the fear of being judged or needing to provide context to people who weren’t there. Afterwards I imagine we’ll provide some sort of summary (so that effectively no secrets are created), and of course you are always welcome to ask us any question you would like to ask.
What I expect will happen - but that’s just me - is that we’ll mostly be talking about group dynamics (rather than personal conflicts, which is not the issue here), for example about how we can find a better balance between being efficient and at the same time making space for people to be heard. If that would be the case, then I can imagine that we may want to do a second session, one in which we’ll be looking forward, which would be easier to open up to aspiring Full Members (but to be seen of course).
We’ll keep you posted …