I volunteer for a Community Benefit Society called CASH. The group started as some members of existing co-ops and friends wanted to help others to set up housing co-ops, grow their existing co-ops or create other community owned assets e.g. community centres.

In parallel to this main goal, CASH has started hosting a co-op support group. We hoped that each session would comprise of a workshop on a set theme, followed by a problem-solving surgery. The surgery would encourage co-op members to work together to try and provide advice on each other’s issues. We were expecting to possibly talk about conflict resolution, financial worries or how members engage with their co-ops.

The first session we hosted was well attended, and was held at the new RUSS community hub. One common thread was that older and newer co-ops are concerned about how to engage members in the vital collective decision making that makes a co-op a co-op.

We decided to devote the second session to this, the theme was: participation within groups. Another CASH member brought the four stages of a group to show, adapted from the book A world Waiting to be Born by Scott Peck (Bantam Books, New York, 1993). We used this as a starting point for discussion:

1st stage: Pseudocommunity – characterised by behaviour which assumes ‘we’re all the same really’. We act as if there are no causes of conflict. This enables the survival of the group in its early stages.

2nd stage: Conflict – differences can no longer be ignored, emerging issue are addressed. The group is likely to make rules or policies at this stage. The group explores deeper and begins to relinquish prejudices, expectations and a need to control each other.

3rd stage: Openness - as each person in the group empties, the group becomes a safer space in which to speak and be heard. We may feel like we don’t know where to go as a group or if we do know, that we don’t want to be the person who takes the risk of doing it.

4th stage: Community – a group are able to be present with each other. People may still have disagreements and conflict, but they are learning from differences. The group works together to implement solutions effectively.

I considered how this would especially affect new members joining the group. As well as my work with CASH, I also work with other housing co-operatives. I am a founding member of a housing co-operative that is yet to be housed, in London, probably one of the most difficult places to set up a housing co-operative in the… world? I am doing this because I believe that if we can make a model for setting up a new housing co-operative here, we can make it work anywhere.

We definitely went through the first group stage: I remember discussing our values as a co-op and thinking, we must all be thinking very similar things, surely discussing values should be an ongoing issue. The group has now moved onto stage two, some decisions may have to be made soon about how we might allocate our first property. This may trigger some disagreements. Talking about the stages of a group together may be helpful. Members may feel more like disagreeing with each other knowing that this will allow us the become a more functional group.

We are also trying to gain and retain new members. This is difficult when you are a housing co-op that does not have any housing yet. Reflecting on the group stages, if you are not a founder member of the group, it might be more difficult to join in the early stages. Many people have joined in the past year, attended a few meetings then left without saying why. Maybe we could be doing more to induct new members?

If new members are inducted correctly, they might be more likely to become fully participating members of the group. And with it, gain the self-confidence and satisfaction that comes with being in the team running their housing. This is most likely to happen in a group that is past stage four, as the group is at a point where welcoming new members and any needs they may have, can be addressed by the group effectively. This could have the effect of helping to break down barriers to participation.

Some people joining co-operatives have had an experience of working in groups, maybe a shared living situation or workplace. They address jobs that need doing in the co-op and ask more experienced members for help if they need it.. They are keen to try out roles in meetings like facilitating (chairing) or taking minutes.

Whereas, some new members might have less experience, less confidence and may end up feeling slightly helpless in the group, or just feel like they don’t understand the jobs that need doing. In my experience, this can lead them to retreat and they may even leave the co-op. I was this person when I joined my first housing co-operative. I was waiting to be managed by others, because this was the narrative of my life so far. If a job came my way, it had to be within my comfort zone otherwise I would put it off or give up on doing the job, to the disappointment of my fellow co-operators.

My turning point was agreeing to help with some renovation work in my housing co-op, something I was desperate to learn but had zero experience in. Me and a more experienced member started the job: screwing in plasterboard to create a ceiling under a slanted section of the roof. After a few successful pieces were fixed in place, my friend said he had to run but I should finish the job. I was left holding the drill and propping up plasterboard with my back. I actually can’t remember if I did finish the whole job, but I went on to create two more ceilings. I was also left with the feeling that you don’t need to be an expert to take on a job – we can learn skills ourselves and do things we didn’t think possible before – without being told or ‘allowed’ to.

With this sentiment, I started to speak my thoughts at decision-making meetings, organised work days, created accounting spreadsheets, planned housing co-op related events, facilitated workshops on how to run co-operatives and drew up plans for a multilevel guest bunk room, then made it with a group of friends. I did all of this before I was 22. I also applied this to life outside of the co-op and became a teacher (something I definitely did not think I was capable of as a younger person) because ‘no one knows what they are doing to begin with, we’re all learning’. This is probably a developmental stage that everyone goes through in life but I put my mindset shift down to my co-op experience.

I used to think I had taken an overly long time to understand the running of the co-operative because of my age. Then for various reasons, I lived in four very different housing co-operatives over the next five years. I saw new people join and witnessed how more experienced members acted. I came to the conclusion that it is really difficult to shift your thinking to that ‘co-op mindset’ if you haven’t experienced it before.

There are probably lots of ways to explain what a ‘co-op mindset’ is. Here are a few things I associate with a co-op mindset (that I’ve seen new members struggle with):

everything is possible, but no one is going to tell me to do it’,

‘everyone has needs and in turn fulfils the needs of the group in their own way, understanding this makes the group work better’,

‘for the group to work, members need to bond, this can only be done by spending social time together regularly’.

Is there a fast track way to help new members think like this?

The ways I’ve seen co-ops try to impart this mindset to new members has been fairly implicit; some co-ops have a requirement to attend meetings. New people might find this quite alienating because it takes a long time to figure out how the co-op works, then longer to work out how you can help. Some co-ops expect new people to just get involved and are then surprised to find that this isn’t happening for everyone.

Have co-ops considered that implicit knowledge excludes people? Not talking about the co-op mindset with new co-op members will only serve the privileged few who feel entitled to step in and participate from the beginning. Then you get a co-op of the privileged few. How would explicitly talking about the ‘co-op mindset’ to improve participation? How do we do this in an increasingly individualist society?

New members getting to know the co-op they have joined: they firstly get involved with the membership process they have just been through, as they have first-hand experience of it. Then through this task, they begin to see how the co-op works. Hopefully, they will then begin to take on the co-op mindset from others in that working group. For example, new members could assist with interviews or critique the membership process and help implement changes to improve it.

‘Buddying’ systems that focus on the new member becoming friends with the experienced member instead of the the process being a formality. Invite new members to social events outside of the co-op, have them round for tea and talk about all of the things you love and find challenging about participating in the group. A person at the workshop shared that they encourage applying members to attend meetings before being interviewed in order to see how a co-op functions.

Send new members to national events to receive training. Here they gain some knowledge and might meet other new members. This was one thing we discussed at the last Young Co-operators Network meeting I attended.

Maybe a future focus for this co-op support group could be working together on how we could make the ‘co-op mindset’ more explicit? I’d really like to see if this helps new members feel more included and more able to participate.

If you are interested in sharing any ‘best practice’ or are thinking of trying any of this out, please do let us know how it goes, and of course, all are welcome at the ‘Co-op Surgery’.

Our next Coop Support Group that is further exploring participation and engagement is on Sunday, 23rd February 2025, 2 - 4pm

For more info and registration please follow this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/coop-support-group-tickets-1234013149549?aff=erelexpmlt