As our Community has grown, both in size and complexity, it has raised a number of questions. In particular: How do we continue to grow, while still maintaining a sense of shared identity? Of being a Whole Community / Whole Village? Of being a ‘single organism’, with organisations and individuals finding their unique contribution to the Whole, rather than breaking down into its constituent parts? At a time when the world is needing more cooperation, collaboration, co-creation and cohesion (more recognition of our interdependence), what is our pathway towards achieving this within our own community?

It was out of this core impulse that the Community Change Process was initiated in 2015. Phase 1 of the process came up with a proposed governance structure, but in Phase 2 (Consultation) it became evident that a change in structure cannot, in itself, achieve this level of change, unless it is accompanied by a change in culture as well. As such, Phase 3 emerged with both structural (Strand 1) and cultural (Strand 2) components.

The New Findhorn Association, our whole community organisation, would like to express appreciation to the many co-creators’ (individuals as well as groups and organisations) contributions throughout the initiation and careful holding of the progressive development of the Community Change Process, the formation of the Enquiry Circle, and especially, for the strengthening and deepening of enriched community-wide relationships.

Our particular gratitude goes to our esteemed friends John Clausen and Frances Edwards at Hygeia for their dedication and financial contribution. To our community, for accepting, processing, crafting, visioning, and participating with the process, and for encouraging and supporting the Enquiry Circle in its next steps forward. The NFA, for commissioning this document, and having initiated the process, for their collective vision of how it can serve the community. Special mention to Dürten Lau, Jan Nowell and David Harrison, for their contributions to the narrative of this report. And, of course, our friends, James and Madelanne from Culture Garden, for their engagement, inspiration and patience in articulating our journey, through their co- authoring of this review.

May this inform, inspire and bless our future growth together.

In Community,
David and Lorraine

Since 2015, Findhorn has been preparing the ground for more collaborative ways of engaging its Community members and practicing self-governance. This Progress Review captures the highlights of this (ongoing) Community Change Process (CCP).

Specifically, this Progress Review documents events and achievements since the Community Change Working Group (CCWG) Next Phase Proposal: Towards a Cohesive, Purposeful and Vibrant Community (January 2017). It is intended to support this community-led process to be more visible and understandable to the wider Community, to celebrate the efforts and achievements of those who have been holding, guiding, and participating in it, to engage more members, and most importantly, to invite the Community into a sense of togetherness on this transformational journey. By showcasing its 2017/2018 events and achievements, this Progress Review further aims to support the Community Change Process to assess its progress and to develop Next Steps for 2019 and beyond.

Writing this Review has been a fascinating journey through meeting minutes, powerpoint slides, articles, and videos, all chronicling the Community’s complex and emergent process of change. Bit by bit, as this journey unfolded, what initially seemed like a vast flurry of information took shape into a coherent and meaningful whole. And once the whole picture was clear, we could see its integrity, as well as the amount of energy, trust, and care that has gone – and continues to go – into holding and engaging with it.
For some Community members, the whole picture might already be clear. If you have been attending the meetings, events, or Sunday Slot presentations associated with the Community Change process, you likely have a much richer and more personal sense of what it’s about than we could ever represent in these few pages. For you, we hope that this Review is a celebration and a mirroring back of what you have collectively achieved. We hope it allows you to see even more clearly the strengths of the process, as well as any weak points, and that together these will best inform your decision-making as you plan your next steps forward with the Findhorn community.

For those who have been less involved, we hope that this Review offers an accessible overview of the process thus far, and perhaps gives you an inkling of where you might bring your own gifts to support this collective endeavour as it continues to evolve. Finally, for those who are watching, learning and growing in your own communities around the world, may this Review support your work as we all share what is possible for humanity, at this time.

This Review is accompanied by an information archive on the NFA website (About-Evolution). If you are viewing this PDF online, you can follow the links embedded in the text.

Please note that, unless otherwise indicated, sections of text in quotation marks are “storytelling” segments from the Listener Conveners — in their own words.

Yours in Community,
James and Madelanne
www.CultureGarden.org

“The Community Change Process is focused on evolving Community-wide structures to allow the Community to coordinate its own development.”

Origins

In 2014, with Robert Gilman (founder of the Context Institute, and main author of the NFA Constitution) already coming to Findhorn for the New Story Summit, the NFA Council invited him to stay on and do some work with them on the next steps in the evolution of the NFA.

During the 5 days of working together, it became clear that it would be meaningless to consider the development of the NFA in isolation of the significant growth and changes in the Community since the NFA was ”born” in 1999. As such, the NFA invited the Findhorn Foundation (which was undertaking its own internal organisational change process) to collaborate with it to look at a community change process, and Katie Kukolj was employed to make recommendations about a possible structure for this process.

August 2015

Following further work with Robert Gilman and Diana Leaf-Christian, the Community Change Process was formally “launched” in August, 2015. Its goal was to support “an evolution of Community-wide structures” to synthesise and coordinate the Community’s development.

The NFA Council and Findhorn Foundation management created a Community Change Working Group (CCWG) to propose new structures for collaboration, collective decision-making and information sharing in the Community, and to suggest a way to implement those structures together with the Community. The intended completion date was Spring Equinox, 2016.

Members of Phase 1 Community Change Working Group

Dürten Lau (NFA), Adele Napier (FF), Francine Rietberg (FF), Tobias Ellingsen (NFA – Secretary), and Anna Kovasna (Independant – Synthesizer)

Key Documents

✦ Powerpoint: “Evolution of the Findhorn Community: Community-wide change process 2015”
✦ CCWG Working Document: “Exploring the Why”
✦ Community Change Working Group Role Descriptions
✦ Powerpoint: “Our Task”
✦ CCWG Mandate

Click here to read these documents.

April 2016

In April, 2016, the CCWG made a Proposal for a new configuration of interlinked circles to govern the community, and an associated restructuring of flows of information, resources, and decision making. The intended completion date for consultation around this was September 2016.

Members of Phase 2 Community Change Working Group
Dürten Lau (NFA), David Harrison (NFA), Adele Napier (FF), Francine Rietberg (FF), Jan Nowell (Independant), Beth Dunlop (Independant – Secretary)

April – December 2016

The sharing of the Proposal marked the end of the 1st phase of the CCWG. In its second phase, from April – December 2016, the CCWG held a consultation process with the Community, which focused on:

• Dürten and Jan meeting with Community stakeholders, to consult around the Proposal and Recommendations made in phase 1. While no organisation felt that the structure as presented would work, it was clear that there was an energy for a greater sense of collaboration, with the growth in the community leaving some (particularly smaller) organisations feeling at the “breaking point.”
• Jan and David organising a series of “Consultation Clinics” — themed discussions, with nibbles and drinks provided, open to any individual from the Community who wished to comment and contribute to the change process.

Key Documents

• 2016 Proposal
• Presentation – 2016 Community Meeting (in the same post as 2016 Proposal)

During this phase, it also became clear to members of the CCWG, in conversations with James Wood of Culture Garden, that structural change would not be sufficient in itself, and that work towards the next evolutionary step for this Community would need to be accompanied by a look at the “cultural” change that would be needed in parallel to/interwoven with the proposed structural changes. From this realisation came the community sessions with Chris Alder and others, that would make up Strand 2 of the next phase (see following pages).

January 2017

Gathering the insights from this consultation process. the CCWG made a Next Phase Proposal (NPP), which was agreed at a CCP Stakeholders’ meeting.

The NPP proposed 2 Strands of work to be further developed in 2017, in order to create a light governance structure that facilitates:

1. Clear communication and coordination between and within Community organisations (Strand 1)
2. A Community that is individually and collectively engaged in the work of living the spiritual principles and committed to strengthening the transformational field (Strand 2)

Strand 1:

An Enquiry Circle of representatives from the various Community organisations and groups who are directly involved in the workings of the Community. They will meet for a total of 5-6 times during 2017 for 2.5-3 hour sessions.

They will:

• Be a prototype for a shared governance circle, and reflect on their learning journey together to help inform emergent governance systems
• Clarify the Vision/Purpose of the Community
• Suggest a name for the Community
• Progress some ‘project work’ that the group prioritises, eg. Taking steps to tackle a key Community issue
• Establish and ground ‘Key Gains’

Strand 2:

Strand 2 will be co-led by the NFA and FF through dialogue, events and other activities.

They will:

• Design and deliver events and other activities activating and strengthening the Transformational Field
• Build a clear spiritual base for our Community and its purpose
• Engage Community members in a shared sense of ownership and responsibility

Read the Community Change Working Group Next Phase Proposal Here.

“Strand 1 was held by an Enquiry Circle, exploring ways to develop clear communication and coordination between and within Community organisations.”

Strand 1: Key Information

The Enquiry Circle (EC) met 5 times in 2017 and 5 times in 2018, plus one initial Stakeholders’ meeting.

Members
Amanda Haworth (THA), Lorraine Rytz-Theriault (NFA), Camilla Bredal Peterson (FF), Caroline Matters (FF), Jonathan Caddy (Hinterland), Eian Smith (Duneland), Alex Walker (Ekopia), Cornelia Featherstone (CCC), Roger Doudna (PET), Mari Hollander (FC), Melissa Godbeer (CYC), David Hammond (Phoenix), Gordon McAlpine (Moray Carshare), David Harrison (NFA)

Facilitators
Dürten Lau and Jan Nowell (2017 – April 2018)
David Harrison and Caroline Matters (June 2018)
David Harrison and Ariane Burgess (November 2018 – Present)

Strand 1: Key Gains

• Community Purpose Statement
  • ✓ The EC has completed a Draft “Whole Community Purpose” statement
• Community Housing
  • ✓ The EC has created a Draft Housing Direction Statement
  • ✓ The EC suggested the desired components of a community consultation, which supported Duneland in their consultation process around North Whins
• Governance
  • The EC has explored:
    • ✓ Attitudes and expectations around Governance
    • ✓ Advantages of (and obstacles to) greater collaboration between stakeholder organisations on The Park
    • ✓ Question: what old relational stories might need to be cleared in order for the Community to work more collaboratively?
    • ✓ Relationship building and agreements within the group itself, to lay a foundation for future potential governance structures

Findhorn Whole Community Purpose Statement

Findhorn Whole Community Purpose Statement
(Draft, 2018)
Co-Creating a Thriving and Loving World

As a conscious community, we strive to demonstrate a practical spirituality in harmony with nature, and to play our part to positively transform humanity and the Earth.
The purpose of the whole Community is to be a place of inspiration and transformation – a centre of love and light, a centre of fiery hope. We hold a positive vision for humanity and the Earth, a commitment to deep and practical spirituality and to true ecology – caring for each other and caring for our planet. We seek to raise awareness individually and collectively in our day-to-day activities and radiate this out into the world. We hold a deep longing for humanity to live in peace and with gratitude and respect for the natural world.
We are a living, dynamic, practical experiment, building and seeking to demonstrate in physical form what is possible by working together as an intentional Community. We seek to create and hold spaces that are caring for the soul – places of beauty where we learn and practice the healing power of love. We seek to be visionary, vital, vibrant and viable on this Earth.
Part of our history and spiritual architecture has been three guiding principles for how to live and work in our Community. These principles are: inner listening, work is love in action, and co-creation with the intelligence of Nature. They continue to guide us today as articulated in our Common Ground statement. Individually we respond in different ways to the call of this centre. We welcome this diversity. Together we aspire to respond to the call of the world, to the call of our time.

Creating the Community Purpose Statement

“One of the tasks of the Enquiry Circle has been to ‘Clarify the Vision/Purpose of the Community’, with a view to:

• Creating a sense of one community with greater coherence
• Having a ‘North Star’ to both guide day-day actions & longer term evolution
• Looking for the whole to be more than the sum of the parts
• Individual organisations situating themselves within the whole

Following a harvesting of potential ingredients, a sub-group (Jan Nowell, Jonathan Caddy and David Harrison) met to draft a first, easy to remember ‘strapline’. Following feedback from the Circle members, this was then further developed by a sub-group (consisting of Mari Hollander, Roger Doudna, Dürten Lau, David Hammond and Jonathan Caddy).

Through its various iterations, what emerged was a strapline (which could potentially be used on letterheads etc), a sentence that fleshes this out further, and 3 paragraphs (brought together by Jan Nowell, based on words shared by Michael Lindfield), which, it was felt, captured the spirit of the purpose, and helped keep the original impulse of the community, central in our vision.

It needs to be said that the fact there was agreement from all the members for such a shared vision to be created in the first place, is, in itself, of great significance – reflecting a shared desire for cohesion and collaboration, at a time when the growth of the community could have led to greater dilution and fragmentation.

This draft version (agreed to in the Enquiry Circle in Autumn 2017) has been shared, as an ‘invitation for a conversation’ both in Community Meetings and taken to individual boards, with largely favourable feedback, but also shared comments both about the length and the tension between stating what we are ‘striving’ to do, and stating it as what we are already doing.

It is currently being kept alive in the Community, through having it read out at the beginning of Community Meetings and Board Meetings alike, and the intention is to review it, in terms of to what extent it has made a difference, both in terms of how we work and the lived sense of a ‘whole community’.”

Housing Direction Statement

Housing Direction Statement
(Draft, June 2018)
Gordon McAlpine (MCS), Stephen Couling (PET), Iris Toister(FF), Owen Jarvis (NVG, FF, YPI) & Cornelia Featherstone (CCC)

Summary

The Housing Direction Statement (HDS) describes a values-based, overall vision for our community in relation to the development of housing.

We anticipate that if and when all relevant organisations have agreed to this HDS, then a more detailed set of policies will be created to provide more specific and implementable guidelines for developers.

Regular reviews by the Enquiry Circle (or a similar community-wide body such as a Coordination Circle) in consultation with stakeholders will aim to ensure that it stays relevant for those doing the work.

Core Values

• Community Building
  • Community engagement
  • Collaboration
• Social Sustainability
  • Redressing the balance in age demographics
  • Community self-determination
  • Shared wealth
• Environmental Sustainability
  • Recycling
  • Wholeness, beauty and enduring value

Appendices

Appendix 1: Defining Terms
Appendix 2: Description of Current Housing Allocation Systems
Appendix 3: Age Demographics Comparison (Scotland v. The Park)

The complete (draft) Housing Direction Statement can be viewed here.

Community Housing

The Enquiry Circle agreed at their inception to progress a key community “issue,” as a test case for an evolving governance strategy. At their meeting in August, 2017 the EC agreed to focus on Housing. They stepped in to suggest the desired components of a community consultation, which supported Duneland in their consultation process around North Whins.

In September, 2017 they met with the Duneland board to build relations and explore “win-win” solutions for Duneland and the Community.

In November, 2017 the EC created a Housing Sub-Group, to further focus their Housing-related efforts. This Group drafted a Housing Direction Statement, which was further developed in collaboration with the EC as a whole. The June, 2018 Draft is summarised on the previous page.

“The emerging Whole Community Purpose Statement provided a ‘vision’ within which to consider the future direction for development of housing within our community. As with previous work, the development of the Housing Direction Statement began with a harvesting of potential elements. This time, community members with experience in this area (Stephen Couling and Owen Jarvis) were invited to join members of the Enquiry Circle in forming a sub-group that developed drafts of the statement, brought back for feedback at each stage.

In the process, it was noted that the interaction between the two developing statements added weight to the Whole Community Purpose Statement, and helped ground it further in the Circle. While the Statement was being developed, the proposed development of North Whins was becoming a hot issue within the community. One of the emerging functions of the Enquiry Circle was recognised as being to provide a more neutral space to explore such issues, within the polarities that were being acted out within the community. Once again, the significance of having an independent co-focaliser of the Enquiry Circle was acknowledged and appreciated, with Jan Nowell’s perceived neutrality and relative lack of history within the community helping to create a space within which it was possible to start some potentially difficult discussions.”

“This felt like the beginning of the EC starting to explore its potential as a forum to explore and respond to “live issues” (i.e. North Whins), which continued later with FF calling a meeting of the members of the EC to respond to potential planning issues regarding Bichen’s Field and its potential impact on the Community.”

Governance? Or Collaboration?

“Throughout the Community Change Process, there has been discussion and exploration about the potential of a movement towards a model of shared leadership within the Community, most often talked about in terms of a ‘lightly-sitting governance circle’, made up of representatives of the key stakeholder organisations within the Community.

The 1st phase of the Community Change Process, created a model of a ‘Central Circle’, linked to 4 outer circles (see ‘April 2016’). However, during the consultation process of the 2nd phase, it became clear that there was not sufficient agreement and potential buy in to this model, both from individual community members, and from the various organisations involved.

As such, the report of January 2017 (at the end of phase 2) proposed the setting up of an Enquiry Circle (see January 2017), which was tasked at that stage as being ‘a prototype for a shared Governance Circle, and reflect on their learning journey together to help inform emergent governance systems.’

The progress of the Enquiry Circle was reviewed in Spring 2018, as Dürten and Jan prepared to step out of their roles in co-facilitating the Circle, and at this stage, the Circle started to focus more overtly on the issue of ‘governance’.

However, in reflecting (both individually and collectively) on this issue, what has emerged is a question as to whether the next iteration of the Circle is actually to be a ‘circle of governance’, or rather a ‘circle of collaboration’?

There is currently no clear mandate from the Community to form a ‘Governance Circle’ as such, and while that may change in the future, what is emerging from the current process, is much more of a ‘Collaboration Circle’ – encouraging and facilitating collaboration and good communication between organisations; and offering the opportunity for greater synergy, co creation, empowerment, integration, inclusion, unity, steering and blessing. Rather than being a circle creating ‘directives’, it would be a circle suggesting ‘direction’, and, where appropriate, offering guidance and support.

As such, there is an element of us moving ‘organically’ towards the 2 ‘working metaphors’ that emerged from the work with Chris Alder – ‘The Way of the Inspired Wild Geese’ and ‘The Way of the Vibrant and Sustainable Beehive’ – and this fits with the suggestion that a significant element of this next phase, needs to be a clearer ‘weaving together’ of Strand 1 and Strand 2, offering greater strength and sustainability.”

“Strand 2 was co-led by the NFA & FF through dialogue, events and other activities aimed at engaging the Community in its spiritual principles and strengthening the transformational field.”

Key Information and Events

Strand 2: Key Information

A series of events were held in the Community in 2017-2018, to engage the Community in its spiritual principles and to strengthen the transformational field.

Focalisers:

• Jan Nowell and David Harrison (NFA) delivered events with Chris Alder, while Dürten Lau (NFA) and Caroline Matters delivered events focussing on the Spiritual base of the Community

Strand 2: Summary of Events

• Chris Alder: Community Change Events
• Michael Lindfield & Collaborators
• Findhorn’s 55th Birthday Celebration Week
• Deborah Benham and Root Cuthbertson: Peacebuilding
• Ana Rhodes: Conflict & Love

Events

Chris Alder: Community Change Events

This series of 4 events (December 2016, April 2017, September 2017, January 2018) was designed to engage the Community in an honest and insightful way around the topics of leadership and change. Specifically, the events:

• Explored Community shadow issues around leadership & change and named/ made an object out of any collective community resistance to change in a non-judgemental way
• Started to clarify a common vision for the Community moving forward
• Created a sense of responsibility, ownership and personal empowerment for change
• Provided opportunities for personal and collective insight and some next steps

(These sessions provided) “… a sense of engagement on a wider level with the Change Process. The metaphors inspired further conversations beyond the session.”

Key metaphors:

• Current working metaphor: Hovercraft, Grandmother
• New working metaphor: Beehive, Geese

Key practices to actualise new working metaphors:

• Practice leadership and followership
• Be better able to tap into who’s the right person, in the right position, at the right time
• Rotate leadership and roles
• Be better able to support, empower and value emergent leadership
• Follow your inner guidance also in finding and fulfilling your role
• Be better able to maintain direction and fluidity of structure
• Fly high – not relating ego to ego, but relating on a higher level, a soul level

Michael Lindfield & Collaborators

These 5 events (November 2016, May 2017, June 2017, and May 2018) supported engagement with the Subtle Worlds to:

• Explore the spirit and purpose of the Findhorn Community
• Explore the practice of spiritual leadership
• Create intentional fields of manifestation
• Understand how Gaia organises herself, how humans organise themselves and how we might create a more inspired partnership through Sociocratic governance

“These events were an empowering normalisation of co-creative practices – they’re not just restricted to ‘special’ people, but can be practised by us all.”

Igniting the Fire of Hope
(November, 2016)
Spiritual Leadership
(May, 2017)
Co-Creative Spirituality Skills (May, 2017) with Mary Inglis, Judy McAllister, and Thomas Miller The Subtle World and Sociocracy (May, 2017) with John Buck
The Spirit of Findhorn (June, 2017)

The May, 2018 event The Subtle World and Sociocracy, co-hosted by Michael Lindfield and John Buck, inspired the formation of 12 interest groups to further develop material from the program.

This included inspiring a monthly whole-community meditation, and the establishment of an ongoing group supporting good emotional health and hygiene within the community (including working with issues of grief and trauma).

Findhorn’s 55th Birthday Celebration Week

The week of November 14-17, 2017 hosted a series of events in the Universal Hall to celebrate the Community’s 55th birthday. Events included a play, Voices, by Laura Pasetti, based on 32 interviews with community people and co-created with ten community performers; a day-long exploration of the Community’s relational and spiritual field with Michael Lindfield, Judy McAllister, and Mary Inglis; a 120-person Transformation Game, with the intention to “stand in the core impulse of this centre and let it take shape in and through us in relevant and creative ways that serve the calling of these times”; and, a Community celebration dinner and sharing.

“I loved seeing the Hall so full of people all week, with all aspects of our diverse community represented and the unity in the diversity so strongly felt.”– Yvonne Cuneo, Findhorn Foundation Newsletter

Deborah Benham and Root Cuthbertson: Peace-building

This combination of Sunday Slot presentations (May 2017 & March 2018) and training (March 2018) along with community self-organisation enabled the Community to:

• Explore how Findhorn can co-create a culture of re-alignment with its agreements
• Explore how, in the Community, we can hold ourselves and each other lovingly accountable and avoid a culture of shaming & blaming
• Explore how we bring ourselves back to peace on an individual/relational and systemic level, and what the symptoms are of us being out of peace on an individual/relational and systemic level

These presentations and trainings inspired:

• The creation of a group (Initially called the ‘Peace Guild’) in March 2018 to deepen understanding of the ‘Peace Shield’ model, and how it can best be applied in the Community
• A Community Meeting exploring how we bring ourselves back to peace on an individual/ relational and systemic level, and what the symptoms are of us being out of peace on an individual/relational and systemic level
• A Sunday Slot looking at various techniques for bringing us back to individual peace

Conflict Resilience Resources — HERE

“These events gave us a recognition that we need to develop and harness skills to work with significant disturbance/conflict on a systemic level … Ana’s Deep Dive into Conflict and Love was a response to this.”

Ana Rhodes: A Deep Dive Into Conflict and Love

This weekend intensive workshop (August, 2018) was designed to support the development of a community that has a greater understanding of the dynamics of conflict, and which feels more confident in taking personal responsibility for individual roles in the development of conflict and working through issues.

Specifically, it supported participants to:

• Explore the Creative Tension between Conflict and Love as well as the texture or Magnetic Soul of this community
• Understand and be participant facilitators of these dynamics, drawing on Worldwork, an awareness based practice developed by Arnold and Amy Mindell and colleagues

The weekend was attended by large numbers, from many parts of the community. Ana circulated papers, providing further information on many of the teachings shared over the weekend, for people to deepen their understanding, and more potential facilitators came forward, to offer their skills. Ana also facilitated further meetings with 1 or more groups that had started on working on issues during the weekend.

What it inspired:

• Some community members consciously choosing to use learnings from the weekend as a prism through which to explore live issues in their community lives
• A Community Meeting, in which ideas to establish a regular Forum for people to express issues that they experience as being “hot” in the Community, and a Peace Bench where people can re-connect with each other, were further developed
• Plans for a further weekend are being explored with Ana

Next Steps for 2019

Next Steps for the Community Change Process:
The Enquiry Circle will bring this Review to community members at a community meeting to ensure the whole community is moving forward together.
At this event there will be an opportunity for community members to give feedback on the Community Change Process to date, and offer suggestions for how to proceed.
The Enquiry Circle will develop a proposal for their next cycle of work which will be presented for review to the community. They will include the community feedback and suggestions in this proposal.
To maintain momentum for and connection to the process the intention is to carry out these next steps by mid-November.