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Most of us come from backgrounds and experiences that have not equipped us to share power. Our mainstream culture is predicated on competition and hierarchy. So, what does it take to share power and practice democratic decision-making in an intentional, structured way? How can we build the skills and culture needed for equitable and effective collaboration?
In this introductory workshop, GWI provides a window into the kinds of relational shifts that facilitate a culture of shared leadership. We touch on the tools, policies and practices that support democratic decision making, and offer a glimpse into how they can be put into action. You will emerge with a sense of how to start taking steps towards sharing power in your organization or working group.
In 2019, the Good Work Institute team made the collective decision to move from a hierarchical organization to a Worker Self-Directed Nonprofit. Together, we built a system of shared governance that serves the needs of our organization while honoring our unique individual contributions. We are continuously evolving our sense of how to practice shared leadership. You can read more about our own journey in this blog series: Sharing Power.
Through these workshops, our team has been introduced to and challenged to build shared language around power, leadership, structure, and decision-making. SOOOOOO good! – Shawn W. (from deep dive course, Democratizing Work)
We suggest that organizations send a minimum of two workers to this workshop (not a requirement). Shared leadership is a collaborative practice, and we believe that the more workers present, the easier it will be for an organization to engage with this work. Our recommended practice is to send a delegation of workers that represent different professional backgrounds and different levels of authority within the organization.
For a deeper dive into this work, we will offer our three-part course in the fall, in partnership with Coop HV (dates to be announced soon): Democratizing Work: Ways of Sharing Power, Leadership and Decision Making
Since 2021, Co-op Hudson Valley has been supporting worker-owned cooperative businesses to start and grow. This series draws on the direct experience of these two organizations that have coached, facilitated and supported workers in a wide variety of contexts to navigate the challenges and experience the benefits of bringing democratic values into the way they work and building deeper connections to impact, purpose, and each other.
FACILITATORS
This offering will be co-facilitated by a combination of these GWI Workers, whose fuller bios are available here.
Hélène Lesterlin (she/her)- Her role at GWI spans program design, organizational strategy, fundraising, and communications, in addition to her shared leadership work as a Worker Trustee, and continuing to support the launch of Kingston Common Futures (a community-designed, community-focused fund). She serves on the boards of Start.coop, an accelerator for cooperative startups, and Co-op HV, a loan fund and co-op development organization that is a project of Seed Commons. She enjoys public speaking, writing, and acting as a mentor and coach to mission-led entrepreneurs and community-based initiatives.
Micah (he/him) is of mixed race (black and white) and mixed religion, and grew up in two different socio-economic homes. He is a cisgendered, working/middle class parent of two living on Munsee/Lenape land in the Mahicantuck Valley, commonly referred today as Kingston, NY, working to prove possibility and to liberate the imagination in order to see a Just Transition.
Fee: In lieu of a set registration fee, we are requesting $25 to help underwrite the cost of offering this workshop. GWI does not want your current access to financial resources to impede your participation. We don’t know whether your current access to financial resources is ample or limited. We are grateful to receive an offering aligned with what you can give, which may be more or less than $25.
