Since our last update back in March, the Democratizing Work circle has been busy cultivating new and deepening existing relationships with organizations and individuals that have a desire to bring a culture of shared leadership into their own workplaces. In addition to our workshops and coaching engagements, we have added social events for folx that have participated in our series of workshops focused on Democratizing Work or Navigating Conflict. These events are designed to be fun, supportive, and a way for attendees to connect with others doing similar skill-building work throughout the region.
Looking internally, these are exciting times for us at GWI, because we are expanding both our team and our board of directors! When we made the decision to move from a hierarchical nonprofit to a worker self-directed nonprofit, we built a system of shared governance and leadership that not only serves the needs of our organization and the community, but honors our talents as individuals. It has been four years since we made that collective decision, and since we are in the midst of the biggest team expansion we’ve ever had, it felt like an appropriate time to coalesce around a shared understanding of our policies, practices and culture.
In support of this expansion and hiring process, the Democratizing Work circle took on two main tasks:
- Design a process for new worker onboarding that orients them to our culture and practices
- Design a shared leadership workshop for our board of directors that supports their collaboration with each other and with GWI workers
We want everyone on our team, including the board members, to be grounded in our policies, practices and culture, and to have clear understandings of the roles and responsibilities they hold within the organization and towards each other. This is a sphere of work not necessarily exclusive to an organization practicing shared governance, but we believe that our way of working supports us in being explicit about power. We want to be mindful about the decisions we make and ensure that our practices allow us to truly hear from all. These values live in how we work.
We are so energized by the growing interest from folx to democratize their workplaces. If you are interested, please reach out to us! If you are curious about our workshops and social events, check out our calendar.
We look forward to connecting with you!
