- Date
- Time
- Location
- Schedule
We request that participants attend all three workshop content sessions.
April 22 - 10am-1pm (Workshop Content Session)
April 25 - 11:30am-12:30pm (Workshop Practice session - Optional)
April 29 - 10am-1pm (Workshop Content Session)
May 2 - 11:30am-12:30pm (Workshop Practice session - Optional)
May 6 - 10am-1pm (Workshop Content Session)
- Fee
Join the Good Work Institute and Co-op Hudson Valley as we explore the tools, policies, practices, culture, frameworks, and models of shared leadership and democratic decision making.
About this workshop:
In this workshop series, we get into the nuts and bolts of tools, policies and practices that support democratic decision making, and discuss the kinds of relational shifts that facilitate a culture of shared leadership. We explore the broader context of shared leadership, including motivations, frameworks and models applicable to different types of organizations, both businesses and nonprofits.
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. 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.
Here’s what a couple of participants from our most recent series had to say about the workshops:
These workshops have been a wonderful team-learning experience and a very timely response to our ongoing questions/inquiries into moving into a worker-directed collective. The resources, technical tools, frameworks, and approaches are truly invaluable and an incredible value-add. 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.
I came into this process totally green to the idea of democratized work, but now feel I have a good grasp of the potential for our company, as well as great practical tools and resources, and clear next steps for how to approach these changes. – Lauren M.
Rather than provide a specific template approach, this series is designed to support participating organizations to see opportunities to evolve their own structure and processes. Together, we explore:
- Frameworks and Models of Shared Leadership
- GWI Case Study: Policies, Practices and Culture of a Worker Self-Directed Nonprofit
- Tools that Support Democratic Ways of Working and Making Decisions Together
We request that participating organizations send a minimum of two workers, and that participants attend all three workshops. 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 best practice is to send a delegation of workers that represent different professional backgrounds and different levels of authority within the organization. This workshop is structured as having three structured, required sessions (Tuesdays at 10am-1pm) and two practice sessions for facilitated group discussion on the content presented in the structured sessions. The discussion sessions are optional although highly recommended!
Angela DeFelice (she/her) grew up in a rural, working class community in Western NY, and for the last 13 years has lived in and around Mohican-Munsee Lenape land (Poughkeepsie, NY). Her journey into the cooperative ecosystem began as co-founder and worker owner of Rock Steady Farm, a queer owned cooperative enterprise. Angela is excited by the power-building potential of community and worker ownership, and brings this energy to her current work as Project Steward with Co-op Hudson Valley.
DeeArah Wright (she/they) is a Black, Southern-born artist, archivist, writer, and mama who resides on Mohican-Munsee Lenape land (Poughkeepsie, NY). Based in the Northeast for over 25 years, DeeArah has facilitated adventurous, transformative experiments in learning and collaboration steeped in reverence for relationships and everyday magic. DeeArah is a Project Steward of Co-op Hudson Valley and brings deep experience in and passion for cooperative values, popular and radical education, and practicing the just communities of our dreams.
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. As a Worker Trustee of the Good Work Institute and a member of the Community Fund, Democratizing Work, Fiscal Sponsorship and Greenhouse Circles, he is working to prove possibility and to liberate the imagination in order to see a Just Transition.
Other GWI Worker Trustees may also be present to facilitate portions of this workshop series.
Process: Ticket prices (see "Fee" below) are per organization, and you are able to register up to five workers for each ticket. We request that each participating organization register at least two workers, and that participating workers come from diverse professional backgrounds and levels of authority within the organization. This is a multi-session workshop and we expect all participants to attend all three sessions. Once you provide basic registration information for your organization’s workers, they will each receive a form to complete their registration details.
Fee: This scale is a recommendation based on your organization’s budget. We prioritize collaborative participation and do not want any adherence to the scale to deter your involvement. Feel free to adjust based on the financial reality of your present circumstances. You may choose lower or higher than your budget line.
- $200 For up to 5 people if your organization’s annual budget is less than $250,000
- $400 For up to 5 people if your organization’s annual budget is $250,000 to $500,000
- $600 For up to 5 people if your organization’s annual budget is $500,000 to $750,000
- $800 For up to 5 people if your organization’s annual budget is greater than $750,000
- $1000 > $1M budget / Solidarity Price - help us sustain the program
