Hi Trevor, I’m glad you like the concept. Here’s some models of how I think about workplace democracy, and how it works. If you’re into metaphors, there are two brand metaphors that work well for us: if it isn’t like a cozy fireplace, we don’t do it (although recently, community workplace has become more relevant), and if it isn’t what we ideally want for a small city or village, we don’t do it (I think that is similar to community workplace).
At Collective Agency we are a workplace democracy. For our sister companies, check out
I. Values. If we were a country, we would be rated around 90 out of 100 for democracy. We no longer have voting for individuals, but we have voting on issues that affect everybody, and we are a participatory (action-packed) democracy (rather than a deliberative (talky/debatey) democracy). We are a business democracy, in the sense that we are results-focused (policy-focused). Members value that we’re a place for productive work (which includes all aspects of democracy here), cozy workplace, openness, people doing a variety of work, each with individual goals, appreciative, cooperative, etc.
II. It might help to think of 4 models of decision-making.
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Authority; picture a top-down decision-tree.
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Anarchy; picture lots of free-floating circles of various sizes without overlap.
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Democracy; picture a Venn diagram, with a dotted-line circle a short distance from the three circles.
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Open-source; picture chairs in a circle facing inwards to a dot at the center, with a solid-line circle a short distance around the chairs.
People generally are drawn to one of these especially, and then to a secondary model. For me, it’s democracy, then authority (I’m open to calling it different names). For most people in open-source kernels, it’s open-source.
III. For the democracy model, in the place itself, there are 4 principles for vibrancy (these are by Jane Jacobs, for cities):
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Density (enough people for interactions).
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Frequent and easy pathways (enough overlap for interactions).
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Mixed-use (people there for various reasons; for variety throughout the day. Like-minded is not a goal in democracy, only in the open-source and authority models. Like-valued is a thing).
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Mixed-cost (people at various stages of life and income can overlap in ways that grow their quality of life).
Recently we had less of all of these, and the solution for all 4 symptoms was that we had closed off our borders; the dotted line around our Venn diagram had become a solid line. And so now we are becoming more open to the public again, within limits. There is more serendipity, more smiles, more people, more conversations, more marketing, more joy, more stone-soup contributions.
IV. I think of there as being 3 goals that are aligned. Each of these goals is supported and grown by each decision, or we don’t do it:
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Revenue model.
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Community model.
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Personal property model.
V. Here’s how “anyone can make decisions” (yes, within limits) at Collective Agency in our democracy model.
For structure of decision-making, we have text:
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Community Guidelines (bill of rights and responsibilities): http://collectiveagency.co/community-guidelines/ This is the core of the terms of service and is binding on me as business owner, as well as on members and meetings as clients, and any visitor who enters the place or participates in forums online. I interpret it on the deepest level possible. There is a preface of principles which is important, and 9 generative (broad, rather than specfiic/prescriptive) rules. The guidelines’ preface is modified from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and the rules are modified from Souk LLC’s Community Guidelines.
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Terms of Service. http://collectiveagency.co/terms-of-service/ This sets some specific limits for ways people can be here.
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Quiz. http://collectiveagency,co/quiz/ After four and a half years, and a lot of data from a lot of interactions, we are trying this quiz and it’s going great. People who score very low aren’t responsible for their actions and complain more and generally don’t acknowledge the Community Guidelines are important. People who score too low are too often abrasive to other people. People who score high enough are more positive-focused and view themselves as having more influence and ability and expectation to make happen what they want, which is my main goal for democracy. We started with a qualifying score of 20 or more (1 in 4 people) and recently lowered it to 17 or more (1 in 2 people). The feedback has been very positive.
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Transparency. There are various documents that help transparency. The other pages on the website show people what to expect (and could be even better). We are bringing back open-book management. The homepage will change soon to become much more open and it will score much higher on the quiz.
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Community Mission Statement. We started with a council, and the council came up with this mission statement, and no matter what it seems hard to make it better for us as a place and community.
For action, we have:
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Civics/optional member meeting. This is a Q&A forum for clarifying questions, advice, suggestions, planning. Members and anyone who passes the quiz can show up and participate. We always start by going around in a circle and each person says saying their name and something they’re passionate about in 30 seconds or less. This sets personal values for the meeting (the Venn diagram). Then no one steps on anyone else’s values; we honor and are appreciative of each other’s values during the meeting and after. During the meeting, we talk through upcoming events, and ask for input on making them even better and for RSVP’s/commitments, and for ideas for future events. Any question can be asked and answered within the community guidelines. Sometimes members initiate and organize other members, such as the time that part of the room was rearranged during a Feng Shui happy hour, as led by two members, making it much more usable. Pluralism is a value (not universalism); we try to have something that everybody really likes. If one person really likes one area of the room, and really dislikes another area of the room, that’s great, because they have a place they really like. If no one really likes that area of the room, then we make it so that someone who isn’t thrilled by most parts of the room really like that part of the room. This ends up with roughly four groups of people, in a literal Venn diagram, we have a main table in the middle that has the most social interactions.
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Lunch each day. This is the most natural event for us. Members initiated it from the start, and lead it when staff doesn’t. We walk to the food carts nearby, or sometimes other places. Then we come back and eat on the sofas in the big loft room.
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Happy hours. The holiday party each year is the most popular event. We have a happy hour roughly each month, about half here and half out at a bar. Members suggest the happy hour and enough people commit to it.
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Works-in-progress presentations. When we opened, Lightning Talks were suggested by more than 10 people. Three people would share, roughly 10 minutes each, with a presentation. That evolved into works-in-progress sharing, which is less expert-sharing and more peer-to-peer. Recently members haven’t had as much interest in that.
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Impromptu conversations. This comes out of the earlier events. People ask advice and form friendships.
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Individual initiatives and group initiatives. People (members and people here free) can: move furniture, write on the Suggestions and Appreciations posterboards in the kitchen, host user groups or coworking/conversation meetings in conference rooms or in the big loft room (up to 14 people), and anything else within the Community Guidelines/Terms of Service.
VI. The value of democracy for a business (see Rosabeth Kanter’s book Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End):
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Initiative.
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Accountability
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Collaboration.
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I agree with everything Alex Hillman wrote on this thread about the value of new member contributions. We went through a rough patch 2.5 years ago, where our level of culture had gone way down. Some members said they should have more rights because they had been a member for longer. And other members said no, in a democracy, it’s not about how long you’ve been there, it’s one vote per person. Recently my favorite example of this is how we have tampons in restrooms now, because a newer member suggested them, and more new members and people here for meetings said they appreciated them. I think what people start with experiencing, is what they expect long-term, and that’s been hard for me sometimes to throw off old baggage and get used to the new phase (whatever it is), which seems to happen every 3 months, we move into a new phase (and mistakes can last for 9 months without becoming a major problem). People coming in free, see what it is right now, and can verbalize it, and be heard, and solve it, and even lead it, in an appreciative, openness, productive workplace democracy. Curious to hear more thoughts/questions/similar models. Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon, http://collectiveagency.co/
On Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 5:18:38 AM UTC-7, Trevor Twining wrote:
Alex, this is fascinating. I want to make sure I understand: are you saying that anyone can walk in off the street and have no financial stake in your organization, but still participate in making decisions?
Trevor Twining
[email protected]
416-201-2254
twitter/skype/linkedin: trevortwining
On Mar 29, 2016, at 8:38 , Alex Linsker [email protected] wrote:
This is a great thread. I’m interested in talking with everyone who has a co-op or workplace democracy and is interested in sharing more best practices.
Collective Agency started very similarly, out of Jellies, then we did presales. Members have not wanted to be a legal co-op and have not wanted a board, and voting rights are without needing buy-in, like voting in a city or village. We went too far in the direction of members-only, and lost some serendipity, but instantly got that back recently at open events. We are a workplace democracy, and have been described as a “hybrid model” between being a workers coop and a buyers/members coop. We are a member organization of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives; sister companies in Portland include Equal Exchange, People’s Food Coop, and CityBikes. We were a member of WorldBlu and won awards in 2013.
Alex Linsker, Collective Agency, Portland Oregon http://collectiveagency.co
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looking forward to reading this.
