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content/wiki/cooperative-foundations/peer-support-playbook/session-guides/session-5-coop-structures-and-governance.md
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@ -8,17 +8,11 @@ parentDocument: Session Guides
outlineId: f317905f-1ee1-4412-89c6-6b12e007b7d4
createdBy: Jennie R.F.
---
> **Session content:** See [Session 5: Coop Structures and Governance](/doc/session-5-coop-structures-and-governance-DxoDQCtL66) for the full curriculum.
## Pre-session
If you are the presenting PS for this session, prep a **15-20 minute** case study from your studio covering:
This session is facilitated by Jennie and eileen. Your role is to observe your studio during the session and prepare for this week's studio support meeting. Review the Studio Operating Framework Template (SOFT) in Miro before the session so you're familiar with its sections.
* How your studio makes decisions now
* What you tried that didn't work
* One example of governance helping resolve a real issue
## **What happens in session**
## What happens in session
Studios learn about:
@ -26,81 +20,78 @@ Studios learn about:
* governance models (collective governance, advice process, sociocratic circles, board + membership, DisCOs)
* member management (adding, departing, removing members)
A PS presenter shares a 15-20 minute case study on their studio's governance journey. We also introduce Community Rule as a tool for documenting governance in plain language. We focus on *making governance visible*, designing structures from the patterns noticed in Session 4, and distinguishing between governance practice and legal incorporation.
We introduce the Studio Operating Framework Template (SOFT) in Miro as a tool for documenting governance visually and in plain language. Studios do a breakout activity connecting their Session 4 Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations to governance design choices. We focus on making governance visible, designing structures from the patterns noticed in Session 4, and distinguishing between governance practice and legal incorporation.
### :eyes: **Your role during session**
### 👀 Your role during session
* If presenting: deliver your case study
* Observe how your studio responds to the governance models – what resonates? What causes confusion or resistance?
* Observe how your studio responds to the governance models: what clicks? What causes confusion or resistance?
* Listen for whether they connect their Session 4 Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations to governance design choices
* Note how they react to the member removal discussion. It's an uncomfortable topic.
* During the breakout activity, sit with your studio and take notes on what comes up. Don't steer, just listen.
* Note how they react to the member removal discussion – this can spur avoidance.
### 👆 **Your role after session**
### 👆 Your role after session
* Make sure your studio has access to [Community Rule](https://communityrule.info/)
* Confirm they understand the homework: start a Community Rule draft with you, discuss financial sustainability, and do a personal reflection on financial access
* Make sure your studio can access the SOFT template on their Miro board
* Confirm they understand the homework: work on their SOFT draft with you, discuss financial sustainability, and do a personal reflection on financial access
* Note which governance model(s) they're gravitating toward
## **This week's Studio Support Meeting: Community Rule Drafting**
## This week's studio support meeting: Studio Operating Framework drafting
### **📚 Materials**
### 📚 Materials
* [Community Rule](https://communityrule.info/) tool
* Studio Operating Framework Template (SOFT) on the studio's Miro board
* Studio's Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations from Session 4
* Notes on which governance model(s) interested them
### :world_map: **Context**
### 🗺️ Context
This is a working session. You're helping the studio start documenting their governance in plain language using Community Rule. They don't need to finish – the goal is to surface where they already have answers vs. where they need more conversation. This will be a living document.
This is a working session. You're helping the studio start documenting their governance using the SOFT template. They don't need to finish: the goal is to find where they already have answers vs. where they need more conversation. This is a living document.
### **👆 Before the session**
### 👆 Before the session
* Familiarize yourself with the Community Rule interface and fields
* Open the SOFT template and familiarize yourself with the sections
* Review the studio's Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations
* Have the governance models overview handy (collective governance, advice process, circles, board + membership) in case they need a refresher
* Have the governance models overview handy (collective governance, advice process, circles, board + membership, DisCOs) in case they need a refresher
### **🌊 Session flow**
### 🌊 Session flow
#### **Check-in (5 min)**
#### Check-in (5 min)
"What governance model stuck with you from the session? Did anything click, or feel wrong?"
#### **Community Rule walkthrough (10 min)**
#### SOFT walkthrough (10 min)
Open the tool together. Community Rule works as a modular builder – you assemble your governance from pre-made or custom building blocks.
Open the template together.
Start with the basics: Name your studio and write a short summary of its structure.
* Purpose: values and goals (short-term, medium-term, long-term). These should connect to the values work from Sessions 2 and 3.
* Decision Making: how the studio makes decisions (consensus, consent, majority/democratic, delegation) at the studio level and the project level. These might be different.
* Structure: which governance model the studio is leaning toward. They can tag more than one if they're still deciding.
* Membership: requirements for joining and benefits of membership. The tags here (intensity, frequency, responsibility, resources, financial, individual growth, creative development, safety) are prompts, not categories they have to fill in order.
* *More sections will be added after each upcoming session.*
Then explore the module library together. There are four categories:
* **Culture** – values, norms, purpose, solidarity, diversity
* **Decision** – how decisions get made (lazy consensus, do-ocracy, vote, ranked choice, etc.)
* **Process** – how policies are implemented and evolve (accountability process, delegation, transparency, dissolution, exclusion, etc.)
* **Structure** – roles and internal entities (board, council, membership, ownership, roles, committee, etc.)
Drag in the modules that feel relevant. Each one can be configured with key-value pairs – for example, a "Membership" module might have configuration like "Eligibility: active worker-owners who have completed a 3-month trial period." You can also create custom modules for anything the library doesn't cover.
Don't try to build everything at once. Start by browsing the categories and noticing which modules the studio can configure easily vs. which ones lead to blank stares.
Start with whatever section has the most energy. For most studios that will be Decision Making or Structure since those connect directly to what they just learned.
Prompts:
* "Which of these are you already doing without naming it?"
* "Where is there genuine disagreement or uncertainty?"
* "What's missing from the library that's specific to how you work?"
* "Which of these sections can you fill in right now without much discussion?"
* "Where is there disagreement or uncertainty?"
* "Does your decision-making process differ between studio-level and project-level decisions? Should it?"
#### **Draft together (20-25 min)**
#### Draft together (20-25 min)
Start filling in what you can. Focus on the modules where there's energy or alignment. When you hit a field where there's disagreement, note it and move on. Don't try to resolve everything today.
Start filling in what you can. When you hit a section where there's disagreement, note it and move on. Don't try to resolve everything today.
#### **Close and gaps list (5 min)**
Pay attention to the Membership section. Studios often breeze through Purpose and Decision Making but slow down or avoid Membership. That's where the harder questions live (requirements, what you get, what happens when someone leaves). If they skip it, gently bring them back: the session content on adding and removing members is still fresh.
* Make a list of areas that still need discussion
#### Close and gaps list (5 min)
* Make a list of sections that still need discussion
* "What's the most important unresolved question?"
* "Who's going to take a first pass at writing up what we decided today?"
* "Who's going to take a first pass at filling in what we decided today?"
### 👉 **Also this week**
### 👉 Also this week
#### **Financial sustainability conversation**
#### Financial sustainability conversation
Session 5 homework asks each person to reflect: *What does financial sustainability look like for you personally? What would you need from this project?*
@ -109,37 +100,34 @@ This is prep for Session 6 (Equitable Economics). Check in during the week:
* "Has everyone spent some time thinking about the financial sustainability question?"
* "And the personal reflection: what financial information have you never been allowed to see at work?"
These don't need to be discussed as a studio yet – just make sure individuals are reflecting.
These don't need to be discussed as a studio yet, just make sure individuals are reflecting.
### :star: **Tips**
### ⭐ Tips
If they want to pick a governance model immediately:
* "You don't have to commit today. Start with collective governance or advice process – you can add complexity as you learn what you actually need."
* "You don't have to commit today. Start with collective governance or advice process, you can add complexity as you learn what you actually need."
If Community Rule feels bureaucratic:
If the template feels bureaucratic:
* "You're already doing governance – this just helps you name it."
* "You're already doing governance, this just helps you articulate it."
If they skip over membership/removal:
* "This is the part that matters most when things get hard. Even a rough sketch now saves a lot of pain later."
If one person is doing all the talking about governance:
* "Governance designed by one person is just management with extra steps. Everyone needs to shape this."
### **🏁 After the session**
### 🏁 After the session
* Note where the studio has clear alignment vs. where they got stuck
* Note any tension around membership/removal – these conversations will deepen
* Note any tension around membership/removal: these conversations will deepen
* Remind them about the financial sustainability reflection for Session 6 prep
* Bring the draft status to your PS check-in
## :triangular_flag_on_post: **Red flags to watch for**
## 🚩 Red flags to watch for
* A studio that resists documenting anything – "we just know how we work" (exactly the problem)
* A studio that resists documenting anything: "we just know how we work" *(exactly the problem!)*
* Governance designed around one person's strengths or preferences
* Avoiding the membership/removal conversation entirely
* Confusing governance with incorporation – "we're not a real coop yet so we don't need this"
* Confusing governance with incorporation: "we're not a real coop yet so we don't need this"
* A draft that looks perfect on paper but doesn't match how the studio actually operates