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---
title: 'Session 2: Shared Purpose and Alignment'
collection: Cooperative Foundations
path: >-
Cooperative Foundations/Session Content/Session 2: Shared Purpose and
Alignment
parentDocument: Session Content
outlineId: 3a5e4514-f27b-4c95-8502-189116d30093
createdBy: Jennie R.F.
---
> **Peer Supports:** See [PS Guide: Session 2 — Shared Purpose and Alignment](/doc/ps-guide-session-2-shared-purpose-and-alignment-QIfXEL8Kf3) for your role during session and this week's studio support meeting.
## Welcome - 5 min
* Slide: Tag Yourself
* Slide review: What we've learned so far
* we've learned the history of cooperatives, the principles, and how we each know these practices from our own lineages
* we've identified our personal values and started mapping them as teams
---
## Intro - 10 min
"Patience for the pace of trust."
* Ruth Łchav'aya K'isen (**SHIV-ah-ya KISS-en)** Miller (Dena'ina Athabaskan, Curyung Tribe), co-founder of Smokehouse Collective
*Ruth Łchav'aya K'isen Miller, "*[*An Alaska Native mutual aid network tackles the climate crisis*](https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-1/food-an-alaska-native-mutual-aid-network-tackles-the-climate-crisis/)*," High Country News, 2024.*
*via Burton, Antoinette.* [*"Moving at the Speed of Trust"? Course Correction Needed*](https://visiblemagazine.com/moving-at-the-speed-of-trust-course-correction-needed/)\n*VISIBLE Magazine, 5 Dec. 2024*
There is no set pace or speed at which this work should happen. Resisting external time pressures can cost opportunities or just make you feel an anxious sense of FOMO. But taking the time to move in concert with your collaborators, building shared understanding and purpose, will set the foundation for work that lasts and relationships that can hold complexity.
The industry normalizes crunch, exploitation, and toxic competition as "just how games are made." These practices are in perfect opposition to those that ensure the stability and long-term sustainability of a studio. They are also the main failure point of the industry, destroying amazing teams and causing a ripple effect of harm. (Bioware)
Many indies assume that because they are friends (or share political values) that they'll naturally work well together. But being pals and being aligned politically does not mean you share **work** values, **decision-making** styles, or **financial** expectations. Without putting intentional time and effort into alignment, even the closest relationships can crumble when those difficult conversations inevitably come up.
In a cooperative, instead of a boss solving problems through their authority, democracy becomes everyone's responsibility. Liberating? Terrifying? Yes. Why? Because *most of us were never taught the skills required to work collectively.*
This session will focus on moving slowly and with intention to create the conditions where disagreement can arise *without destruction*. We will look at some practical skills to guide conversations you might have with your actual collaborators.
---
## Agenda
### Check-in - 10 min
Two prompts:
1. *from your team's values mapping activity: what's one thing you learned about where your team aligns or diverges*
2. *what's one assumption you've made about working with others that turned out to be wrong?*
Share in the chat or unmute if you're comfortable.
---
### The alignment challenge - 15 min
We often assume we know the main goals for our projects, or think we have common language to describe scale and pace. We don't realize we may not be equally committed, or that we have different boundaries.
A big red flag is this attitude: "We're all friends, we never fight, we'll just figure it out as we go." More than friendship is required to set a foundation of true trust and solidarity in a cooperative. We have seen more studios fail due to interpersonal/values conflicts than lack of funding or creative/technical issues.
Once you start to do this work, you may realize you are not as aligned as you thought you were, and that's okay! However, try to examine why there is disagreement or how organizational power may be playing a role.
* In traditional studios, **the boss decides** when there's disagreement.
* In cooperatives, unresolved misalignment can become **paralysis**.
#### Common pitfalls
* "We all just want to make good games" - don't we all! Too vague.
* assuming shared politics = shared work values (activism != cooperative governance)
* rushing past uncomfortable conversations like money and centralized power
* defaulting to traditional studio roles
#### Creating safety for hard conversations
* not everyone needs identical commitment levels - **you can all be different!!**
* better to get conflicts out in the open early than let them fester, even if it feels scary (make a space where people are comfortable to have a difficult conversation) - RA anecdote
* focus on systems
#### Alignment does not equal agreement
**Alignment** - Shared understanding of direction, *even with different motivations*
**False consensus** - Agreeing to avoid conflict (recipe for resentment) TIP revisit convos to check in or take notes
**Healthy disagreement** - Different perspectives within shared values framework
Today we'll practice three core conversations…
---
:::info
Who in your studio currently holds the maintenance work - the emails, the scheduling, remembering deadlines, checking in on people? Is that recognized? Is it shared?
:::
---
## Activity: "The Talk" - 30 min
*Adapted from "The Talk: A Tool for Putting Values and Real Lives at the Forefront of Work" by Deen Rawlins (Obvious Agency), with modifications by Daniel Park*
In your studio channels, with your Peer Support, practice these conversations.
### Facilitation setup
You've each thought about these questions individually (Session 1 homework). Now you're sharing with your team. You'll keep picking up these threads in your Peer Support meetings.
> You'll be reading from the answers you wrote down for Session 1 homework. One or two sentences per question. If you wrote more, summarize.
* When someone is speaking, listen. Hold responses until discussion time.
* There are no wrong answers
* Don't try to avoid discomfort. That's the good stuff.
**Format for each round:**
* Each person answers in turn (1 minute each)
* Use the Miro timer
* If you run over, your Peer Supports will cue you to wrap so we can get to the open discussion.
* After everyone answers, brief open discussion
* Then move to next round
---
### Round 1: Financial reality - 6 min
* How much do you need to make monthly to participate?
* What's your current financial capacity to contribute?
* How important is immediate income vs. long-term equity?
---
### Round 2: Time & availability - 6 min
* What's your actual time availability?
* What are your non-negotiable boundaries?
* How do you handle competing priorities?
---
### Round 3: Skills & contributions - 6 min
* what do you excel at vs. what drains you?
* where do you want to grow vs. where you're already expert?
* how do you prefer to contribute when you're overwhelmed?
---
### Round 4: Decision-making styles - 6 min
* How do you prefer to make decisions under pressure?
* When do you need more information vs. when do you trust your gut?
* How do you handle disagreement?
---
**==As a studio, still in your breakout==**
### Debrief - 5 min
What surprised you? Where did you notice alignment? Where did you notice difference/divergence?
You probably noticed that a lot came up – and that's okay! We're going to keep talking about each of these areas as we go. All we did today is get the convo going. There's lots more work to do.
Remember: success for your studio is defined by your needs and values, not the industry's.
---
**==Back in the main huddle, mics off.==**
## Solo reflection - 12 min
Capture your own thoughts from today, privately. Journal wherever works for you. One sentence per question is fine. We'll call time at 12 min. You'll bring these notes to your PS session this week and decide what to share.
### From The Talk (5 min)
Think about:
* What came up in The Talk that you didn't fully say?
* What's one question you want to come back to?
### Scale and pace (7 min)
* Where do you see the studio in 3 years? Size, structure, your role in it.
* What's your working assumption about how the studio makes money?
* Is this full-time for you, or alongside other work?
Your PS will come back to these questions at your meeting.
---
## Closing - 5 min
You've just done your Studio Support Meeting prep! Bring to your meeting this week:
1. Your solo reflection notes from today: tension and unsaid from The Talk, plus scale and pace. (You don't have to share everything.)
2. Openness to continuing The Talk. Your PS will help you go deeper on whichever round brought up the most tension or uncertainty.
Next session, we'll take the values you've identified and turn principles into practices you can actually use when decisions get hard.