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---
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title: 'Session 1: Coop Principles and Power'
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collection: Cooperative Foundations
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path: >-
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Cooperative Foundations/Peer Support Playbook/Session Guides/Session 1: Coop
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Principles and Power
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parentDocument: Session Guides
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outlineId: c6a0ee07-8c24-41f3-9975-e54955e84b5c
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path: 'Cooperative Foundations/Session Content/Session 1: Coop Principles and Power'
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parentDocument: Session Content
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outlineId: 036d9fc6-27c0-410b-b570-6bf4d5fac80e
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createdBy: Jennie R.F.
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---
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> **Session content:** See [Session 1: Coop Principles and Power](/doc/session-1-coop-principles-and-power-bkC3D6n71S) for the full curriculum.
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> **Peer Supports:** See [Session 1: Coop Principles and Power](/doc/c6a0ee07-8c24-41f3-9975-e54955e84b5c) for your role during session and this week's studio support meeting.
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## **What happens in session**
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## Welcome
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In this session, we cover cooperative history and lineages, crediting Global South, Indigenous, Black, women's traditions, not just Rochdale. We also review the 7 ICA Principles. Some question prompts for getting your team to think about how the principles connect to work in their studio: [ICA Values Connections](/doc/91342338-8257-4550-be63-59f78d88dd75)
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The theme is *moving from principles to personal values*.
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* Slide: Tag Yourself activity
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* Slide: Anonymous feedback form reminder
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:::tip
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**Homework assigned:** individual journaling, team values map (with PS), and individual prep for The Talk (Session 2).
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---
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:::
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## Intro - 3 min
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### :eyes: **Your role during session**
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Working in an environment that focuses solely on shipping, profit, and growth denies us the opportunity to practice our values collectively. Worse, the outcome of those capitalist values is exploitation and dehumanization of everyone but whoever is at the top of the org chart. How can we connect with our deepest-held values to shape collective practices that challenge this harmful hierarchy?
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* Observe small group activity (cooperative lineage sharing) – note whose stories are shared
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* *you will be auto-sorted into a random mixed group with another peer support and 3-5 participants*
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* Listen for how studios talk about values – vague or specific?
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We have some guidance to start with: The principles adopted in 1995 by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), which now form the ethical foundation for cooperative work around the world and are deeply reflected in cooperative history and practice in the Global South. We'll trace a line from these principles to your personal and shared values, and then to what cooperative practice can look like in your context.
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## **This week's Studio Support Meeting: Values Mapping**
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### **📚 Materials**
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* Studio Miro board with Values Mapping template
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* 7 Principles reference
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### **👆 Before the session**
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* Confirm everyone completed their individual journaling (Session 1 homework)
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* Ensure the studio Miro board has the template
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* Have the 7 Principles visible (on the board or screen-shared)
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### **🌊 Session flow**
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#### **Check-in (5 min)**
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Individual sharing (15-20 min) – Each person shares 3-5 values from their individual reflection.
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Prompts:
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* "What values came up when you did the journaling?"
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* "You don't need to explain or justify."
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As they share: each person adds values to the Miro board (stickies in their colour/section). No discussion – just capture.
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Watch for: Someone dominating or going first every time; someone staying quiet – invite them in gently; values that sound the same but might mean different things to different people.
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#### **Noticing patterns (10-15 min)**
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Look at the board together.
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Prompts:
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* "What do you notice?"
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* "Where do you see overlap?"
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* "Any surprises?"
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* "Are there values that seem similar but might mean different things to different people?"
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> Example to offer: "Transparency" – does it mean open documents? Open conversations? Both? Neither? What exactly is meant?
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**Connecting to the 7 Principles (10 min)**
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Look at the ICA principles together.
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**Prompts**:
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* "Do you see connections between your values and these principles?"
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* "Draw lines or group things if it helps." – This can be loose – don't let them fixate on making a beautiful diagram. The point is seeing that their values connect to a larger cooperative tradition.
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#### **To bring back to Session 2 (5 min)**
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**Prompts**:
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* "What's one thing you learned about where your team aligns or diverges?"
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* You'll share this in Session 2 – doesn't need to be polished. Have someone write it down or capture it on the board.
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#### **Community agreements contribution (5 min)**
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"Based on this conversation, are there 1-2 values you'd propose adding to the cohort community agreements?" Capture these to bring back to the full group.
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### :star: **Tips**
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If someone is dominating:
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* "Let's hear from someone who hasn't shared yet."
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If no one talks… awkward silence:
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* "Take a minute to look at the board silently. What stands out?"
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If tension emerges:
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* "Sounds like there are some different perspectives here. That's useful but we don't need to resolve it today."
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If they want to debate definitions:
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* "It's okay to mean different things. The goal is simply to notice where you might need to clarify later."
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If time runs short:
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* Prioritize steps 2-3 (sharing and noticing). The principles connection and agreements contribution can be done async if needed.
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### **🏁After the session**
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* Note any tensions/surprises for your PS check-in
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* Remind the team to bring their learnings to Session 2
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### **👉 Also this week**
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#### **Make sure they're prepping for The Talk**
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Session 2 homework includes individual prep on four topics: financial reality, time/availability, skills/contributions, decision-making styles.
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Through this work, we can create a culture that stands up to extraction and burnout, and practice something different in its place.
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:::warning
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They need to *write their answers down* before Session 2. Check that they're doing this!
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---
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:::
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## Agenda
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### :triangular_flag_on_post: **Red flags to watch for**
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Today we'll be talking about:
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* A studio that can't name any values beyond "we want to make good games" – don't we all! Too vague.
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* One person speaking for the group about "our" values
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* Values that are all abstract with no grounding in practice
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* How to cooperate (cooperative capacities)
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* Coop histories/lineages
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* The ICA cooperative principles
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* How to move from the principles to values
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### Check-in - 5 min
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*Thinking back on the Power Flower reflection you did...*
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* what's one thing you noticed about yourself that you hadn't named before?
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* no need to share details, unless you are compelled! Just notice what came up
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---
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### Cooperation is a skill, not a trait - 5 min
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We've been socially and economically shaped by systems that reward competition, individual achievement, and hierarchy. Most of us were just never taught *how* to cooperate.
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> "Most human beings have a natural propensity \[pro-PEN-suh-tee\] to cooperate." -- Russ Christianson (Christian - son), *Effective Practices in Starting Co-ops*
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The capacity exists. We already practice solidarity economics in daily life without calling it that when we contribute to a GoFundMe or babysit our neighbour's kids. But these practices get buried under what Black economist Jessica Gordon Nembhard calls "the assumptions of neo-liberal capitalist ideology."
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Can cooperation be recovered and practiced until it's reliable?
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That's what this program is for. We're not here to convince you cooperation is good. Pretty sure you already know that. We're here to build the muscle and to practice until cooperative decision-making becomes your default.
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---
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### The skills of cooperation - 7 min
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So what does "cooperation is a skill" actually mean? *What* are the skills?
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We're going to introduce tools throughout this program, but tools only work if you have the *underlying capacities* to use them. A consensus process doesn't help if no one can sit with discomfort long enough to hear a dissenting view.
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Here's what we'll be practicing:
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**Active listening**\nThis means unlearning the tendency to simply wait for your turn to talk. It means actually focusing on the other person and trying to understand what they really mean, especially when you disagree. One practice to support this is reflecting back what you hear. You can also take notes.
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**Honest communication**\nWithout making accusations, say what you actually think, and use "I" statements. The purpose is to open conversation up wider.
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**Perspective-taking**\nYour collaborators experience situations differently from you, and from each other. Try to put yourself in their position/mindset and hear what they are telling you about what they are feeling.
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**Emotional self-regulation**\nIt can be difficult, without prior practice, to stay present when things get uncomfortable instead of shutting down, lashing out, or agreeing just to make the tension stop. Notice discomfort and choose how to respond rather than just reacting.
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**Self-awareness about your patterns in groups**\nDo you talk first? Go quiet when you disagree? Say yes to avoid tension? Take over tasks because it's faster than explaining? Notice your ingrained habits!
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**Giving and receiving feedback** This is a tough one for a lot of people. When you have a concern, do you hedge so much it disappears? And when you hear critical feedback, do you get defensive or collapse? Both directions are skills. Look at feedback as a *gift*.
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None of these are natural talents, but all of them can be practiced. In fact, you'll be practicing them throughout this program, starting next session!
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*Sources: Munro, "United we stand: fostering cohesion in activist groups," Interface 13(1), 2021*
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---
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### Cooperative lineages – and whose knowledge gets credited - 10 min
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The foundational principles of cooperatives are rooted in survival. But the Rochdale Pioneers of 1844, often credited as cooperative "founders," didn't invent cooperation – they simply codified practices that had existed for millennia. We'll cover those principles in a minute, but first let's talk about the longer lineages of cooperative history.
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* Indigenous communities worldwide practiced mutual aid, collective resource management, and consensus decision-making long before European contact. Many Indigenous governance systems also held space for Two-Spirit people in leadership and decision-making roles.
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* Enslaved and formerly enslaved Black communities in the Americas created mutual aid societies, burial societies, and informal credit systems out of necessity and survival
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* Women formed cooperative childcare networks, domestic worker collectives, and community support systems -- often invisible and uncredited
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* Immigrant communities built cooperative stores, housing, and financial institutions when mainstream systems excluded them
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* Queer and trans communities built mutual aid networks, collective housing, and care systems - often out of crisis. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera's STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) in 1970s New York provided communal shelter, food, and support for unhoused trans youth of colour, organized entirely on principles of shared responsibility and collective care
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* During the AIDS crisis, queer communities created cooperative care networks, buyers' clubs to share medication, and mutual aid funds when governments and institutions abandoned them
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*The Combahee River Collective - Black lesbian feminists organizing in the 1970s - articulated what we now call intersectionality. Cooperative movements have always been strongest when they refuse to separate one axis of liberation from another*
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The Rochdale Pioneers formalized these practices into a movement. But when we credit them as "founders," we invisibilize the communities who developed and sustained cooperative practices for generations under conditions of oppression.
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*Source: Locating the Contributions of the African Diaspora in the Canadian Co-operative Sector \[WIKILINK-01: needs URL\] Additional info:* [*Indigenous Governance and Tomorrow's Democracy*](https://www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/2025/07/28/indigenous-governance-and-tomorrows-democracy-join-conversation)
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This matters for us because you may already hold cooperative knowledge. It could be in your family, your culture, your community.
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Consider your own "cooperative lineage":
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* Did you grow up with childcare swaps, community gardens, or potlucks?
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* How did your family handle resources when money was tight? Who did they turn to?
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* What decision-making traditions come from your culture?
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* Have you been part of a band or community organization that shared resources or made decisions collectively?
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Or:
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* Why did you become interested in forming a cooperative?
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Most of these practices go unnamed as "cooperative" but they are part of a long, global, grassroots, and informal tradition.
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There are many types of cooperatives (coop housing, community land trusts, community financing like credit unions, worker cooperatives like you're trying to build) – but also barter clubs, fair trade, solidarity markets.
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\n 
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Cooperatives are expansive and we can add skills to your toolkit!
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Share one cooperative practice from your experience in the chat. *And pay attention to what values are present.*
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### Small groups -- mixed studios (3-4 people) - 15 min
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* Share your cooperative lineage story
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* What values were present in that experience?
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* Each group identifies 3-5 values they heard across their stories
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* What need brought your studio together? What were you each missing that cooperation addresses?
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Brief large group share - 5 min: Each group shares 1-2 values they identified.
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---
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## The 7 Cooperative Principles - 10 min
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The values you just named have been recognized and formalized by cooperative movements worldwide. In 1995, the International Cooperative Alliance adopted these 7 principles that now guide cooperative work globally.
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*For each principle, consider: How might your co-op incorporate this principle? What policies or practices would bring it to life?*
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### 1. Voluntary and Open Membership
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Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to anyone able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
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### 2. Democratic Member Control
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Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Your board of directors is accountable to the membership. Each member has one vote.
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* *How will the co-op balance this with the reasonable interests of different classes of members?*
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### 3. Member Economic Participation
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Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative.
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* *Consider the share values, annual fees, fees-for-services, and other financial commitments that members will have to meet.*
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### 4. Autonomy and Independence
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Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.
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* *What policies are needed around contracts, hiring contractors, accepting donations, or taking investment?*
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### 5. Education, Training, and Information
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Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives.
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* *What education is needed about the rights and responsibilities of membership? About other topics related to your coop's activities?*
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### 6. Cooperation Among Cooperatives
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Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures.
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### 7. Concern for Community
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Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.
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Summary source: *A People-Centred Path for a Second Cooperative Decade* \[WIKILINK-02: needs URL\] - ICA 2020
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Nobody carved the 7 Principles into stone tablets and carried them down the mountain. The ICA has revised the principles three times - in 1937, 1966, and 1995 - because cooperative practice changes. You don't have to follow the rules perfectly to be a coop. But hold on to the core: democratic control, shared ownership, and surplus flowing to workers based on their labour. Everything else can be adapted to your studio's capacity and interests.
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### The values beneath the principles
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The principles give us structure. The values give us *why*. The International Cooperative Alliance summarizes it this way:
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*"Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others."*
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These are commitments to how we treat each other.
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---
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## From principles to your values - 3 min
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What values guide *your* work or collective efforts?
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Values are *beliefs* that motivate us to *act* one way or another. They guide our behaviour.
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We each adopt values from a combination of our upbringing, the communities we are part of, the dominant culture, and other influences in our lives. Just like an individual's values guide how that person acts, organizational values guide how the *group* acts and makes decisions collectively.
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Values also define scope and ethical constraints.
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[Sociocracy 3.0: Agree on Values](https://patterns.sociocracy30.org/agree-on-values.html)
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---
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### How do we collaborate when we mean different things? - 2 min
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Words are vague, communication is fraught, and we're all coming in from different backgrounds. The best thing we can do to support the cooperative principles of collaboration is to try and find common ground.
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Where do we meet each other? And how do we build from there?
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---
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## Takeaway Exercises - 10 min
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1. **Journal about your values** – What values guide your work or collective efforts? Your values can be discovered through observation. Your task isn't to decide what matters to you, but to notice what already does.
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* What holds your attention without effort?
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* What do you find yourself doing when no one is watching?
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* What topics consistently generate strong emotional responses?
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* When have you felt most alive or fulfilled?
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2. **Do the team values map with your Peer Supports** – Use your PS session to do the values mapping exercise as a team. Where do you align? Where do you differ?
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3. **Prep individually for "The Talk" (Session 2)** – Next session, you'll practice having direct conversations about money, time, skills, and decision-making with your collaborators. Reflect on these questions – **write your answers down** before we meet. Try to time-box to about 5 minutes per section.
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**Financial reality:**
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* How much do you need to make monthly to participate in this studio?
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* What's your current financial capacity to contribute?
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* How important is immediate income vs. long-term equity?
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**Time and availability:**
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* What's your actual time availability per week?
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* What are your non-negotiable boundaries?
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* How do you handle competing priorities?
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**Skills and contributions:**
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* What do you excel at vs. what drains you?
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* Where do you want to grow vs. where you're already expert?
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* How do you prefer to contribute when you're overwhelmed?
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**Decision-making styles:**
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* How do you prefer to make decisions under pressure?
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* When do you need more information vs. when do you trust your gut?
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* How do you handle disagreement?
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And finally: **Does being part of this studio make you feel something? What is that feeling?**
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Adapted from Obvious Agency's "The Talk" worksheet.
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*These are for **you** first. You'll share with your team in Session 2.*
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---
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## Closing - 5 min
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We've identified values that guide us individually and found connections to cooperative principles. But now comes the hard part: How do we actually *practice* these values together?
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It might seem easy and fun to chat about these ideas with your collaborators, but until you are in conflict, or under financial or deadline pressure, you don't really know how everyone will hold on to those values.
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Studios built around a shared problem - "we can't afford to make games alone," "we refuse to work in exploitative conditions again" - tend to hold together under that pressure. Studios built around a shared *aesthetic* preference for cooperation sometimes don't. Try to notice which one is yours.
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The industry tells us to brute force our way through these situations – with the boss ultimately "resolving" the issue the way they want, probably guided by "move fast and figure it out later." But cooperative work requires something different. What Indigenous organizer Ruth Łchav'aya K'isen Miller calls "patience for the pace of trust."
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Next session, we'll explore what it actually takes to align with collaborators beyond just sharing values on a Miro board. Even the closest friends can discover they have very different expectations about work, money, and decision-making when those conversations inevitably come up.
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Use your Peer Support session this week to start talking about your values as a team.
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---
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