144 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
144 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
# 5: Coop Structures and Governance
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## Pre-session
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If you are the presenting PS for this session, prep a **15-20 minute** case study from your studio covering:
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- How your studio makes decisions now
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- What you tried that didn't work
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- One example of governance helping resolve a real issue
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## **What happens in session**
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Studios learn about:
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- legal structures (sole prop, partnership, corporation, worker coop)
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- governance models (collective governance, advice process, sociocratic circles, board + membership, DisCOs)
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- member management (adding, departing, removing members)
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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.
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### :eyes: **Your role during session**
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- If presenting: deliver your case study
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- Observe how your studio responds to the governance models – what resonates? What causes confusion or resistance?
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- Listen for whether they connect their Session 4 Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations to governance design choices
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- Note how they react to the member removal discussion. It's an uncomfortable topic.
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### 👆 **Your role after session**
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- Make sure your studio has access to [Community Rule](https://communityrule.info/)
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- Confirm they understand the homework: start a Community Rule draft with you, discuss financial sustainability, and do a personal reflection on financial access
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- Note which governance model(s) they're gravitating toward
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## **This week's Studio Support Meeting: Community Rule Drafting**
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### **📚 Materials**
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- [Community Rule](https://communityrule.info/) tool
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- Studio's Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations from Session 4
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- Notes on which governance model(s) interested them
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### :world_map: **Context**
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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.
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### **👆 Before the session**
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- Familiarize yourself with the Community Rule interface and fields
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- Review the studio's Informal Hierarchy Check-In observations
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- Have the governance models overview handy (collective governance, advice process, circles, board + membership) in case they need a refresher
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### **🌊 Session flow**
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#### **Check-in (5 min)**
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"What governance model stuck with you from the session? Did anything click, or feel wrong?"
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#### **Community Rule walkthrough (10 min)**
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Open the tool together. Community Rule works as a modular builder – you assemble your governance from pre-made or custom building blocks.
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Start with the basics: Name your studio and write a short summary of its structure.
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Then explore the module library together. There are four categories:
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- **Culture** – values, norms, purpose, solidarity, diversity
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- **Decision** – how decisions get made (lazy consensus, do-ocracy, vote, ranked choice, etc.)
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- **Process** – how policies are implemented and evolve (accountability process, delegation, transparency, dissolution, exclusion, etc.)
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- **Structure** – roles and internal entities (board, council, membership, ownership, roles, committee, etc.)
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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.
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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.
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Prompts:
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- "Which of these are you already doing without naming it?"
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- "Where is there genuine disagreement or uncertainty?"
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- "What's missing from the library that's specific to how you work?"
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#### **Draft together (20-25 min)**
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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.
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#### **Close and gaps list (5 min)**
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- Make a list of areas that still need discussion
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- "What's the most important unresolved question?"
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- "Who's going to take a first pass at writing up what we decided today?"
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### 👉 **Also this week**
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#### **Financial sustainability conversation**
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Session 5 homework asks each person to reflect: *What does financial sustainability look like for you personally? What would you need from this project?*
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This is prep for Session 6 (Equitable Economics). Check in during the week:
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- "Has everyone spent some time thinking about the financial sustainability question?"
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- "And the personal reflection: what financial information have you never been allowed to see at work?"
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These don't need to be discussed as a studio yet – just make sure individuals are reflecting.
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### :star: **Tips**
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If they want to pick a governance model immediately:
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- "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."
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If Community Rule feels bureaucratic:
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- "You're already doing governance – this just helps you name it."
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If they skip over membership/removal:
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- "This is the part that matters most when things get hard. Even a rough sketch now saves a lot of pain later."
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If one person is doing all the talking about governance:
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- "Governance designed by one person is just management with extra steps. Everyone needs to shape this."
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### **🏁 After the session**
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- Note where the studio has clear alignment vs. where they got stuck
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- Note any tension around membership/removal – these conversations will deepen
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- Remind them about the financial sustainability reflection for Session 6 prep
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- Bring the draft status to your PS check-in
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## :triangular_flag_on_post: **Red flags to watch for**
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- A studio that resists documenting anything – "we just know how we work" (exactly the problem)
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- Governance designed around one person's strengths or preferences
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- Avoiding the membership/removal conversation entirely
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- Confusing governance with incorporation – "we're not a real coop yet so we don't need this"
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- A draft that looks perfect on paper but doesn't match how the studio actually operates
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