Yes, having two places made it easier to federate/localize. "Subsidiarity" is the word for that, which Charles Handy writes about (and luckily some of our members were familiar with and could expect, otherwise it wouldn't have happened!)
I don't delegate by making requests nowadays; I write emails to our Google Group with feedback from the weekly member meetings, conveying the requests or the voting results from members. So members delegate to members; they step up and make happen what they very much want. And members sometimes delegate to me; but we have proxy agency, not collective agency, when I do too much of things. Here's an example of 'delegating' from a month ago -- the part about the 'paradox' is the most important part, and many people have expressed appreciation and said it helped a lot to see: "At the weekly open member meeting at Collective Agency Division today, we decided Thursday February 16th will be the next happy hour here. It'll start at 4:30pm. The goal is for members to talk in a non-work setting, and you can bring anyone you want. It's potluck style. There were also requests for more music again and more conversations among people here at Division; that's the default. If anyone very much wants to change that, send me an email with the suggestion for a new default, and I'll put it to a member vote, otherwise the music is on if anyone wants it on. There've been requests for more classical music, which is the default, and for more ambient music, which is not the default, and not for jazz. So please turn on the stereo/iPad the way we turn on the lights and heat. The music on that app does turn off if the internet flickers for a second, so turn it back on if that happens. Almost all members have said: - they like when someone starts talking to them anytime, - like when they hear more conversations other people are having with other people here!, - and don't want to interrupt anyone talking who's working, - but like being interrupted (such is the paradox). Most members prefer to have conversations in the morning or during lunch or after 5pm. If you want to see specifically people's preferences, the member bios on the wall say that. And members are good at saying they're busy or don't want to talk. And Thursday February 23rd will be the happy hour party at Collective Agency NW, it'll start at 5pm." *** Other notes (this feels like a separate email): I think this is the best thing: http://collectiveagency.co/governance-guidelines/ Since drafting it about 6 months ago, we don't talk about anything in the weekly meetings that anyone doesn't very much want, while being considerate of what other people very much want. It lets people self-delegate. We talked about it before we opened the second location; did we need someone paid at each place? And I'd already stopped having employees about a year ago, because members are more active here socially and civically without employees (and we don't do barter or trade; everyone pays the same rates, no exceptions). And what excited me most about a second location was, would we have two self-governing communities, each with their own culture and decisions (and a lot of overlap between the two), and how would collective agency be with only members there at one location almost all the time? I'm at each location for our weekly optional member meeting from 2-230pm (which is where applied civics happens; it's based on the democratic free school weekly meetings). And I still show up in person for part of the day most of the time when someone tries us out. And I show up at most member events, like happy hour, although I definitely don't see myself as leading that anymore. And I do finances and order supplies and am the liaison for requests to the building managers and am the main person in charge of marketing (although a lot of members view themselves as essential to marketing now, which was definitely not the view 4 years ago), and if someone wonders how to approach a concern, I'm available to give tips based on what's worked (but if it's new, I suggest we bring it to the weekly meeting). But otherwise members do everything on-site, especially conversations and culture and helping out (which I think we used to call "staffing" or "community manager"). Two locations was a push for me to either automate or stop doing the boring tasks, and with all the admin, my question was, how can I make two membership locations less work total and less cost total, and more members and more money at each location, than one location? And that's fun. Now we're looking at three locations. When we get to more than five locations, either I'll do two weekly member meetings in a day (that's my favorite part of the whole thing), or some new kind of governance approach will make itself known; likely there'll be enough of a group skillset by then to have members lead the meetings; we already have members who know how to start the meeting without me, and who do. On Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at 1:45:47 AM UTC-8, Jeannine van der Linden wrote: > > I cannot speak for Alex but that was surely my experience. Just like > having kids, once you have two you must accept the reality that you cannot > be all things to both of them all the time, unless you do not sleep or have > managed bilocation. And when you get to three it's Kitty bar the door. > > I leave the country every year for at least six weeks, so this came up > early for us and had to be factored in. But I think one of the most > important things about running a business -- or being part of a community > actually -- is the notion that everyone is replaceable including me. If > they are not I think i am doing it wrong. > > This may also be traceable to a high tolerance for uncertainty and a form > conviction that there are few things that cannot be corrected after they go > terribly wrong . :-) > > There are several 1's in running this group we have here, but few of them > require my physical presence at any given moment. > > > > On Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 2:41:54 PM UTC+1, Alex Hillman wrote: >> >> Thanks Alex :) that exercise is adapted from the community masterclass >> that Tony, Adam and I designed a few years back. >> >> Genuine "1s" in this case are generally pretty limited, like you said. >> Operationally, it can include ownership & authorizations that aren't >> readily shareable without major changes to the org. Naturally this depends >> heavily on how you set up your org in the first place :) >> >> Curious what you mean by "two is easier than one"? Do you mean that by >> having to run two spaces, you're essentially *forced* to >> federate/delegate more? >> >> -Alex >> >> >> ------------------ >> *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* >> Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org >> Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com >> My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten >> >> On Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 3:52 PM, Alex Linsker <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Alex, I super-like how you wrote that. The 1 2 3 4 is a great system, it >>> gives words to what I've been observing the past few months without words >>> for it, many things went from 1 and 2 to 4 once our second membership >>> location opened; two is easier than one. >>> >>> I'd be curious, what are 1's? I think nothing is a 1 except being >>> oneself/being fully human/sharing of oneself/being assertive/asking and >>> making what one very much wants. >>> >>> -- >>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Coworking" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
