Collective Working Meeting

On Tuesday 11th December we got together at Oblong to discuss Collective working, facilitated by Paul Chatterton. Thankyou to everyone who could attend here are the notes from that event (thanks to Jamie and Jess)

Collective working

11.12.07

Collective working takes a different approach to getting things done, and those engaged in it often feel disenfranchised from ‘the world out there’. The first exercise centred around some of the cultural practices in the world that many of us feel we are trying to move away from.

Profit, corporate competitiveness
Community work by corporate models
Lots of people, strangers
Polluted, ugly, dirty, horrible, unpleasant
Apathy, cynicism, emotional, no point trying
Difference between service users and policy makers
Structures of local democracy aren’t applicable to community groups, corruption, alienation from power and resources, powerlessness in workplace and society, whims of policy, growing divisions (economic, social, &c)
Corporatisation of voluntary sector, business plans, profit
generation, failure to develop communities and provide facilities.
Homogenous, all consumption and little support for culture.

Inspiring examples are important to keep us from getting mired in the frustrating details of keeping projects moving and making the new ways of working outside the capitalist ethos.

Luddites of Yorkshire – fighting for the first workers’ charter.
Unemployed claimants unions – reclaiming empty factories.
Workers co-operatives – worker-focussed enterprises.
Battle of Seattle 1999 – G8 protest, peaceful resistance and police brutality.
Zapatista – autonomous uprising of communities against oppression in Mexico.
Anti-roads movement – resistance to deforestation and roads expansion eg. Newbury Bypass.
Eco villages – people trying to establish self-sufficient eco-friendly communities.
Town councils, East coast USA – grassroots democracy.
Anti-GM crops groups – people who see GM foods as critically harmful to the environment and ecosystem.

There are some key concepts and notions that underpin the ethos and everyday running of an organisation like Oblong. Examining these notions can help us to see the value behind our collective working practices.

Self management – groups being in control of themselves rather than being externally governed.
Non-heirachy – Flat management structure, equality decision making, no boss/no skivy
No blame culture – a system where accusation and guild are replaced by mediation and reconciliation. Positive problem solving.
Respect – accepting and acknowledging differences in belief and attitude.
Do It Yourself – not just putting up shelves.
Consensus decision making – fairly including everybody present when coming to a shared conclusion, without the use of voting.
Collective working – collaboration with other individuals and groups to achieve shared goals without the need for external management.
Mutual Aid (like lemonade only sweeter) – sharing resources, problems and needs; being able to rely on your peers for encouragement and support.
Autonomy (‘self-legislation’) – making decisions and policies within a group or community according to your own values.
Communication - having a structure in place that allows you to share thoughts and feelings.
Equality – principle where people are respected for their individual qualities and treated fairly.
Sensitivity – empathy and care towards the feeling of others.
Accessible – enabling everybody to participate and contribute.

Posing questions as problems allows you to ask ‘why’, this can allow you to identify obstacles to achieving your group’s goals.

‘How could Oblong work more collectively internally?’ can be read as ‘Oblong isn’t working collectively as well as it could (internally).’ And we can ask why not.

… because we’re not sure what Oblong is – as an organisation that has grown organically there’s no clear definition of what our collective goals are, as a result, the collective sometimes lacks a unity of purpose.

… because a hierarchy exists because of the use of paid staff, who inevitably spend more time in the building and have more knowledge. This guarantees that the building will be open, working etc, but also creates a divide between those who are familiar and those who are new to the space.

… because collective meetings have been poorly attended and participation has been low. This is because some people don’t enjoy meetings, or find them boring, or because it is often difficult to pitch a meeting in a way that is relevant to everybody involved.

… because many people are not used to the level of autonomous responsibility involved in a collectively run organisation like Oblong. This could be because they are not used to the structures involved in this type of working environment or because they are unused to taking the initiative.

… because we lack contact with other similar collectives and projects within Leeds, we lack their support and the possibility for publicity that strong links would bring.

… because our collaborative process is not explained or made obvious to new people, this leads to people having differing or incomplete ideas of how to work collectively.

Similarly, the question ‘How could oblong promote its values more, externally?’ can be posed as the problem ‘Oblong doesn’t promote its values externally as well as it could.’

… because it’s not clear who exactly we should be promoting our values to, because there are many potential user groups (funders, local community, potential oblong users, other similar organisations) we may come into contact with, it is difficult to co-ordinate our message strategy.

… because we’re not altogether clear about what oblong is/stands for. This makes it difficult and possibly embarrassing when trying to talk to strangers/funding bodies.

… because oblong is a collective, we don’t all have the same idea of what Oblong should be. This causes us to be unsure about what the ‘right’ answer is when asked ‘What’s Oblong all about?’ We don’t have any snappy soundbites or clear responses to challenges to Oblong’s ethos and achievements.

… because we may find it difficult to explain ourselves because we don’t feel that we fit into the mainstream. Oblong doesn’t clearly fit into the ‘social enterprise’ culture.

… because asking people to get involved is difficult when they just want to be provided with stuff.

… because crafting a message takes a lower priority than running Oblong/our lives/our projects.

… because many of us are resistant to dealing with ‘official’ groups – government, commerce, the establishment.

… because we don’t want to write a mission statement that backs us into a corner and limits us in the future.

Oblong’s goals:
Short Medium Long
Report on this meeting
Mission statement >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Discussions >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Signage
Cake contest
Film night
Connections with groups who share values
Interactive wall displays/art >>>>>>>>>
Beneficial examples >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Open day activities
Calendar
Large-scale participatory art
Cultural Presence >>>>
Street parties

Oblong believes …
… in using inspiring examples to motivate people to make their urban environment better.
… in co-operation in order to reach goals.
… in consensus decision making so that nobody feels left out.
… in being sensitive to the needs of all groups.

Oblong (does) …
… enables and supports community projects.
… provides space to share ideas, creative input and mutual support.
… responds to the needs of users.