New Team, New Game, New Rules

Community collaboratives bring together organizations that may or may not know one another and that bring different strengths and competencies to the table. Inevitably, there will dynamics to navigate regarding relative power and wealth, large and small providers, and the push and pull of resources. Members also will have very different levels of knowledge about what it means to participate in a shared power model.

Fio’s deep experience can help provide disparate participants with the means to share power and decision-making. Through facilitation and teaching, we will break the decision-making process into increments, assess what participants need, and build a model of governance that most closely aligns with those needs and the nature of the work to be done.

Key questions to answer often involve organizing:

• The work – How interdependent does the work need to be? How much central authority is needed to produce the intended outcomes?
  
• The money – How is the backbone organization or fiscal agent chosen? How are funds sought and how are they allocated?
  
• The members – How are members added or removed? How are performance problems of a member dealt with?
  
• The decisions – Does the collaborative have its own Board or is there an advisory committee for the lead organization? Do all participants have a representative? Are they allowed equal voice and power?
  

We capture the answers in bylaws (if incorporated) and operating agreements and develop governance policies that reflect best practice.