Governance transitions can be precipitated by a lot of things: a conflict, a leader stepping down, sudden growth, or slow growth that reaches some kind of tipping point, new infusions of money.
The typical project that needs help with a governance transition is at least a few years old, has a significant userbase, and has a half dozen or more contrbutors and/or stakeholders. Sometimes projects are looking to formalize governance for the first time. Or maybe they're looking to switch from a "Benevolent Dictator for Life" model to something more democratic. Transitions come in all shapes and forms.
Below, I will use the example of a project dominated by a single org that's trying to include other stakeholders. The process will differ in other situations, but as always, we use the 5 Cs to guide the way.
1. Clarify Your Needs. A transition is always precipitated by some kind of change. We can view these changes through the framework of needs. For example, an org trying to include other stakeholders could be worried about the long term resiliency of the project. They could need help financially supporting it. They could be hoping to build strong partnerships with other orgs in the space by bringing them into governance. Or maybe a more inclusive governance better aligns with their values. All of these can be seen and acknowledged as needs.
2. Connect With People Who Can Meet Your Needs. Projects undergoing a transition will often already be connected to many of the people or orgs they want to bring into governance. So this step is typically about identifying existing connections and inviting them to participate. However, there may be kinds of stakeholders (users or funders, for example) that projects don't have existing relationships with.
If most of the people you're bringing in are new relationships, I highly recommend using a two-part transition process. In the first part, the governance body that includes these new people/orgs/relationships will be advisory only. As relationships strengthen and trust is built, you can then grant real governing power. (Once a process has been defined, you can bring strangers into it, but trust is especially important in the early stages when you're still trying out new processes.)
3. Communicate Your Needs to Each Other. Once stakeholders have been brought in, it's time to share your needs with them and learn about theirs. Depending on the size and availability of the governance group, you may choose to do a group needs identification exercise, or do one-on-one interviews that you synthesize and share out to everyone. These needs can help shape the scope and structure of your new governance model.
Note that your governing group will also have needs as a group. For instance, the need to get to know each other and feel comfortable with eachother; the need to feel safe advocating for their point of view; the need to not be overwhelmed with details about every aspect of governance and the project as a whole; the need to know what is expected of them. These needs should also be incorporated into the structure, culture, and process of governance.
4. Address Conflicts.It is inevitable that there will be some kind of conflict between the needs people are bringing to or representing in governance. Depending on what precipitated the governance transition, the conflicts may be very heated and very apparent. In some cases, it may be necessary to use de-escalation techniques; in others, the process of being clear and vulnerable about your needs, human to human, is enough to get people in conflict to do the same.
Conversely, the conflicts in your community might be buried—avoided, for fear of making anyone feel bad. It is vital that these conflicts be unearthed and addressed in the governance process, or else they may derail the community long term. (If there truly are no conflicts, that may be a sign that your participants aren't in relationship enough to have conflicting needs.)
5. Make Commitments. The decision to adopt a specific governance structure, and for people to take up roles in that structure, is the primary commitment of a transition process. While in the long run, these are two separate things—you want a governance structure that doesn't depend on individual personalities—when a new structure has just been adopted it's important that that it be lived and inhabited by real people who will do the real work of governance. Not everyone who participates in a governance transition needs to stay involved in governance, but it is a red flag if large numbers of people plan to step back once the transition process is over.
Copyright © by Shauna Gordon-McKeon. All materials on this site are licensed CC-BY-NC unless otherwise stated; please contact me directly if interested in commercial use.
This website's design is based on a theme by Themefisher. It is built using the open source projects Bootstrap, Jinja, Python Markdown, Shuffle JS, SlimSelect JS and LiberaForms.