Recently I co-hosted an episode of the Agile Uprising podcast with Chris Murman. Our mutual friend and pod-guest was Matt Barcomb.
We took a stroll through the fields of cooperative ventures and how they might unlock innovation and employee engagement in businesses large and small.
You might be wondering if we’ve heard this “better ways of working” before. After all, Lean + Agile was supposed to change everything, and look where we are now. I get it. I’ve been in this game long enough to see plenty of promises and methodologies come and go. But here’s the thing – what if the problem isn’t with the methodologies themselves, but with the foundation we’re trying to build them on?
Systems of Domination vs Systems of Cooperation
Matt shared a thought:
Maybe these things [agile, lean] haven’t been going so well because we’re trying to take ideas that are rooted in cooperation and we’re trying to put them on something that’s rooted in domination and that’s always going to wind up conflicting at some point.
Let’s break this down a bit. We’ve been operating in “systems of domination” for… well, pretty much since 1854. These are your typical hierarchical structures where power is concentrated at the top. Sound familiar? Yeah, thought so.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Matt brought up the concept of “systems of cooperation,” specifically, worker cooperatives. Now, I’ll be honest, when I first heard “cooperative,” my mind went straight to that organic food store down the street. But we’re talking about something much bigger here.
Principles of Worker Cooperatives
Worker cooperatives are businesses owned and controlled by the workers themselves. One worker, one vote. Sounds simple, right? But the implications are huge. We’re talking about a complete paradigm shift in how we think about power, decision-making, and even the purpose of business itself.
It’s natural to wonder if this can work in the real world. Matt introduced us to Mondragon, a worker cooperative in Spain that’s not just surviving, but thriving on a global scale. We’re talking billions of dollars. This isn’t just some hippie commune (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
But here’s the kicker – worker cooperatives aren’t just about changing who’s in charge. They’re about fundamentally rethinking how we approach business. Matt shared six principles for cooperatives:
- Distribute control evenly and wealth equitably
- Ensure safe worker mobility
- Provide radical transparency, autonomy, and involvement in the business
- Develop people deliberately, especially leaders
- Use network structures with dynamic group memberships
- Routinely reevaluate and adjust policies, processes, and practices
Now some of these might sound familiar. And that’s the point. These principles aren’t reinventing the wheel – they’re taking the best of what we’ve learned and applying it in a way that makes sense.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As Matt wisely cautioned:
I don’t want to wax utopian, like, oh, worker cooperatives are going to solve all our problems. Worker cooperatives give us the basis, the foundation for [that potention]… That’s why I think cooperative is the future of business.
And the key word here is foundation. Worker cooperatives aren’t a magic solution or a cure to what ails so many organizations today. They’re a starting point, a new way of thinking about how we structure our organizations, systems, and teams and distribute power and decision-making.
Getting Started with Cooperative Practices
Some of you might be thinking it’s not possible to just up and start a worker cooperative tomorrow. And you’re prolly right. But here’s the beauty of this idea – you don’t have to. Matt talked about how we can start implementing cooperative practices within our existing structures. Books like Humanocracy – by Gary Hamill and The Great Game of Business – by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham are full of ideas on how to democratize decision-making, share ownership, and give people a real stake in the game.
The goal isn’t to flip a switch and suddenly become a cooperative overnight. It’s about starting to shift our mindset from one of domination to one of cooperation. It’s about recognizing that the old ways of doing things – the top-down, command-and-control structures – are not going to make a dent in the universe, heck not even the back 40.
Isn’t this what we’ve been trying to do with agile all along? Create more collaborative, responsive organizations where people have a real say in how things are done. The problem is that we’ve been trying to bolt these ideas onto structures that are fundamentally at odds with them.
Towards Collaborative, Responsive Organizations
So where do we go from here? Well, that’s the exciting part for me at least. While cooperative ventures might be messier, they will definitely be more democratic, and more human. And isn’t that what we’ve been striving for all along?
So here’s my challenge to you: Start thinking about how you can bring more cooperative practices into your teams. How can you distribute power more evenly? How can you increase transparency and involvement? How can you ensure that everyone has a real stake in the success of your organization?
These aren’t easy questions, but they’re the right ones to be asking. Because at the end of the day, isn’t that what agile – what all of this – has really been about? Creating organizations that are more human, more responsive, more… well, cooperative?
Tune into our Conversation
Read More
- Trust, Ownership, and Vision: Necessary Conditions for Great Team Performance
- Humanocracy – by Gary Hamill
- The Great Game of Business – by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham
- Decision-Making Patterns for Teams
