Creating a Shared Leadership Model at EBMC: 8 week process is launched!
On September 9, 2016, our new consultant Amy Vito met with a group of #EBMC staff, LSangha (board) members, and one of a number of key volunteers, in order to launch an exciting 8 week process.
Project Objectives:
- Create structures that promote shared accountability and decision-making to ensure tasks are completed and strategic goals are met in a timely fashion
- Develop and implement an alternative management system for EBMC staff that will support a shared leadership model
- Define areas of responsibility/accountability rather than static, fixed tasks, allowing the organization to be nimble and responsive to quickly changing needs
- Ensure this model aligns with and operationalizes integration of traditional HR needs, such as ADA and EEOC compliance, performance coaching, and process for terminations
- Assess pay structures and make adjustments that are appropriate for the new structure
In many ways, EBMC has always operated as a community and as a collective. We are not a teacher-centered meditation center founded by and dependent on one or two teachers; because our Sangha (community) has diverse experiences, identities and needs, we have been able to attract, develop and retain a dazzling array of amazing teachers, and in alignment with our value of cultural humility, there are numerous ways that the different practice groups and community members collectively determine evolving program needs.
EBMC’s staff has always been an extraordinarily high-performing and committed group of professionals working closely together in communication with the board of directors (Leadership Sangha or LSangha) and our many skilled volunteers. We look forward to the synergy of this two month process which will help to take EBMC to the next level of structural alignment with our vision and mission – and Sangha members will be kept fully informed through the EBMC website, social media, and in hard copy on the bulletin board in the kitchen.
Why Shared Leadership?
In the spring of 2016, the EBMC board of directors (called the “L Sangha” or “Leadership Sangha) approved moving forward to develop a shared leadership structure for EBMC. Unlike the hierachical power structure of many traditional nonprofits, EBMC will move toward an agile structure in which staff, board and key volunteers will share leadership, while strengthening and clarifying processes of accountability and retaining integrity of task areas as is needed. The wider EBMC community was excited about and supportive of shared leadership when it was discussed at our May 22, 2016 Community Meeting.
The intention to create a shared leadership model and alternative staff management system at EBMC was announced in the July 2016 EBMC e-newsletter. Consultants then were interviewed to help facilitate this process, and consultant Amy Vito was hired.
