Increasingly, people in movement spaces are demanding to work in democratic workplaces. One model often overlooked—the worker-owned cooperative—offers the benefit of having had to grapple with questions of participation, management, and governance for decades. To explore these issues in depth, this webinar, produced by NPQ in partnership with the Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI), will feature three worker-owners in worker cooperatives, who will discuss both the joys and the challenges of managing workplaces democratically. Our panelists are:

• Nicole Koch is a member-owner and cofounder of Technicians for Sustainability, a solar installation cooperative in Tucson, Arizona that converted to employee ownership in 2017 and has 23 employee-owners.
• Yarissa Soriano is training and education manager at the Democracy at Work Institute. Previously, at Paraprofessional Health Institute, she supported Cooperative Home Care Associates, the nation’s largest worker co-op.
• Anj Talley, is general manager of Mandela Food Co-op, a Black-owned worker grocery cooperative in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California that was founded in 2009 and has nine worker-owners.

This webinar will explore:

• What are the benefits of democratic management? What are the challenges?
• What core principles define democratic management? How do worker co-ops balance worker ownership with empowering managers to manage?
• What design decisions need to be made to support a democratic workplace? How are course corrections made if the system runs into problems?
• How does democratic management affect supervision? Do supervisors need to be trained differently? In what ways?
• How does democratic management affect worker access to information? What systems are used to share information with workers?
• How does democratic management affect leadership development and careers ladders? How does it affect compensation levels?
•  How do you balance the tensions between the demands of the market with democratic management? 
• What can others learn from worker co-ops’ democratic management experience?

Whether you’re a social movement activist, nonprofit leader, board member, or engaged in community-based organizing, this webinar will provide you with real-life examples and lessons learned that can inform your work in your own community.

Register to learn how nonprofits and movement activists are advancing strategies to address the economic and social inequalities of our time!

The moderator for this webinar is NPQ senior editor and economic justice program director Steve Dubb. Steve has worked with cooperatives and nonprofits for over two decades and has been both a student and practitioner in the field of community economic development. 

You can send your questions to webinar@npqmag.org to have them answered during the web event.

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*The recording and slides of this webinar will be available on the NPQ website 2-3 days after the live event.