Scaling Thriving Networks: Mission Impossible?
Channel: Greaterthan
Date: 2022-07-14

This session is part of Greaterthan's Solstice Jamboree (https://greaterthan.works/events-jamboree) and connected to the course Thriving Networks (https://greaterthan.works/academy/thriving-networks). 

About this event
From our experience of working in change-driven networks for over a decade, scaling them in a way that preserves their culture and allows them to thrive is challenging. Important characteristics of a thriving network──such as dealing with conflicts and tensions in a healthy way, recognition of care work and member’s needs, openly talking about money and creating rich spaces for learning──often fall short as the networks grow above a certain size.

This leads to the question: what can networks do to avoid this and balance these characteristics as they grow?

To explore this question, this event brings together network members and leaders who participated in Greaterthan’s Thriving Networks course to reflect together, share examples from their own networks and exchange knowledge on this topic. Be a fly on the wall while they have a conversation about this juicy topic!

+ + + Speakers + + + 
Richard Bartlett | Rich is co-founder of Loomio, a digital tool for deliberation and decision-making in groups of 3-300 people, as well as co-founder of The Hum, a management consultancy for organisations without managers. He’s also a Director and longstanding member of Enspiral - a network of people supporting each other to grow up and to get paid for doing meaningful work.

Francesca Pick, founding partner at Greaterthan, is an ecosystem builder, facilitator and organization designer. During the last decade, she has been a leading member of the self-organized communities Ouishare and Enspiral, participated in DAO experiments and supported dozens of other organizations with her hands-on experience in network governance and community building.

Alícia Trepat is a designer and facilitator of distributed leadership, community building and decentralised governance. In addition to practicing these in her own communities, she co-authored research on these topics with the Institute for the Future. Her work is focused on how self-organised teams and communities can be places for personal growth. In the past five years, she has been a catalyst for several social innovation organisations, from social start-ups, to a women network, to social movements.

+++ Chapters +++ 
00:00 Introduction
3:37 Talk by Richard Bartlett about Microsolidarity 
26:23 Fishbowl discussion with Thriving Networks Alumni
1:16:21 Q&A with Richard Bartlett and full group discussion