Greaterthan Academy
A community-led professional learning and development platform where you can learn the skills and practices we need to create a more human future of work.
This project evolved out of "Leadwise" and the first online course called Practical Self-Management, and was rebranded from Better Work Together Academy in October 2020.
Guiding Principles for our work
These principles help guide our decision making and direction on the way we do business and create offerings.
Aim for profitable core over an exit Work to make lean core with each course, each business unit profitable and running off cashflow rather than an investment heavy, financial exit approach. Offer revenue share, not equity for exit.
Practice, led by practitioners Content is focused towards practice, and led by expert practitioners who do the work out in the world, not academics.
Prioritize Capacity Building Focus on building the capacity in others to build capacity in others.
Build towards openness with clear invitations Focus on making clear invitations for everyone involved in the project, financially and non-financially.
Participation over talking heads in all the courses we offer.
Transparent finances Be transparent about finances, leads, revenue flows with all course owners, investors and team.
Complementarity Since this project is mainly bootstrapped for now, we see achieving complementary as critical to our resilience as a team. That means we aim to find the maximum amount of synergies between Academy work and work we are already doing, to create reinforcing positive feedback loops (to "kill to birds with one stone").
The "team" and how it is organized
What we consider "the team" of this cross-community project are the people stewarding and strategically guiding this project over the long term. The work is currently organized into "Hikes", which are 4 month phases of working together on certain objectives. The team is evolving on a "per hike" basis, meaning that team members commit to one hike, and then when it is over we reassess who will be involved and how for the next phase.
Within these Hikes, we work with a bi-weekly sprint rhythm.
Key organizing resources:
Slack channel: #academy-general
Knowledge map with all key assets we have
Levels of involvement
The Academy has a team, as well as add hoc and more long term contributors. There are currently 3 levels of involvement in what we consider "the Academy Team".
"The Hikers" = members of the team that is committed to a full hike and join the bi-weekly sprint rhythm. There is a dedicated channel for this team to communicate.
Team members that do not join the bi-weekly sprints, but hold specific roles, contribute to various actions and follow the project on an intermittent basis.
Contributors: individuals who contribute in spurts to the project in a variety of ways. If a contributor is active consistently for a long time, they may want to step into the team.
Transitioning between team roles: At the end of each Hike, we make sure to hold a retrospective and "closing" session for the hike, to properly transition roles, clarify any open questions, and, importantly (!), show gratitude for the work together and everyone's contribution.
Decision Making
The decision making in this project follows Greaterthan's general decision-making agreement.
This means that there is an emphasis on autonomy for the team actively working on the project.
Decision type
Who & How
Standard day-to-day decisions
Made by Hikers with the advice process and consent decision-making. Hikers commit to keeping the full Academy team informed about the project evolution and judging when a decision needs their input.
Strategic decisions
Made with all team members on Loomio, with consent decision-making. All team members can participate regardless of whether they are participating in the current hike.
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