Meet the last Level I cohort of 2018; they’re a wonderful group of leaders from Canada, the United States, and Spain. They’ve been working hard on examining their own leadership skills, deepening their accountability to themselves and their teams, and strengthening their facilitation skills for collaborative and democratic management. This cohort has a few people from cooperatives, a small business owner exploring a cooperative transition, a non-profit director, and a leadership trainer all connected on the theme of effectively collaborating in our teams.
I’m Omar Senhaji. I grew up between Morocco and KSA due to my parent’s work. After high-school I’ve moved to Paris for university but after a semester there I’ve decided to move to Montreal to finish my university studies there. I lived there for about 6 years and then decided to move to Moncton where I currently live as I wanted to leave the hustle and bustle of the big city life, and also to be closer to the ocean! I’ve started with the Co-operators right after I’ve moved to Moncton back in July 2015. I’m currently one of the National Specialists for the Vendor Management Office. I have three energetic dogs that I try my best to keep up with, and like to spend time outdoors as much as I can. I’m a huge fan of cars and also passionate about construction.
Erica Buswell is the VP of Programs at Maine Farmland Trust. She does food systems work because she knows that good things happen when people come together around food. As a result of her work on farmland access issues, she knows she’s fortunate to have a piece of land in Maine to call home where she and her husband have created a homestead they hope will feed them well into the future.
Elly Wood is a mother, feeler, and organizer. Early on in life she was often found rearranging her bedroom on a regular basis (or being commissioned by her friends to organize THEIR bedrooms). This love for order and arranging continues today in the work she does, not only in the world of paid employment at her local food coop (proud employee for 18 years) but also at home where she lives with her daughter and partner. In other walks of life she loves collaborating, creating, biking, paddling, coloring, cooking, deep and meaningful dialoguing, coffee drinking, and volunteering at her daughter’s school in Montpelier, Vermont.
I’m Cristina Vela. I’m a trainer, coach, and a facilitator in Madrid, Spain. My goal is to combine a deep approach to the personal with an effective way to facilitate change at the organizational culture. Currently I’m working with teams to change their attitude and vision of their department, projects, and company. I feel the lack of power to make change explicit in the company process (meetings, management, process…). I deeply believe in our capacity to be a better version of ourselves and hope to find the way to implement this at the corporate environment.
I’m Dawn Butler. I work for an insurance company in Canada which is also a cooperative. I love the culture and values that we hold as a company but also as a cooperative. I feel we have been able to blend a good balance of both and feel proud to tell people where I work. I am looking forward to what this course can offer me in terms of development and learnings
Madeleine Siegel is the founder of Chocolate Hollow, a small business in Vermont with a niche specialty- Schmilk- milk chocolate without milk. It is the right time to grow quickly, and we are planning to make the best possible use of ourselves by forming a worker cooperative.
On a chilly Sunday afternoon with some tea and mellow music in the background, I have read through Cecile Green’s article, “The Organizational Power Matrix”. My first response to reading this was “So cool!” And then I immediately reflected how much more I now understand about power. I highly recommend it to you all.
What a fantastic resource in learning for me in thinking about this area – informing my somatic response to delving into this work with you all…no wonder my body knows through shivery excitement that THIS is what I needed to dig into. Great work, Cecile Green!
Come learn more at our FREE introductory session for your own collaborative leadership strengthening this January 2019 — just in time for starting off the New Year in the right direction.
In our Level I training, you get the benefit of learning new and comprehensive democratic management tools for effective collaborative meetings (a key place of communication and organizing work), collaborative project tracking, and collective decision-making. AND, the benefit of hashing out your actual management problems with a trainer and a community of practice.