By Shaun Haskins

“Have you hired a new director yet?” A community member recently asked Kara McCrimmon.

“Well,” she said, “We did just hire a new co-director. We don’t have just one executive director anymore. We’re trying something different.”

In 2018, Cobscook began the process of transitioning from a founding director to a new generation of leadership. It is a generation of equality of voice, shared vision and collective action. This transition has taken several forms, and by remaining focused on our mission and our values, we’ve settled on a model that fits who we are and who we want to be.

This shared governance model establishes three co-Director positions, all equally accountable to the Board, with distinct areas of responsibility. Kara McCrimmon oversees our high school and outdoor programs. Daphne Loring has responsibility to develop regional capacity through programming and partnerships with other organizations and individuals. Shaun Haskins, our newest hire, is responsible for our fundraising and communications work. This triad uses their collective wisdom to support our full staff in best fulfilling our mission. They share their authority over day-to-day and strategic operations broadly within the staff. The full staff has established circles which facilitate shared work areas, support collaboration, and promote consensus-based decision making.

This leadership model provides an empowering, clarifying structure for the conversations which inform daily work. This is because Cobscook is a place where you’re always invited to a conversation, to find creative solutions to challenging problems, to explore new ideas as an individual and as part of a community. Our mission says we offer “responsive educational opportunities”, and we can only create that kind of place, can only be truly responsive, if we are all in conversation as partners, and only if we commit to being here and doing this together, intentionally, with our eyes wide open.

Thanks for joining us.