The story of Common
COMMON will be two in October and we recently submitted our first year of accounts, including a £20,000 donation to our parent charity, the Talking Taboos Foundation.
This is a big deal for us.
At our first meeting back in July 2017, before Common was incorporated (or even named), we identified two aims:
- To create an enjoyable place to work that gives members more time for what they find important.
- To develop a better way of solving problems that enables more people to work together to take action.
Two years on, we believe we’re beginning to create a business model that meets these aims. I thought it would be a good idea to explain how it works, and what the advantages are.
Common is a private limited company with two directors, Kat Jennings and myself. However, all of our shares are owned by the Talking Taboos Foundation and Common is collaboratively run by its 15 members on a one member, one vote basis.
Members work flexibly and are paid for the time they put in. At the end of our financial year, some of our profits are donated to the Talking Taboos Foundation and some are reinvested in the company to fund our own initiatives. We have no office and our overheads are low (mainly software and service subscriptions).
The flexibility allows members to continue working on outside projects and bring the expertise they gain to the projects we work on collectively. We are service designers, behavioural scientists, psychologists, social researchers, statisticians, market strategists, computer programmers, journalists, policy experts and communication specialists. As Pierre Lévy once wrote on collective intelligence, “No one knows everything, everyone knows something”.
While our structure is non-hierarchical, members take different responsibilities depending on their skills and interests, for example leading or contributing to a project, looking after the finances or editing the blog. We have an agreed process for how new briefs are communicated to ensure there is equal opportunity for involvement. All briefs are open, and everybody has a chance to demonstrate how their skills are relevant.
The Talking Taboos Foundation was set up in 2011 by the market research group Cello Plc to address issues that carry a social taboo, such as self-harm. It became dormant after a few campaigns and is now an independent charity. Our first donation to Talking Taboos marked the start of its revival and the trustees recently appointed an executive, including Common members, to develop a new strategy.
The Common way is not for everyone. It suits those who are able to work flexibly and irregularly, who are open to different skills and approaches, and who like working things out as they go along. Our business model and ways of working will continue to evolve and we’re currently developing a Common Manual to formalise our structure. We hope this will allow others to replicate, adapt and improve on what we do. We expect to learn from it too.
Please get in touch if you’re interested in working with us: hello@common-collective.org
