An invitation to innovation
Let’s talk about
The trouble we have today with collaboration,
competition and just plain survival
An organizational model that might solve our problems
and offer new opportunities to serve Alaskans
An invitation to explore this new world together
A few problems
There are several factors that make working together
difficult today — and it’s not easy alone, either
A few problems
APTI is stressed by the substantial operating cash
subsidy from local service to statewide service
KSKA KAKM
APRN
$
limited local service
$
limited local service
statewide service maintained
stationstation
station
station
station station
station
station
station
station
stationstation
A few problems
Conflicts over APRN ownership and management
model persist 4 years after the merger
APRN(APTI)
A few problems
Limited State funding creates unhealthy competition
between stations
APBC(GAR)
stationstation
station
station
station station
station
station
station
station
stationstation
A few problems
rising station costs
falling state revenue
diminishing underwriter
capacity
as-yet unknown
impacts on donors
Costs Revenues
A few problems
Largest potential source of money—the State—has not
been overly generous in recent years
Access to money made tougher by ever-expanding
media market, blunting our traditional case for support
Everyone wants more flexibility, lower fixed costs, more
control and independence, more value
But today’s APRN makes this hard to deliver
Bottom line
We must find more resources and build resilient
strength (competition)
We must end our conflicts (cooperation)
Our top-down organization model doesn’t help
We need a new way to organize ourselves
What if a new approach...
Fostered maximum autonomy for members
and simple cooperation at every scale
Eliminated most conflicts over power and money
Helped participants with a shared mission but couldn’t
interfere with local missions
Brought new members and new support to the table
Built a new case for support based on deep public
service with measurable impact
chaordic organizationchaos + order = chaord
Living systems thrive in a narrow band between
chaos and order …
CHAORD (kay-ord)
ORDERCHAOS CONTROL
A Chaord Is
Any organism, organization or system that is:
Self-organizing Self-governing Adaptive Nonlinear Complex
CHAORD
©2001, Chaordic Commons
Chaordic Organizations
! Enduring in purpose and principle.! Powered from the periphery,
unified from the core.! Exist to enable constituent parts.! Equitably distribute power, rights,
responsibilities and rewards.! Fluid webs of cooperation and
competition.! Cannot be managed, can only be
led.
Chaordic organization
Pioneered by Dee Hock, founder of Visa International,
about 40 years ago
An organization that serves members in a common
mission, but leaves members autonomous
Based upon natural / biological principles, rather than
top-down industrial era management notions
Allows participation by any entity committed to the
shared mission
Visa International
Problem: value transfer system in a world of competing
banks plus millions of consumers and merchants
No single bank could solve the problem without
building out at huge risk or by owning all banks
Multiple banks founded Visa with a unified mission
Bank / merchant / consumer problem solved
Prevented merging for scale or competing to death
Visa International
A Delaware for-profit, non-stock membership
corporation, with ownership held in the form of
irrevocable rights of participation
An inside-out holding company
An enabling institution
—Chaordic Commons
©2001, The Chaordic Commons
Holding Company
Ownership
©2001, The Chaordic Commons
Inside-Out Holding Company
Ownership
©2001, The Chaordic Commons
Umbrella Organization
Give up autonomy to leverage joint
influence
©2001, The Chaordic Commons
Upside-Down Umbrella Organization
Freedom to grow from shared infrastructure
What if we created our own
“Visa” for public service
media in Alaska?
common platform
co-branding
collaboratio
n &
competition
easier distrib
ution
content exchange
open market
member autonomy
shared mission
If we built a natural network
What would it be like?
How would we get there?
What missionwould we share?
APTI
APTI
pool
station
station
station
other org
station
other org
station
facilitator
A shared mission would
attract the bulk of current APRN stations and staff
attract new members to the network with a natural
inclination for the shared mission
focus on positive, measurable community impact
draw new support to members
be platform- and distribution-agnostic
One possible mission
Informprovide information in context
Connectbring people and resources together around issues
relevant to our communities
So that Alaskans can actwe enable action (but don’t do the work),
then measure the impact
Development phase
early pool formed mostly
by legacy APRN
filled with traditional
content and services
founders setup
constitution,
shared mission
requires funding
and facilitator
APTI
pool
station
station
station
other
station
other
station
facilitator
Expansion over time
pool draws in additional
members
technical platform
grows
new members join
governance
facilitator role
grows, never
produces products
APTI
pool
station
station
station
other
station
other
station
facilitator
nonprofit
commercial station
independent
reporter
museum
new media org
Members beyond APRN
public television
libraries
commercial media
United Way, other
nonprofits
museums
foundations
new media orgs
Alaska Native cultural
organizations
schools, universities
local government
Okay... so now what?
A modest proposal
Let’s design an organization to facilitate sharing and
distribution of public service media focused upon
Alaskan people, communities and issues
Let’s define a shared mission for the organization that
incorporates legacy values of APRN, but opens the
platform to any member subscribing to the mission
An invitation to innovation
We have the seeds of an idea and have found a
compelling model to explore
There’s a lot to figure out and it needs more ideas from
more people to develop
We invite interested parties to get in touch with us
We’d like to start exploration in January
The exploratory group would be small and ideally
include 1 or 2 from outside APRN