Embracing Transformation: The Messy Truth About Becoming a Teacher-Owned Cooperative
Embracing Transformation: The Messy Truth About Becoming a Teacher-Owned Cooperative
Becoming a cooperative sounds lovely, doesn't it? Community-led, empowered, democratic…all beautifully idealistic words until reality hits—and trust me, reality has hit hard.
The Truth About Necessary Dissolution
Let's get brutally honest for a minute. Transitioning into a teacher-owned cooperative hasn't just required dismantling organizational charts and outdated procedures. It’s demanded a dismantling of our identities, egos, and psychological safety nets—and let’s be real, that's freaking uncomfortable. For those of us who built VBY from scratch, or took over its growth, those 3 AM website tweaks, maxed-out credit cards, sleepless nights fueled by sheer passion—watching parts of what we've created be critiqued, revised, or (gulp) tossed out entirely can feel gut-wrenching. There’s real grief here. There’s genuine pain in having the systems you lovingly nurtured labeled "no longer serving us."
And let’s acknowledge the big time ego bruising involved here. If you’ve built your identity around being "the visionary," "the founder," or "the one who calls the shots," shifting into shared governance isn't just an operational tweak, it’s a freaking existential crisis. Who am I if I'm not steering this ship?
What value do I hold if my voice doesn't carry more weight than the person who joined last month? These aren’t small questions. They’re soul-level shakeups. And don’t think newer members get a pass. Nope, your discomfort is different but just as intense. After years of having clear hierarchies and someone else setting direction, suddenly being asked, "What do YOU think we should do?" can induce full-blown panic and had some of our Teacher Owners stunned in silence. Hierarchy may feel unfair but, at least it was easy to follow someone else’s lead. It was the soothing illusion that someone else was handling the hard stuff. Now? That comfort is gone. You can no longer hide behind permission-seeking or following someone else’s lead. You have to own your power and your voice, even if your voice is shaky and your power feels uncertain.
Community sounds so lovely buy, we’ve had some rough meetings. We’ve had some question if this whole cooperative idea was too ambitious or downright delusional. There’ve been text threads wrestling with feelings of fear, inadequacy, resentment, and doubt. This isn't the sanitized, glorified transformation story you read about in feel-good business books. This is the messy, awkward, occasionally painful real-life version.
But here's the truth: This dissolution is absolutely necessary. Just like the seed must completely shed its coat for new life to grow, we must shed our outdated patterns, roles, and assumptions to truly thrive as a cooperative. Anything less just leads to shadow hierarchies, hidden resentments, and dysfunction disguised as "niceness."
Dancing with Effort and Surrender (Hint: It’s as Tricky as it Sounds)
Our cooperative journey mirrors exactly what we explore in yoga, the delicate balance between effort and surrender. If we cling too tightly to controlling every detail, we kill the creativity. If we’re too passive, things fall apart.
When we first started, some of us believed we needed a flawless, perfectly defined plan. Spoiler alert: There is no flawless plan. Instead, some of our best ideas have emerged precisely because we dared to let go a bit and trust the collective wisdom of our community. (Imagine that, trusting each other... radical, right?)
To be clear, this doesn't mean abandoning structure altogether. Rather, we’re learning how to hold paradoxes: clear guidelines alongside creative flexibility, strong leadership balanced with deep listening. Turns out, organizational growth, like yoga, isn't about getting rigidly perfect, it's about becoming skillful in holding contradiction.
Why This Actually Matters to You (Our Students)
At this point, you might be thinking, “Cool existential crisis, but how does this affect my yoga classes?” Fair question. What we're discovering is that teachers who truly feel ownership and investment offer something radically different than contractors just clocking in:
Collaboration that’s authentic, spontaneous, and sometimes delightfully messy (think: creativity instead of cookie-cutter).
More experimental and meaningful offerings, less concerned about immediate profit maximization and more about lasting impact.
An atmosphere you can genuinely feel—there’s a tangible difference between teachers who are empowered stakeholders and those who just show up to teach a pre-packaged class.
Classes born from genuine passion and inspiration, rather than scripts or formulas.
Where We're Headed Next (Spoiler: We’re Still Figuring it Out)
As we move deeper into this transformation, here’s what’s on deck:
Developing an onboarding and mentorship program for new teacher-owners, because supportive structures matter even (or especially) in self-organized groups.
Co-creating new and creative offerings for our community—think workshops, events, and innovative classes.
Deepening community outreach and mutual aid initiatives to ensure we aren’t just talking about community, but actually living it.
So here’s the honest truth about our cooperative journey: it's messy, it’s raw, it’s exhilarating, and it’s occasionally terrifying. We're learning, stumbling, succeeding, and failing, often simultaneously. But above all, we're committed to the process : ) not because it's easy (it sure as hell isn't), but because we believe that something beautiful and deeply human emerges when we dare to share power, question old identities, and grow together.
Here’s to leaning into the chaos together,
—Leanne