The Adaptive Organization: A Conversation with The Farmers Land Trust
The Farmers Land Trust is revolutionizing farmland protection through their innovative commons ownership model. As a national nonprofit land trust, they are developing, guiding and supporting equitable, scalable, and inspiring solutions to protect farmland and secure tenure for farmers in community-centered limited-scope nonprofit farmland commons.
We spoke with Ian McSweeney, one of the Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors, about the living charter journey.
What challenges led you to pursue the living charter journey?
"We were at a crucial juncture, processing and evolving from our past experience with land commons models to create something new – the Farmland Commons model. We needed to hold meaningful conversations and create deep connections as co-founders while developing The Farmers Land Trust as a partnership. Essentially, we were looking for a framework that would connect our vision, purpose, and structure with governance, bylaws, operations, relationships, and people."
How did the journey help shape these elements?
"The Living Charter Journey was transformative in how it framed and guided our deep conversations. It created a space for sharing and visioning between us as co-creators and directors. Then, beautifully, it reflected all of this back as meaningful content that became our charter's foundation."
Have there been any surprising outcomes?
"Rather than surprising, I'd say we experienced wonderful, hoped-for outcomes that have exceeded our expectations. We've seen remarkable clarity in our organizational messaging, which has benefited us in three key ways: 1) enhancing community understanding and connection, 2) fostering board engagement, and 3) strengthening our legal collaborations. The depth of supportive and constructive communication between us as co-creators has been extraordinary."
How has the charter guided your organization's purpose in practice?
"It serves as our North Star – a framing document we consistently use as we build other aspects of the organization and engage in localized Farmland Commons work across North America."
You're relatively new as an organization. How has the charter supported your adaptability?
"At the time of going through the Journey, we were still in our very early stages as an organization. Our Journey together had a primary focus on and benefit to building adaptability as we transformed, evolved and created this new organization, in The Farmers Land Trust, and new land commons model, in the Farmland Commons. The charter is unique in how it synthesizes and refines content that would typically be scattered across various documents. It adds illustrations, visuals, and thoughtful layout in ways that make it an engaging and inspiring resource.”
Would you recommend this journey to others considering it?
"Yes! First, creating, conveying, and understanding your organization holistically is incredibly important, and the Living Charter Journey guides this process expertly. Second, it ensures connection between organizational structure, governance, operations, mission, and work, bringing these elements together into one engaging and inspiring document. Finally, the investment in building and holding space for conversation, visioning, and agreement framing is invaluable for organizational leadership."
Is your company grappling with questions of self-organizing, decision-making power, participatory governance, roles and responsibilities? Curious about embodying your values as you build an adaptive organization? Get in touch with us to learn more about our Adaptive by Design methodology to organizational development, which begins with the Living Charter formation process.
