There are five co-directors who share overall responsibility for shaping organisational direction, development, ethics and maintaining the principles on which Oasis is based - guiding the spirit of the organisation - alongside the legal requirements of running a not-for-profit company. Each area of our work is represented in the directors group, including administration and finance. We embrace fully the principles of the peer approach in all of our work together and hence our decision making is collaborative, based on consensus and mutual accountability.
As a result of our ongoing commitment to learning in action and to development through dialogue, we ensure we meet a minimum of twenty days over a year; including an annual August Directors 'week'.
In addition each year we set aside director and associate time to extend areas of interest, or explore topics that are gathering influences in our work. Last year we looked at the whole question of peer relationships and what they mean for ourselves in our work and how different that is from the way the wider world conventionally operates. Peer working, for us, is a live experience based on some clearly agreed ground rules (contracting in our model). The giving and receiving of feedback is an important aspect of working in this way. Learning how to do it effectively, sensitively and relevantly is something we build into all our human relations work. Last year we explored the whole question of citizenship - how far do we act as citizens in our own ways of living and working? The theme began out of a discussion of what would make up organisational citizenship; how far are the changes in the way organisations expect people to act are an example of the developing idea of organisational citizenship - employees and staff holding more accountability, individual responsibility etc.?
2007 saw the publication of Learning for Tomorrow: Whole Person Learning.
During the year we come together for theme days where we explore questions coming towards us in our practice. These discussions are not designed to have a 'product' but inform us in our work.
Our engagement with the peer principle is demonstrated through the ongoing process for co-directors and staff groups of self and peer assessment as well as in remuneration policies reflecting parity of remuneration for all directors.
All the staff and associates meet three times a year to inform and discuss issues that impact upon us; work load, developmental and interpersonal issues, direction and finance are all areas up for discussion.
Associate facilitators and consultants who work alongside us do so within a framework of free association.
As a signatory of the UN Global Compact and a member of the UK network we are committed to working openly, accountably and transparently.
