Understanding & using our oI Governance

Governance - that sounds pretty abstract and difficult - but we at oikos believe that it is about the structures that can give us orientation and help us navigate our organization in this ever-changing world. In order to make this possible, we have 3 layers of governance with different degrees of detail and change-ability:

3 layers of oikos Governance

The constitution outlines the necessary shapes needed for oikos as a Swiss legal entity and doesn’t give a detailed insight into how oikos is currently working. Building up on the constitution, the organizational guideline is a more comprehensive roadmap of all organisation-related topics.

The guideline serves to create an overview for everyone who wants to learn more about oikos. It contains summaries and overviews, linking to related documents, our field guides, that offer more detail:

The 3rd layer of our governance, consisting of field guides, is meant to give the most detailed documented insights into how oikos International is working at the moment. They create clarity about the status quo, and the nature of processes. They are living documents, adapting to contexts and other developments. Field guides describe specific processes and topics in detail and provide more guidance.

Keep in mind, all of these layers are only descriptions, only maps of the territory. As we move and live in the territory, it will be continuously changing. Therefore, the map should stay changeable as well and we should keep updating it. You can find more details on the different layers on the next pages.

You want to let people know how to use or apply something? Create a User Guide for the team!

FAQ:

Who is responsible for Governance topics?

Every team member contributes to the governance in some way, mainly to the guideline & field guides (see next pages). In general, the presidents and VPs in charge of Org. Development and Legal Matters should have an eye on the governance and make sure that people use/get used to the processes and structures and that they are perceived as helpful. If not, they are in charge of introducing a revision process.

Why do we define governance like this?

Governance is a broad term, defined differently by most organizations. For us, we decided to define governance as the tangible structures displaying how oikos is working, like a map to the territory.