By Sarah D. Park

I work for a nonprofit organization called Project Peace East Bay, and we recently shifted to a horizontal organizational structure. Rather than having a staff of divvied up roles answering to one executive director, we got rid of that position entirely and make decisions as a four-person team.

Years of experience or certain credentials no longer merit authority. With no one person to make the final call, authority is shared because we represent the community we organize and every different voice matters. Without those differences helping us stay attuned to our community, our work would suffer.

At the time we made the change, I didn’t think much of it. I couldn’t imagine that it would change our working dynamic much because we were already a collaborative team. The shift felt less like a functional decision and more of a desire to see our team better embody the values we promote: lead with listening, explore tension, and creative collaboration.

But I am pleasantly surprised.

I’ve noticed that I feel more permission to advocate for my opinion. I didn’t think I had a problem with that, but I find myself gifting more of myself and my experiences as a peer. Knowing that I’m not answering to one person’s judgment of my work, but that we are accountable to our community and to each other, I feel more permission to disagree and trust that that be productively met with conversation.

Whose permission did I need? Certainly not my boss’s. That permission came from myself, and I thought I already had it. So what gives?

There are depths of agency that I wasn’t even aware of until space was made for it.

And really, the model only works because we love each other. We love each other well. We lead each other into sharper self-awareness, mutual celebration, and more compassionate work. Such are the generous ways of God’s kingdom.

Sarah D. Park is a freelance writer whose work focuses on the cultivation of cross-racial dialogue with a Christian faith orientation. She is also a story producer for Inheritance Magazine and manages communications for several organizations. She currently calls the Bay Area her home but is an Angeleno through and through.