Starting a Pod

This guide will help you start and maintain a small 3 to 8 person “pod” that is connected to the Rocky Mountain Pod Project and the Rocky Mountain Mutual Aid Network.

Starting & Maintaining a Pod

This guide will help you start and maintain a small 3 to 8 person “pod” that is connected to the Rocky Mountain Pod Project and the Rocky Mountain Mutual Aid Network.

We at the Rocky Mountain Pod Project believe that deep relationships form the foundation of a community’s health and ability to function harmoniously. Groups often connect to solve problems, but fall apart due to personal conflicts or a lack of strong interconnectedness between their members. We believe that this outcome is not inevitable. With training and support, groups can foster strong, regenerative, and sustainable relationships–both on an interpersonal and intrapersonal level (with others and within one’s own self). We call this connective intelligence.

Our solution is to provide resources, training, and support for developing connective intelligence among people in small groups or pods. We also strive to facilitate the interconnecting of pods with each other. This document is our effort to support you in developing a thriving culture within your pod and within a greater network of pods.

Overview

No matter what you are trying to achieve in your pod; whether it focuses on mutual aid, education, activism, emotional support, deep community building, sustainability, environmental repair, or any other purpose; the details in this document will help you form a foundation for these endeavors. Any small group requires a few fundamentals to build and maintain a healthy, high functioning dynamic.

5 Basic Elements

Here are the foundational elements we recommend for your pod:

1. Pod Steward – This is our term for the person (or people) who makes sure the logistics for holding the pod together are taken care of. They hold the bird’s eye view. Ideally, they are not doing all the work, just making sure it gets done. This position can rotate over time, but it’s good to have a designated steward (or two) from the beginning.

2. Rhythm – Pods that meet on a weekly or bi-weekly regular schedule are easier for people to commit to, less troublesome to coordinate, and more likely to flourish. Try to establish a rhythm early on. How often will you gather and at what specific time(s)/day(s) of the week or month?

3. Principles – These constitute the set of rules, protocols, and values that define the culture of the pod. This is also where you might develop practices and norms for decision making, and how you want to govern or manage yourself as a pod. You might also want to consider how facilitation and/or hosting of meetings and gatherings will happen.

4. Trust – Building trusting relationships is essential. This can take time and deepen as people get to know each other. We can share relational tools and techniques for helping to build trust. Trust among your pod’s participants will help your pod foster high degrees of strength and resiliency as well as great fulfillment and enjoyment for its members.

5. Purpose – What is the purpose of your pod? We have identified 3 main types of pod. Any given pod can be any combination of these types as well.

• Mutual Aid Pod: a pod focused around the giving and receiving of services, favors, goods, and basic needs support.

• Project Pod: a pod focused on a project, vision, or shared mission.

• Relational Pod: a pod focused on relating, hanging out, supporting each other emotionally, or doing other interpersonal or intrapersonal activities.

7 Step Guide

Here is a detailed guide to help get your pod up & running:

1. Envision

What kind of pod do you want to create? What will it center around to start? You may find that the purpose for your pod will emerge later or change over time.

Start with an idea of what you want to do. Perhaps you want to collect excess food in your neighborhood for people in need. Maybe you want to learn Spanish with others. Or perhaps you want to find a group of people whose focus is caring for each other emotionally and/or materially. Whatever your original vision, we find that pods fall into one or a combo of the three basic categories we listed earlier:

Mutual Aid Pod

This is where members match themselves or we match them according to their needs and offerings for supporting each other’s basic wellbeing. If childcare is a need you have, best to include a member in your pod who has the time and skills to offer childcare. If you have a car and some time for shopping, best to join a pod with someone who needs food or other items delivered to their house once a week. A web of interrelated needs and offerings can be woven among the people in your group, especially if you live relatively near each other.

Project Pod

This is a pod that focuses around a certain project, goal, or service. Perhaps you’d like to build a community garden. Or develop yourselves into a full-fledged intentional community. Maybe you’d like to start a renewable energy project or business together. Or start a band! Maybe you want to collaborate in offering a service like distributing food to people in need in your area. Any kind of shared, externally-focused endeavor would fall into this category of the “project pod”. There are all kinds of possibilities, and you might well discover a shared project based on the gifts and interests you are bringing to the table.

Relational Pod

This kind of pod centers around the relationships themselves and/or support for each other’s inner or personal processes. Examples of this kind of a pod would include an authentic or regenerative relating pod, a support group, an informal group of friends who hang out on a regular basis, a consciousness-exploring group, etc. This type of pod doesn’t necessarily need an external focus but one could develop over time. If you don’t have a clear desire for mutual aid activities or a specific shared project, being a simple relational pod is the best way to start. And you don’t even need to have a clear idea of what kinds of relating you will do. You can discover that over time.

2. Invite

Personally invite people to join your pod and/or ask us to connect you with people you haven’t met before.

Once you have a vision, you’ll need people to join. You can invite existing friends/acquaintances and/or ask us to help connect you with people whom you haven’t yet met. Perhaps you’ve already started talking about this idea with a couple of friends. Maybe you’ve even come up with an intention together. Perhaps you see a need for a stronger interpersonal culture within a community that you are already a part of. Or maybe you want to be connected with a group of new people and see what emerges. Whatever the case, it is now the time for you to step into the role of Pod Steward. This role can rotate–maybe the initial steward’s function is to call people and schedule a meeting, while the ongoing or future role of Pod Steward will be fulfilled by another pod member. You can all determine that as you get started.

If you’re reaching out to people yourself, doing so personally is probably the most effective, but you can also post an open call on social media. Notice your intuition when choosing whom to invite.

If you would like us to connect you with people in our directory of interested parties, fill out the “Join a Pod” form and we’ll make connections for you. You can also do a combination of inviting people you already know and having us connect you with new people. And we are available to help schedule and facilitate your first, prospective pod meeting.

3. Schedule

Set an initial meeting time/date, then a regular time for gathering. Then, set a future date for a “reflection point.” This is our term for the time at which you will reflect and reevaluate your pod together.

Getting a small group together is not always easy. You’ll need to find a time and place that works for everyone before you gather. With COVID, we strongly recommend starting online. Online meetings are also safer if you’re still getting to know your fellow pod members. If you choose to transition to in-person over time, that’s up to you as a group. We encourage you to do what feels safe and comfortable for everyone.

Here are some tools and tips for scheduling initially, and then over time:

Finding a time:

• When2Meet – A free schedule polling site that is very easy to use. You just create the poll, send the poll’s specific web address to your invitees for them to fill it out, and keep checking on the poll for a couple of days until everyone has completed it. It will show you the times when everyone is available.

• Doodle – Another free scheduling platform that has nice integrations if you sign up for an account. It also has the ability to do free form survey questions.

*Pro-Tip: Give people a deadline to fill out the poll.

Finding a place (online):

• Zoom – Stable and reliable, Zoom is very popular. The free version limits multi-person meetings to 40 minutes, though. But you can get around this by just restarting a meeting every 40 minutes.

• Google Meet – Google’s in browser video conferencing. A solid choice but sometimes a pain to get working.

• Jitsi - An open source alternative to Google Meet. Less reliable, maybe more secure.

Setting the time and place:

• Online calendars, like Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, are great for creating and sharing recurring meetings. Make an event, add your invitees, and set it to email your invitees. Include a description and an online meeting link if you already have it.

• If you prefer not to use a shared calendar, be sure you have everyone’s contact info so you can send group or individual communications out to them ahead of time, and also on the day of.

Establishing a rhythm:

• Once you’re certain that you’ll continue on as a pod for an initial period of time, establish a weekly, biweekly, or other recurring schedule for gathering. See more on this in the “Play” section below.

Set an initial timeline & “reflection point”:

• Determine how many weeks or months you’d all like to commit to for your first timeline. We recommend a minimum of 2 months (or 5 gatherings if you’re meeting biweekly or less frequently). Set a date for a “reflection point,” at which time you can consider whether you’d like to continue on, if there are basic changes you’d like to make, etc. See more on this in the “Play” section.

4. Set Norms and Principles

As a group, come to agreements around the norms, principles, and expectations of your group and its members.

Once you’ve decided to move forward as a pod, you’ll want to create some shared norms and principles. Depending on the group’s intentions and members, this could be easy or more involved. If you already know each other, for instance, this process might be more streamlined for you.

Boundaries

What are you up for and what are you not up for? Talk about your norms and boundaries. We encourage establishing shared understanding and respect for each other. Confidentiality, levels of participation, and communication protocols at meetings, are good places to start. An official document outlining mutual expectations and accountability might help down the road if conflict resolution were to become a need.

Principles

Do you have basic values or orientations you’d like to make explicit and agree to as a group? Consider your shared intentions and goals for the pod to help define or clarify your principles.

Stewarding & Responsibilities

Would you like the steward role to rotate amongst your members? If so, how often? And what will that process involve? What about the facilitator role for meetings? What are people good at and what skills do they bring? What would people like to do or get better at? Establish some shared orientations to these questions. Experiment and evolve as needed. You don’t have to regard yourselves as stuck in any one way of doing things. Pods are very much about bringing out the gifts of their members and matching members’ roles to their talents and joys. We will discuss this further in the next section.

5. Play

Once you’re ready to go, you’re ready to play! Get to know each other, practice some regenerative relating (join our weekly Monday night Regenerative Relating Calls or ask us for details), spend time together in the various ways you wish to according to your shared interests, discover your personal and interwoven purposes and passions, and start pursuing your shared orientations and projects as a group. Plan, vision, and act together to develop your own pod dynamic.

We regard “play” as an umbrella term that covers lots of areas of activity, including deeply purposeful and meaningful ones. The word connotes the kinds of freedom and lightheartedness a child brings to activities, where mistakes are welcome, experimentation is paramount, and creativity rules!

We at the Pod Project encourage a ground up discovery of your own culture, your own ways of doing things, your own joys as a group. We encourage a free flow of autonomy and discovery among your members and as a group. We are simply here to support your process and help you connect with other pods and a larger community. We are particularly available for support around the relational culture of your pod. But whether you reach out to us and how much you take or leave of our offerings is totally up to you. Your autonomy and creativity are vital. And you’re always welcome to ask us for support.

6. Connect with the Greater Community

The Pod Project is part of a wider community within the Rocky Mountain Mutual Aid Network. It is our aim to support the creation of pods, give them the tools to thrive, and provide connection to the wider purpose driven network.

Connect with other Pods and the Pod Project! There are a few ways to connect with the greater Pod community:

Connect with Other Pods

A publicly viewable list of active pods will be available on the website very soon! There you will be able to see the pod names, locations, general activities/purposes, and means of correspondence for the pods in the network. This way, you’ll be able to reach out to other pods with similar locations and/or interests if you’d like to collaborate or interact with them. We also use Slack, a social media platform, for networking and organizing within RMMAN and the Pod Project. Please join! See the section below about “The Slack.”

The Monday Regenerative Relating Call (Weekly)

This is a facilitated relational call led by one of our relational stewards every Monday. It’s a place to get to know each other in deeper ways, practice authentic (regenerative) relating, and explore the topics of relational and personal wellbeing. It’s also a place to experientially learn relational skills that you can bring back to your pod(s) and the rest of your life. This call is open to anyone! You don’t have to be involved in the Pod Project to attend, but many pod participants attend on a regular basis. It’s a great place to connect with people in the network and project.

The Slack (social media platform) for RMMAN & the Pod Project

There are a few great Slack channels for the Pod Project within RMMAN’s Slack workspace. The #pod-network channel is the best place to start! It’s the pod community channel where people can connect with each other, exchange resources, facilitate mutual aid exchange, support each other (logistically or emotionally), share ideas, start pods, build collaborations between pods, etc. You are welcome to join any of the Pod Project (#pod) channels whether or not you are yet actively participating in the project. Individual pods can also form their own channels. Please let a member of the Pod Project Team know that you’d like to join the Slack, and they can send you a link.

The Monthly Pod Organizers’ Call

We will be hosting a monthly (or twice monthly) call for Pod Stewards and other organizers in the project. This will be a place for organizers to deepen their relationships with each other, share skills and knowledge related to community-building and pod stewarding/organizing, and support each other in their endeavors.

Steward Support

We invite Pod Stewards to reach out to the Pod Project Team for support around anything related to their pods or the greater community. We also encourage stewards to connect with each other and even form Stewards’ Pods.

Relational Support for Pods & Individuals

If you, as a steward or participant, would like help deepening the relational culture of your pod or need support around a relational challenge or conflict that has arisen in your pod, we invite you to reach out to us on the Pod Project Team. We have quite a bit of experience in the areas of interpersonal connection and conflict resolution, and we practice both ourselves! We are available to talk with you one-on-one, facilitate a relational gathering for your pod, or mediate a conflict.

The Pod Project Team

You are invited to volunteer your time and talents to the Pod Project Team. We are a thriving pod ourselves, and it’s a lot of fun! As the network grows, so will our need for teammates! Contact one of us with your interest and we’ll start up a conversation.

Connect with the Mutual Aid Network

We invite you to connect with the rest of the Rocky Mountain Mutual Aid Network (RMMAN)! Check out rmman.org for Direct Aid and Volunteering opportunities. RMMAN is looking for organizers and more people who can offer direct help to those in need. Plug in to RMMAN’s social media platforms and subscribe to the newsletter. Participating directly with the Mutual Aid Network is optional, but the Pod Project currently exists within it, and you are welcome to get involved.

7. Reflect

When you reach your pod’s “reflection point,” reflect on how things are so far and see if you want to keep going. Update your schedule, norms, purposes, etc., if necessary. If you’re moving forward, see if you want to choose a new timeline, switch up stewarding or facilitating roles, and/or set another future reflection date.

We suggest a 2-month starting timeline. If you’re meeting less frequently than every two weeks, we recommend a minimum of 5 meetings/gatherings before reassessing. We also encourage trying a longer timeline for your second round if doing so feels relevant for your pod. Now that you know each other better and have a better sense of how it all feels and where you might be headed, you can see what feels right for your next timeline.

We would love it if you take notes and keep us posted on your process, so that we can help people develop better pods! And if you decide to end your pod, please let us know.

Final Thoughts

We want to say, finally, that being part of a pod is going to be a growth experience no matter what! Try not to regard your pod experience as a “success or failure” endeavor but rather as a supportive adventure in getting to know people and discovering more about human relating and co-activity! You might find deep emotional support in your pod, you might develop an exciting and fulfilling project, you might exchange lots of supportive mutual aid, or you might simply learn some things about yourself, others, and the workings of community. Either way, you’ll probably learn a lot! And we hope you find some nourishment, support, connectivity, and life-purpose activation along the way.

If a pod doesn’t work out, don’t worry! You’re welcome to ask us to help connect you with a new group. We encourage pods to practice resolving difficulties and integrating differences, but sometimes a change of pod may indeed be the wise choice. Feel free to reach out to us with any concerns, questions, or challenges you may be experiencing. We want to help you thrive in a community setting, and we’re happy to assist in any way we can.

If your pod does dissolve–with or without relational tension–remember that many community activities are actually designed to exist on finite timelines (think workshops, classes, support groups, etc.). And those experiences don’t have any less value because they discontinue. They probably involve a huge amount of value no matter their timeline. So, remember that pod life is an evolving, changing, unique process for each pod and participant. While we encourage the potentiality of pods to form into ongoing, sustainable groups, it’s not a requirement. What’s truly right for you is always supported.

Have fun! And let us know if you have any questions.