Clarifying Responsibilities with MOCHA

Last updated: October 28, 2021
Estimated reading time: 8 min

MOCHA is a tool for establishingclear roleson projects. In most settings, projects involve contributions from multiple people. This is especially true in the progressive and education equity sectors where we strive to collaborate, build coalitions, and seek perspective from communities most impacted by the issues we work on.

Multiple people working together can generate greater participation, more equitable outcomes, and broader impact. And if we’re being honest, it can also lead to confusion. The MOCHA model clarifies who’s responsible for what and reduces the chance of hidden labor by spelling out each person’s contributions.

MOCHA stands for:

• Manager:通过授权来支持和追究业主的责任。作为一个资源，分享反馈，询问试探性的问题，审查进度，并在工作偏离轨道时进行干预。这个人可能是也可能不是业主的主管。
• Owner:Has overall responsibility for driving the project forward and coordinating steps to accomplish the goal. Ensures all the work gets done (directly or with helpers) and involves others (consults) in a meaningful way. There should only be one owner.
• Consulted:Provides input and perspective. May share resources or referrals.
• Helper:执行工作的各个方面，并积极地为项目的成功做出贡献。助手可能拥有自己的MOCHA(我们称之为级联MOCHA)。
• Approver:在最终产品或关键决策上签字。可能是所有者或管理者，但也可以是在项目中具有明确决策作用的个人或团体。

Imagine that your organization is about to host its annual fundraising dinner. Here’s what the MOCHA looks like:

• You’re theowner, which means that you are responsible for making sure the dinner goes smoothly and you hit your fundraising goal for the event.
• Themanagerin the MOCHA is a colleague with experience planning large events. They provide guidance and approve the overall plan.
• Yourhelpersare the marketing assistant, events coordinator, and development manager. The development manager owns the fundraising pitch portion of the event. Your events coordinator handles program logistics including confirmations with speakers, performers, and audio/visual. The marketing assistant is responsible for tracking RSVPs, recruiting attendees, and sending reminders. When there are concerns about low RSVPs two weeks out, they’re empowered to problem-solve by making phone calls to shore up “maybes.” Each helper has their own cascading MOCHA for their stream of work.
• Yourconsultedsinclude your manager, the communications director, and the program director.
• Your ED is thefinal approveron the budget and you are the final approver on the program.

MOCHA for Fundraiser

Using MOCHA to Advance Equity and Inclusion

In many organizations, someone is driving the work by default—or team members get asked for input without full acknowledgement for their insights, time, and talent. Who’s seen as “in charge,” who becomes an invisible “helper,” and who’s actually driving the work often mirrors race and gender disparities in the workplace. Used properly,MOCHA can interrupt this pattern, make everyone’s contributions more visible, and complement your organization’s equity and inclusion work.

When used on teams with an active commitment to equity and inclusion, MOCHA can help ensure people who play important roles in projects receive recognition and credit for the work they do. Every person in a MOCHA has authority, agency, and ownership over something within their sphere of work, even if they aren’t the driver (owner).

也就是说，MOCHA并不是解决现存等级制度或权力问题的神奇解药。Managers, owners, and approvers should be especially intentional tocheck for biasas you plan projects and consider who you’ll consult or ask for help. When paired withFair Processdecision-making andeffective management(that is, equitable, sustainable, and results-driven), MOCHA can make the implicit explicit in ways that build participation and more fully acknowledge each persons’ contribution.

At TMC, we use MOCHA to affirm ownership, encourage collaboration, and make roles transparent, which helps us be specific with our praise and acknowledgment. We know some organizations don’t use the word manager, and that’s okay. Others dislike the words “owner” and “helper.” In a world where ownership is often synonymous with property and help is devalued or uncompensated along lines of race, class, gender, and ability, flex the acronym if you need to! Call the manager the mentor, and the owner an organizer. We always love a good remix.

Regardless of how you change up the words, the purpose stays the same. MOCHA helps structure efficient, inclusive collaborations. It makes project experiences smoother so people can spend more energy on the missions that matter.

For more on MOCHA roles and implementation, seeFrequently Asked Questions About MOCHA.

3 Tips for Implementing MOCHA

1. Get consent.

As you clarify roles on a project, talk to people. Managers/approvers should never enlist an owner without their consent, and owners should never enlist helpers or consulteds without theirs. Make sure people are on board for their role and have the context, information, and resources they need about the project (try ourDelegation Worksheet帮助你思考这个问题)。你可能会说:“嗨，我在做YYY项目，你是我名单上的潜在帮手。作为一个帮手意味着我将要求你做x。我认为这是Z在下个月的时间承诺。你觉得呢?考虑到你的其他优先事项，你需要什么来为这个腾出空间?”

2. Work those parentheses.

明确每个人将拥有、批准、帮助的工作。在一个人的名字后面使用括号来清楚地定义他们的角色。它帮助合作者了解期望是什么，如何参与，以及(有时)何时参与。Consider developing aproject planto get even more specific about steps and deadlines.

3. Cascade your MOCHA.

在大型项目中，在您的MOCHA中有不止一层通常是有帮助的。当助手需要其他人完成一项工作时，他们就成为层叠MOCHA的第二层的所有者。整个项目仍然有一个所有者，但助手的部分有自己的迷你摩卡。See an example in ourFrequently Asked Questions About MOCHA.

When to MOCHA

Some people want to MOCHA everything, and while it might be fun (for some of you), it’s not necessary. We recommend using MOCHA when you’resolving a specific problemor working witha project where roles and points of engagement aren’t obvious. Good times to MOCHA include:

Find additional resources on MOCHA:

• Frequently Asked Questions About MOCHA
• Making MOCHA Work For You (Videos!)
• Sample Email to Introduce the MOCHA Model

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