Re-Imagining Participation
Ruffin Slater, General Manager Weaver Street Market, Research Triangle, North Carolina Ruffin challenges us to re-think our concept of participation and what it can do for your cooperative.
A Nested Hierarchy of Engagement
Leslie Watson, Board Member Northeast Investment Cooperative, Twin Cities, MN Participation by all stakeholders is a fundamental force in cooperatives and other democratic organizations. The International Cooperative Alliance states in their Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade that “Participation is once again becoming one of the cooperative sector’s most valuable assets.” Leslie Watson, a board leadership consultant with CDS Consulting Co-op and a board member [...]
Why Grow Co-ops: The Social + Economic Benefits
Doug Hoffer, State Auditor of Vermont In terms that economists and policy-makers can appreciate, Doug Hoffer enumerates a handful (but certainly not all) of the benefits to local communities and economies of growing cooperative enterprises of all sorts.
Agile and Efficient: Board Committees and Structures that Work
By Todd Wallace 164 Jan-Feb 2013 The use of committees by boards is ubiquitous—as it should be, considering a small group’s agility when compared to a whole board. Unfortunately, boards often end up with unwieldy committee structures, groups that take up time and resources with little to show for it, or committee participants who feel burnt out and overworked. To avoid these undesirable results, consider the following suggestions when [...]
Minute Taking Essentials
Keeping good records is one part of a board’s legal Duty of Care; as the record of what happens at meetings, the minutes are an important tool for fulfilling this duty. In practice, minutes primarily serve as a tool for helping directors remember what the board decided at previous meetings, and secondarily as a way to keep our co-op’s members informed about the actions [...]
How to Use Committees to Help the Board to do Board Work
Properly structured and monitored board committees can be a good way for a board to accomplish specific board tasks and to ensure that ongoing, repeating processes are carried out. Small groups of people working together are nimble, effective and fun! Improperly used committees can waste precious board time and energy, and at worst can undermine the Board’s relationship with its General Manager and the [...]
New in the CBLD Library: Ends to Ends Strategic Process – an Online Recorded Workshop
In a democratic organization like a cooperative, it is vital that the owners’ voices come through to the co-op leadership. In the Ends to Ends Strategic Process ORW, board members can learn how to effectively channel the values and voices of their owners to create Ends that not only reflect desires for their co-op, but also demonstrate how Ends are also part of the [...]
The Growth Roadway
By Art Sherwood 163 November-December 2012 Expansion and growth are on the minds of many cooperative board and management leaders. And this makes sense, since growing our cooperatives’ abilities to deliver on their organizational Ends is of critical strategic importance. It certainly was on our minds at Bloomingfoods Co-op (Bloomington, Ind.) this last year as we addressed growing to include a fourth store and [...]
Ends to Ends Strategic Process
Chapters: Overview Ends to Interpretation Interpretations to Strategic Planning Planning to Action Ends Reporting Communicating Ends Accomplishment Note: Click to view all chapters