By Art Sherwood 157 November - December - 2011 There has been much discussion, debate and downright argument about the role of the board in the strategic process of our co-ops. "Isn't that getting into operations? Aren't our hands tied by our governance system? Isn't "strategy" a taboo word to raise in the board room since that is supposed to be the general manager's [...]
Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, Middlebury, Vt. Jay Leshinsky, president of the board of Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, thinks it is critical that the information the board receives from the general manager’s Ends report doesn’t stop there, but gets passed on to the members in a meaningful way. Two years ago, the board decided that they would use the co-op’s Annual Report as a format [...]
Presented at the 55th annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) June 18, 2011 in San Diego, CA Keepin’ It Real: Co-ops in Turbulent Times Imagination and AlignmentBy Brett Fairbairn Fellow in Cooperative Thought and Ideas, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Provost and Vice-President Academic, University of Saskatchewan Re-imagining cooperation. Imagination matters to cooperatives. What might be the best for the current generation of cooperatives [...]
Seward Co-op Grocery & Deli - Minneapolis, Minnesota At Seward Co-op Grocery & Deli in Minneapolis, Minnesota, they saw the benefit of bringing members together over food. “If we promoted the annual meeting as ‘come hear from the board’ it would not be terribly compelling,” said Madeline Kastler, president of the board. “I believe framing it and treating it as a community event [...]
At this juncture in our series examining the empowerment and accountability stream in food co-ops, we understand that at all points along the way co-op stakeholders need systems that allow for the clear flow of delegation and responsibility. However, it can be argued that the dynamism of the empowerment stream often hinges on the handoff of power from the board to the general manager, [...]
