Featured Video: Bonnie Hudspeth—Engagement from the Grassroots
In this 13-minute video Bonnie Hudspeth shares some key strategies in launching the community participation efforts at the startup Monadnock Food Co-op and how those ideas relate to all our co-ops. Hudspeth, a startup champion [...]
New Resource: Board Discipline Field Guide
By Thane Joyal Boards of retail food cooperatives need to put the co-op first when it comes to evaluating the performance of board members. A board cannot be successful if individual board members are working [...]
How strong is your leadership team?
Empowering your department heads and helping them work together results in happier, more supported employees overall. In any business, the leadership team creates the support network for accomplishing day-to-day tasks. This frees leaders to create [...]
Servant Leadership and Cooperation
By Joel Kopischke 167 July-August 2013 “SERVANT AND LEADER. Can these two roles be fused in one real person, in all levels of status or calling? If so, can that person live and be productive [...]
Featured Video: Amy Fields—The Northeast Network
In this six-minute video Amy Fields, general manager of Eastside Food Co-op in northeast Minneapolis, describes the creation of their community participation project, Northeast Network. For more than three years, the co-op has hosted a [...]
Strategic Alignment of Board and GM
Of all the important relationships in a cooperative, the one between the general manager and the board is arguably the most critical to the co-op’s long-term success. If the basic elements of trust and accountability [...]
General Manager Contract Template
Updated: August 2nd, 2016 Every board of directors of a retail food cooperative should strive to be an excellent employer for their general manager, the person who is responsible for the success of the [...]
Board Discipline
In order to be effective in leading a retail food cooperative, a board must protect the integrity of its process. Two keys to sound board process are the ability to speak with one voice and [...]