At Outpost: Growth is Awesome!
Pam Mehnert, General Manager Outpost Natural Foods Milwaukie-area, WI At Outpost growth means serving its members better, and expanding the positive impact of the co-op on the local economy and community.
Better Outreach, Better Engagement
Kari Bradley, General Manager - Hunger Mountain Co-op Michael Levine, Owner - Flywheel Communications Montpelier, VT Hunger Mountain Co-op partnered with a local firm to produce a serious of focused and ultimately successful member engagement events. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Communities: Align, Engage, and Participate
At Mississippi Markets, successful growth means defining the key stakeholders, and then working to align, engage, and foster participation. For their expanding Twin Cities cooperative, the formula seems to be working!
Investing in Staff Satisfaction
By Carolee Colter, Helena O'Connor Don’t open a shop unless you like to smile. – Chinese proverb Embedded in the words of this proverb is the assumption that happy workers are good for business. Most [...]
This powerful transparent practice can change your store
Transparency in management implies openness, communication and accountability. One powerful transparent practice is Open Book Management. By teaching staff members about the financial health of the business, managers invite them into the conversation about strengthening [...]
Deliver the Benefits of Co-op Capitalization to Owners
Our culture has a lot of beliefs about money that range from its worship to seeing it as the root of all evil. Food cooperatives especially have been historically conflicted about capital, once seeing it [...]