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 in the real world of the present? My sense of the present leads me to say yes to both questions.” – Robert Greenleaf, in his revised edition of “The [...]
By Adam Schwartz 166 May-June 2013 "Culture is to an organization what water is to a fish—it is the environment that exists all around us." If I asked you to describe the culture of your food co-op in one word, what would it be? How would you know if others in your organization feel the same way? There has been a good deal of [...]
By Thane Joyal 166 May-June 2013 Why is it that some of our retail food cooperative boards really make a powerful difference in their communities, while others flounder? What can we learn from strong boards, and what can we learn from those that are struggling? This article focuses on two key and interrelated practices: self-awareness, and self-discipline. These operate at two levels: at the [...]
By Marilyn Scholl, Joel Kopischke 171 March-April 2014 In the January/February 2014 issue of Cooperative Grocer magazine, we introduced the Four Pillars of Cooperative Governance as a model for the co-op sector to steer our cooperatively owned enterprises toward economic, social, and cultural success. It is the culmination of many years’ work with co-op boards of directors, seeking to answer this question: How can [...]
By Dan Gillotte, Rose Marie Klee 166 May-June 2013 In Austin, Texas, Wheatsville Co-op is taking a BIG Direction: "Business Is Good." Wheatsville's BIG Direction is the general manager's interpretation of our Ends -policies, which act as a powerful, multi-faceted expression of our strategic plan. The Wheatsville Ends policies are as follows: Wheatsville will be at the forefront of a transformed society that has: [...]
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 of us have been customers in places where the employees did not seem to want to be there. Attitudes show, and they impact the shopping experience. At worst, unhappy [...]
By Melanie Reid 164 Jan-Feb 2013 Is your co-op too small to have a human resources manager on staff? Is the HR function in your co-op divided up among different people? Have your HR systems been cobbled together from different sources? You are not alone! There are many smaller co-ops that are simply not large enough organizations to justify the labor expense of an [...]
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 [...]
