Molly Phipps is a new cooperative member of Columinate—welcome! Phipps has joined the Cooperative Board Leadership Development (CBLD) team, but she also brings other key skills to Columinate and to her clients, developed over twenty years of diverse consulting engagements.
If you go to the Columinate Library and search CBLD (Cooperative Board Leadership Development), you will find an encyclopedic list of over one hundred governance resources. And a great many of these Library resources have been contributed by Michael Healy. Healy’s work as a governance consultant predates the CBLD program itself. From his Vermont home base, Healy contributed to early iterations of board [...]
A co-op’s democratically elected board of directors embodies both the strengths and a potential Achille’s heel of the cooperative structure. Boards can change their composition annually, bringing fresh energy and perspectives to governance responsibilities. But changes to the co-op board underscore the need for continuity in leadership and policy development. Board training is essential for sustaining the organization’s direction and furthering its mission.
Have you ever felt like your board is in a rut? Maybe it seems that all you do at meetings is hear reports about operational or committee activities. Or maybe you notice that your board engages in robust dialogue during your day-long retreats, but your monthly meetings seldom include this sort of conversation. Maybe you have begun to wonder what value you—individually or collectively—are adding to the organization.
A dashboard can help boards of directors pay attention monthly to key indicators of financial health. This dashboard review can occur in between the quarterly monitoring reports on the board’s "financial conditions" policy. A dashboard is intended to supplement, not replace, monitoring reports; those reports are the place for more detailed information about the key indicators and the longer-term trends.
Over the years I have worked with and served on governing boards, I have observed many director resignations, some sudden and unexpected, others more drawn-out and planned; some fiery and dramatic, and others typically routine. I myself resigned from a board I had served on for many years!
Molly Phipps, welcomed to the Columinate consultant team in 2023, has centered her career around three key passions: food, people, and the natural environment. As a result, this warm and analytical cooperator’s resume exhibits an eye-catching variety of job titles, including evaluation and research associate, farmer’s market manager, board member, and lab manager. The breadth of Phipps’ experience and her leadership in planning/evaluating strategy are sure to generate a positive impact for co-ops in the grocery industry as well as for resident-owned communities in manufactured home parks.
This fall, consultants at Columinate will launch CBLD Academy, an on-demand learning loaded with revitalized and accessible content. Cooperators can expect three courses within the “Foundation Series” at the outset, with more courses planned to round out this base of co-op training. “It's a natural and a march towards progress in how we provide a framework for learning about the co-op business model,” said Leslie Watson, governance at Columinate.
Why do boards of directors exist? We take a lot for granted when we think about serving on the board of an organization. If asked, we might describe the role as being one of a fiduciary, entrusted with its care, and we might be aware that being a member of a board confers responsibilities for the success of the organization in some fashion or another.
I serve as a co-chair of the board of directors of PFC Natural Grocery and Deli in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a co-op that identifies as being anti-racist. Dismantling systemic oppression is an ongoing journey. As the primary organizer of our board’s work together, I aim to make sure we are holding ourselves accountable for this work. I don’t want it to get lost or forgotten amidst all of our other roles and responsibilities.
