Board perpetuation is a key task for directors, and actively pursuing it throughout the year (and every year) creates a powerful influence in the quality of board work. The first step is having a strong list of potential candidates before the election cycle. There are a variety of components to building a candidate pool, from board to member communications (newsletter articles, social media, email, [...]
Accountable Empowerment It is always important for a co-op board of directors to have good systems of accountability in place to provide proper and strategic oversight of the general manager. With strongly increasing demand for natural and organic products resulting in more pressure from competitors, cooperatives need to strengthen operations, and at the same time effectively communicate the value the cooperative brings to its [...]
Use the Four Pillars of Cooperative Governance to increase effectiveness of the board’s work.
Succinct introduction to the Four Pillars of Cooperative Governance: Teaming, Accountable Empowerment, Democracy and Strategic Leadership, and how these concepts strengthen co-ops and communities. This video is a fantastic resource for board training and team-building sessions.
Tips to intensify board and organizational impact and how to achieve it.
In a world where smart, fast, moves are a marketplace necessity, strategic leadership creates shared agreement regarding the future vision.
Ever had someone ask that simple question: What is the board's job anyway? and wondered where to start? The CDS Consulting Co-op model for cooperative governance, the Four Pillars of Cooperative Governance can help! We identify four pillars built on a foundation of Cooperative Identity that lead to the success of the cooperative. Each piece helps tell the story of the board's job. At the top is Success of [...]
The relationship between the board and general manager is of paramount importance to any cooperative because both parties provide a connection to the co-op’s main constituency: owners. The co-op owners trust that their elected representatives will provide good governance on their behalf, resulting in positive outcomes toward fulfilling the co-op’s goals. In turn, the board delegates responsibility to management to carry out operational strategies [...]
What would happen if everyone in a whole community understood their role in achieving a common purpose? It’s not hard to imagine that lots of really positive things could be accomplished, some of them beyond our wildest dreams. That’s why it is critical to the success of a cooperative that everyone has a role in determining the co-op’s future. One of the fundamental differences [...]
By Marilyn Scholl, Art Sherwood 170 January - February 2014 Great leaders demonstrate how to be a force for good in local communities and beyond. Our cooperative heroes—the Rochdale Pioneers—were striking weavers who opened a grocery co-op in 1844 in Rochdale, England, to help themselves and others get free from indebtedness to the company store. The Pioneers asked and answered some compelling questions: Shouldn’t [...]
