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 [...]
What sets co-ops apart from other companies is their ownership structure, cooperative values and democratic governance. That’s why co-op leadership that is focused specifically on those things that define cooperation is so critical. It’s the reason why food co-op leaders have continually been asking the question: How can co-op governance ensure the success of the cooperative as an association and a business? The Four [...]
When we examine the process of alignment and how it works, it seems straightforward. For example, board and management come together for learning and discussion about the future of the co-op and share an agreed-upon purpose. Of course, things don’t end there. But predicated upon board-management alignment is the awareness that what the board and management is doing is fulfilling the aspirations of the [...]
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 are lacking for either party, chances of working together will be fraught with conflict or misunderstanding. It will be hard for the co-op to grow or move forward, and [...]
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 as the cause of destructive economic practices, to the point that raising money was once practically shunned. This left many cooperatives under-capitalized and some of them had to close [...]
Wheatsville Food Co-op has always had big dreams to have multiple locations— going back to the days since it was founded. Now they are in a position to begin to make them come true. The co-op has, as general manager Dan Gillotte put it, “solidified home base” with its latest renovation and is primed to branch out into multiple locations. This has been an [...]
Alysen Land, general manager, Ozark Natural Foods: “Bill has helped our cooperative grow and continually improve. Bill has helped me weather difficult times in my career, and has proven to me again and again that he is a good friend and fellow cooperator.” Jeanie Wells, operations, expansions, and startup consultant, CDS Consulting Co-op: “I first met and worked with Bill in the 1990s and [...]
As we continue our year-long examination of the empowerment and accountability stream in food co-ops, the point in the sequence where the rubber really hits the road is in the day-to-day functioning of the co-op’s operations. This is the stage in the cycle where the vision gets implemented in myriad ways: through customer interactions, workplace culture and operational systems development. It’s the intersection between [...]
At this juncture in our series examining the empowerment and accountability stream in food co-ops, we understand that at all points along the way co-op stakeholders need systems that allow for the clear flow of delegation and responsibility. However, it can be argued that the dynamism of the empowerment stream often hinges on the handoff of power from the board to the general manager, [...]
Members are the foundation of all cooperatives. They are the source of capital and control as well as patronage of the co-op. The co-op’s purpose is built around their shared values and their needs, and based in the concept of democratic member control. As co-ops grow larger, some of these connections may not be as easy to see. How do thousands of owners exert [...]
