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What do we expect out of this weekend?
Clear questions to be answered
Clarify what's missing
Timelines set
Criteria to make decision
Better feeling for board's role
Connections to roots…adapted to new situation
Connect to Owners
Decide to hire national trainer on policy governance or not
Direction for ORC
Use Carver handout and actually do it
Challenge our assumptions and practices - innovation & experimentation
Narrow / focus our work
Morning's goals: start the conversation on growth and a small
training on problem solving and getting to know each individual's problem
solving style.
Growth
Everyone wrote out their questions about growth, what they need to know
to go forward and give direction to management. Have we decided to grow?
What is our focus of talking about growth? Using ends policy focus to
decide what is the benefit, who does it benefit, and at what cost.
Do we grow (not specifics)?
How do we grow?
Negatives and positives to growing with answering do we grow
If we're all decided that we are going to grow then we just need to focus
on how we want to grow and how we'll make it work.
Basic groupings of the statements from all of the individual sheets:
§ Financials
o How do we stay competitive in changing NF Market?
o Can we afford the cost of opening another store
o How long will it take to pay off present debit
o How much debt will this project add
o How long will we be paying off present & new debt
o How much impact does debt have on bottom line
§ Does it affect our prices
o How will this project affect our prices and overall affordability
o Labor Costs of "small" stores vs. "large"
o What is the risk of increasing our debt load
o Does our property ownership make it less risky or more risky to consider
further growth
o What would happen if sales continue to slow down (recent trend) after
opening 3rd Store
o Based on results of owner survey, how will FA minimize debt if 3rd store
is opened
o Simplified Break down of current, past, projected sales
o Can we afford it? Afford: competition, staff, facility, location, plan
o What will charges in market mean? Local org vs. Wal-Mart org & USDA
org
§ Staff
o How will the staff be trained to be able to grow this was a concern
raised by manager comments
o How do we maintain customer service & growth
o Will this project overextend our staff & mgmt?
o Are there plans in place to address such over extensions
o Management problems associated with several small stores vs. large store
(specifically communication)
o Is our staff experienced enough to support plans for growth? If not,
what are we missing? (Any particular weakness).
o How will growth be presented to workers in order to get their buy-in
o How would new co-op be staffed and still keep two other coops running
o Can staff handle expansion (training, new hires, stress, plan)
§ Owners
o Owner's needs- how do we address individual vs. majority.
o What are we doing to sell more shares
o What does growth mean to maintaining / or improving owner relations?
(Different from small store)
o Does growth mean a change to owner expectations? (e.g. patronage refund,
store size, ambiance, etc.)
o How will growth be presented to the public? Arguments in support?
o How will the results of owner survey be used? (if at all)
o Do members support growth? (Education on issues, plan, limits, refunds
(dividends) vs. expansion)
§ Vision
o How do we grow and keep our coop values
o Clarify our vision / mission 1st
o Do we have a vision for what it means to be a cooperative organization
as we grow substantially
o How do we define what the coop is and how it services the community
o What (who) is the coop's community
o Who does growth benefit or impact
o What measurable criteria will we use to decide (whether or not to grow)
o Who decides to grow? What role does the Board play? The gm? Owners?
o What is the FA Vision for the future? Relative to growth. Who sets the
vision, who implements it?
o How do we see the future? (relative to changing conditions)
o What is the GM's vision of the coop in 10 - 20 years
o What is the current outreach/ed plan
o Advantages & disadvantages of small vs. large stores
o What lessons have been learned from last expansion (n. store) How will
this affect future growth
These statements were then grouped further within the above categories
and given to individuals to write consolidated statements for each group
of items.
Problem Solving Style
Each person took a Kolb problem-solving inventory. Talked about what the
scores mean and what the characteristics of the different problem solving
styles are.
Growth
Consolidated Statements / Questions
§ Finance
1. Debt
o Risk of Increase
o How long to repay: present/new
o How much will x store add? Can we minimize?
o Impact on bottom line
2. Can we afford the cost of additional staff
3. How do we stay competitive
o What about "slowdown" trend
o Market changes: package vs. bulk, local vs Walmart, Tilth organic vs
USDA
4. Simplified Breakdown of current, past, projected sales:
o Board info to make decisions
o Communication to members
5. How will this project (x store) affect our prices and overall affordability
6. Labor costs of small vs. large (2 vs. 3) number of stores
7. Does our property ownership make it less risky or more risky to consider
further growth.
8. What is the cost of not expanding?
o Competition
o Facilities
o Location
§ Vision
1. How do we define what we are as a coop (our vision for the future &
mission)? Once we determine this, how do we implement this growth plan
while keeping our vision, values, & mission intact.
2. What & who is our community & how does growth benefit or impact
our community?
3. What criteria will we adopt to decide how & whether to grow?
4. What lessons have we learned from our last expansion & how will
this affect future growth?
5. What are the roles of owners, staff, board in developing criteria &
making decisions concerning growth?
§ Staff
1. How does staff* evolve with growth?
o Training
o Communication
o Structure
o Overextension plans
o More staff to handle expansion
o Stress
o Management o several stores
*Who is staff? Only mgmt, or all employees?
2. How will growth be presented to staff to get their buy-in?
3. How do we maintain customer service and growth?
§ Growth as related to Owners
1. Identification of owners
a. Type of owners - (ethnic, minorities, religious)
b. Expectations and needs
c. Future owners. (sell more shares) (growth #'s)
2. Owner Relationship as related to Growth
a. Education
b. Involvement
3. Do members support growth?
a. Education pro/con growth
b. Surveys and solicited input - tools
c. Limits to growth
d. Refunds vs. expansion
Board Process
Ends Statements
RESULTS: effects, impact, change, cause something to be different,
what benefits will accrue, what should result from organizational activity
(NOT: effort, good intentions, means, activities, process how to get there,
plan or strategies.)
RECIPIENTS: Who gets the benefits? For Whom?
Recipients Ideas
1. Corvallis
2. Community
3. Owners
Results ideas
1. Education & Healthy Living
2. Locally Grown Food / Fair Trade
3. Profits remain in community support local causes and jobs
4. Opportunity for participation All owners Co-operative Board responsible
to owners
5. Community Atmosphere, Convenient shopping any day, one stop
Divided up the questions for further word smithing.
Discussed policy governance in general and how the limitation policies,
monitoring reports, and measures of performance work.
Growth
Assigning tasks:
Finance:
§ Finance Committee will bring a report on all of these questions
by Oct 31st for the November Board meeting.
Vision
§ 1 & 2 are the Board's as a whole and will be answered at the
retreat or the next board meeting.
§ 3 Board … future
§ 4 Michele will send out her report from our last expansion: what
was learned and what would be done differently next time.
Staff
§ Will review L1 to be sure that there are no gaps in those statements
regarding the concerns about staff.
Owners
§ Owner Relations Committee will be handling the questions of addressing
the owner concerns from the survey and a plan for educating our owners
around growth. ORC will submit something for the October Board meeting.
Board Process
Discussed the monthly board meeting, how it's going and what could be
improved.
§ Come to board meetings prepared
§ Effectiveness goes down after 1 hour
§ Keeping within the boundaries of what the L statements are supposed
to be doing and not getting off topic.
§ Using individuals or committees to prep topics outside of the board
meeting
§ Use an assignment tracker
§ L statements are limitations not veiled prescriptions
§ Look at hiring a policy governance expert - set up the policy governance
committee again
§ Meeting management - Robert's rules of order adherence (or some
subset related to motion handling)
§ More balanced participation
§ What do we want out of the Board Facilitator
o More involvement in training new board members
o More guiding the meetings to keep the Board on topic
o Less content
o Training on Robert's rules or motions…More focus on process
o Discussion about how to handle ops questions.
§ Stick to the timelines on the agenda - need to give a five minute
heads up if it looks like an agenda item isn't going be wrapped up in
time so a decision about time & the agenda can be made.
Sunday, Oct 1
Meeting Begins at 8:45am
Board Present: Mark Reed, Steve Albright, Toni Hoyman, Chris Bentley,
Todd Barnhart, Fred Heil, Dave Hockman-Wert, and Esther McEvoy
Absent: Liz Kelly
Staff Present: Michele Adams
Facilitator: Marcia Shaw
Scribe: Kevin Oder
Growth
Beginning work on Ends statements on Growth
1. We provide the "community" one-stop household shopping in
local stores that are sustainably operated and offer a pleasant environment
where friends meet.
a. Café
b. Meeting room
c. On the floor
d. Library
2. Recipients receive education for healthy and sustainable food and eating
habits.
3. "Community members" receive monetary / in kind support:
a. Organizations receive donations / services
b. Individuals receive living wage jobs
c. Local farmers and businesses receive income
d. Coop dollars remain in the local community in so far as possible.
4. First Alt's cooperative structure opens the decision making process
as set out in the bylaws to all owners, and makes the Board directly responsible
to the owners.
5. The "coop" is the source for locally grown, organic, natural
foods and products to those wishing to live sustainably and under fair
trade practices.
Revisions to these statements
Discussed the topics and wording of the above statements.
One suggestions is that the four areas talked about are physical store:
green, sustainable, ambience: pleasant, friendly, community oriented,
products: local, organic, natural, fair trade, prices: optimal.
1. Use wording as above.
2. Revised: "Recipients" receive education for healthy and sustainable
nutrition and life style.
3. Alternative Option: Owners actively participate in setting policy by:
a. Electing the board
b. Membership on committees on the board
c. Voting privileges
d. Owner comments to the board
e. Owner meeting discussions
(For #3, via a straw poll decided to use this alternative wording as a
starting point for this ends statement discussion.)
4. Use wording as above
5. Use wording as above
Recipients:
Owners and Local Community*
*Potential Owners
*Customers
*Vendors and suppliers
*Employees
*Neighbors
Multi Year Planning Calendar
Insert "make appropriate decision" on growth in December by
Board
January Proforma as necessary from Finance
December ORC options on the best way to do information gathering from
owners with input from an outside expert
Jan Board will take staff related growth questions and review in terms
of L1 gaps
October: The ends statements above will be put into a policy statement
to be voted on at the board meeting for insertion into the board manual.
Executive Committee will look at the calendar to schedule:
§ Continued ends statement discussion on the cost of benefits (1st
pass) and patronage refund discussion in terms of ends and choices.
§ Decision about the policy governance committee to help us review
and revise L-Statements
Board Process
BDC job?
§ Takes a new board member a year to get up to speed
§ Criteria for screening board candidates
§ Board candidates don't "campaign"
§ The cost to board members is in "time"
§ Succession?
§ Board give BDC more direction
§ Reward Board members
§ Develop a more professional board
Recruitment
§ Use Past Board members? 4th year?
§ Make the position look good
§ Recruitment for committees too
§ Recruitment committee made up of ex board members
§ Develop prototype for learning
§ Owner / Board Dinner invitations directed toward people who might
be interested in governance (board & committees)
Election
§ Lack of institutional memory
Orientation
§ Give them more training before they decide to run for the board
Training
§ All together
§ Especially for new members
§ CCMA
§ Exercise simulation
§ Western Corridor NCGA board training
On-going Training
§ No comments
Evaluation
§ Criteria?
§ BDC?
§ Board feedback, GM feedback?
§ Set Goals
§ Take it seriously
Promote active members
§ "Capacity Building" - grant dollars - educate ourselves
§ Especially to new owners
§ It's tough to recruit for committees too
§ Board education
§ Grow to include larger / diverse community
§ Large pool of Volunteers but got they have to have leadership
§ More appreciation of the board & committee members
§ Board corner in the store
§ ORC - develop more active owners
Facilitator?
§ Would rather see the board in control of it's own meeting.
Retreat Wrap-up
Best Part
§ Talking informally and getting to know people
§ Everyone being here
§ We accomplished or made significant steps on the agenda
§ Getting to know everyone's styles
§ Informal, getting to know everyone
§ The focus of the agenda and problem solving styles
§ I like that we have a better idea of where to go from here
§ Clear, small manageable goals
§ Being able to talk to people
Least Useful
§ Reinforcement of poor eating habits
§ Bogging down on some issues
§ Sitting down for too long
§ Food was not as good it could be
§ Group word smithing
§ Arguing on personal levels
§ Being told that what you consider important is considered being
bogged down by others
§ I wasn't sure if everyone had prepared the same way, so wasn't
sure if we all had the same foundation
Specifically
§ Food (A couple of folks thought it could be better)
§ Decide earlier where / when so we have more choice of venues
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