December 2017

PRACTITIONERS FORUM
Working to strengthen co-op values
Co-operative delegates came together on 16 November for Practitioners Forum, hosted by Co-operatives UK, which offers
professional training for people operating in key roles in large and small co-ops. The day focused on communications,
finance, governance, HR and membership. Here, some of the delegates share their thoughts on the day in Manchester …
Nassali Douglas, member pioneer
manager for the Co-op Group, led a
session in the Membership Forum, “A
better way of doing business for you
and your community.”
“Sharing best practice and ideas is at the
heart of the co-operative movement, so it
was great to hear how our co-operative
colleagues are working around the
country, throughout a range of industries,
in truly innovative and thought-provoking
ways. There were lots to learn from the
day, from both the speakers and the
people who attended. There was a really
positive buzz about the event.
“I really enjoyed the opportunity to
talk about the Co-op Group’s community
proposition. It was a particular privilege
to introduce one of our Member Pioneers,
Sandra, who moved me (and I think,
everyone in the room) with her obvious
passion for the communities that she’s
working with. She was the perfect
example of how by co-operating we can
make a difference to our communities,
by connecting members, encouraging
participation and inspiring active
citizenship.
“The supportive and engaging nature
of all of the sessions I participated in was
great, and I made a few new contacts
through our shared interests.”
Caroline Maddox, engagement and
PR manager at Central England
Co-op, presented a membership
session, “Making a difference that’s
worth millions”, which focused on the
society’s Social Return on Investment
(SROI) strategy.
“As a co-op we are committed to doing
good and giving back to the communities
in which we operate. Measuring the
impact our community activities generate
has been at the forefront of our community
strategy over the last 18 months.
“Having embarked on an SROI report
in 2016, we have learnt a great deal. Our
session was intended to share these
lessons and open up the debate on the
effective measurement of communitybased
activities. Our session helped to
position the importance of reporting
and we hope enlightened other coops
to consider implermenting similar
measurement tactics.
“The forum was a great opportunity
to meet and talk to other liked-minded
people and organisations. It was great for
networking and sharing ideas.
“We really enjoyed delivering our
session on SROI and hope that as a wider
movement we can adopt a sector wide
mode of measuring the social impact that
we generate as a sector.”
Jon Alexander, co-founder of the
New Citizenship Project, presented
a session on “The power of everyday
participation”.
“My contribution – off the back of a
collaborative innovation project we’ve
been running with Lincolnshire Co-op,
Phone Co-op, Co-op Group and Nationwide
– was to challenge practitioners to develop
what we call ‘everyday participation’.
“This is all about giving people more –
and more creative – ways to participate
in our work on a day-to-day basis.
The example of Brewdog is one every
co-op should be looking at. Brewdog
is not a co-op, but from effectively
inventing equity crowdfunding, to the
Cicerone course training people to be
beer experts, to open-sourcing their
recipes, to the 6,000-attendee AGMs,
to building bars where their ‘Equity
Punks’ are, this is a business harnessing
everyday participation. The result is huge
commercial benefit, with Brewdog the
only company to rank in Britain’s 100
fastest growing for the last five years.
“This is the kind of success we believe
the co-operative movement deserves,
and we want to help that happen. We’re
working with Co-operatives UK on how
best to share our broader findings – so get
in touch at info@newcitizenship.org.uk.”
12 | DECEMBER 2017