JANUARY 2018
The January edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue explores finding the route to collective decision-making. It also looks at gender equality, co-housing for homeless veterans and what 2018 holds in store.
The January edition of Co-op News: connecting, challenging and championing the global co-operative movement. This issue explores finding the route to collective decision-making. It also looks at gender equality, co-housing for homeless veterans and what 2018 holds in store.
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CO-OPERATIVE<br />
LEADERSHIP<br />
– IN PRACTICE<br />
LEADERSHIP<br />
BOB CANNELL,<br />
Co-operative Business<br />
Consultants<br />
People have been devising theories of<br />
co-operative leadership for at least two centuries;<br />
often reflecting the dominant culture of their<br />
times. Recently Co-op News reported the Global<br />
Women’s Leadership Network decrying a lack<br />
of women coming through ‘the pipeline’ into<br />
‘c-suite’ positions (How to cultivate more women in<br />
leadership roles in credit unions, 7 December 2017).<br />
Whatever this means, they seem to know what they<br />
want. Or do they?<br />
A lifetime of practical experience in worker<br />
co-operatives, both as a ‘manager’ (the reason<br />
for the quotes will become apparent) and as a<br />
Co-ooperative development advisor, has given<br />
me very different ideas about leadership as it is<br />
practiced IRL (In Real Life) in co-op businesses<br />
struggling to maintain order and survive.<br />
Here are some examples.<br />
No names of course<br />
I was called in to a bakery co-op with multiple<br />
business problems. They had four members and<br />
one permanent employee. I pointed out that to<br />
conform to the First Co-op Principle, they should<br />
offer membership to her as she was clearly helping<br />
to manage the business as well as being a baker,<br />
and wanted to be in the members’ meetings.<br />
‘Oh ‘A’ won’t like that,” I was told. ‘A’ being the<br />
oldest member. The next time I went, she was<br />
a member. But the others, at ‘A’s behest, had<br />
appointed themselves directors and now met as a<br />
board without her. ‘A’ apparently didn’t like any<br />
of my other suggestions either, like putting their<br />
prices up so they could pay themselves a living<br />
wage. The other members simply obeyed.<br />
42 | <strong>JANUARY</strong> <strong>2018</strong>