The Co-op Rose

What an AGM is really The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a legally required meeting where the senior management of business share details of what they’ve been doing with the business’s shareholders. For the Directors and Executives it’s a bit like an annual performance review. They go into the meeting with a list of their… Continue reading The Co-op AGM Special 2018

General presentation by Allan Leighton The meeting started with a presentation by the Chair of the Co-op’s Board. His presentation covered the importance of Digital innovation and the key role it would play in the Co-op’s development of possible new business areas. He also explained how important supporting logistics, including our depots, would be going… Continue reading The April Members’ Council Meeting in 2018

Steve Murrells’ presentation Steve Murrells gave the first presentation of the meeting and he used this opportunity to share his 5 year plan with the Members’ Council. Steve started by telling the Council how he wants a Co-op that will deliver both commercially and co-operatively. The thinking behind the decisions on what our co-op does… Continue reading The January Members’ Council meeting in 2018

The Friday Training One part of the Members’ Council’s role is to hold the Board of the Co-op to account for performance against its strategic goals. To do that job, the Members’ Council needs to be clear on the difference between operational questions and strategic questions. The first training session on the Friday was about… Continue reading My third Members’ Council meeting

Meetings on the Friday before Council The Members’ Council weekend started on the Friday. For a small group of Council members, it started with a Digital Working Group meeting. In the meeting, some members of Co-op Digital talked us through a mobile app they were creating and gave us the opportunity to have a go… Continue reading My second Members’ Council meeting

The purpose of the members’ events These members’ events are about the community and the Co-op’s role in relation to it. They are certainly an opportunity to ask questions about the Co-op as a business, but that is not really the focus. Some of the event I attended was about how the Co-op is helping communities at the… Continue reading What are members’ meetings about?

The following examples are real events that I learned about on Twitter. The #MemberPioneer hashtag is a good starting point if you want to learn more. In their communities Member Pioneers want to strengthen their communities, so they talk to good causes in their area to see how they can help. They may already know… Continue reading What a Co-op Member Pioneer does

Choosing the President, Vice-President and Senate The President of the Members’ Council, Nick Crofts, was easily re-elected with no-one choosing to stand against him. His victory before the other elections was welcome for two reasons: not only has he proven that he is rather good at the job, but it also meant less speeches! The Vice-President… Continue reading Elections and the Members’ Council meeting

What is induction Induction is the introduction to the Members’ Council that all newly elected Council Members get. It’s this basic training which explains how the Council’s systems work and how the Council works with the rest of the business. The induction process also helps people who are fairly new to co-operation to understand this… Continue reading Induction to the Co-op National Members Council

I was once like you! And I still am actually. A member of the Members’ Council is someone who signed-up for their Membership card, shops with The Co-op regularly, decided to stand for election and got elected by other members. Why stand for election? Being on the Members’ Council means that you get to influence… Continue reading How did I get here!