What people say about Co-operantics
Co-operantics brought a wealth of knowledge and experience from the coop movement, to sensitively support our organisation in developing internal processes that drew on a range of decision making and governance processes- thank you! Kate has an understanding of our culture and brings vast experience from the coop movement. As she has also started to explore sociocracy, this complemented us as we are starting this journey- bringing a helpful critical eye.
Anna Clayton, Ethical Consumer Research Association November 2018
Hello Kate: On behalf of all of the team at HCD I want to thank you for your expert facilitation this weekend.
The feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive and the detailed preparation you undertook with Anthonia provided for excellent, appropriate and useful content for the event.
Everybody has reported that the Away Weekend was successful and will make a massive contribution to the important planning work that we have ahead.
Dominic Ellison, CEO Hackney Co-operative Developments
Useful to hear a bit of the theory and then have a bit of a free for all of questions as well. It was good for us to pick your brains on a few different things and hear your insights
New Leaf Co-opFantastic session with @nath_brown of @cooperantics this afternoon. #socent and #coops take note – excellent, practical, relevant advice
— Becky (@beckypants) July 30, 2015 Who Made Your Pants
“Excellent training with great tools & strategies to take away. Thanks”
“Interactive, fun and informative!”
“Inspiring and enjoyable. Practical information packaged nicely to share with colleagues”
“Great workshop for new & seasoned co-operators”
“Very good instructor & communicator. Wealth of good advice & techniques”
“Excellent, concise, course delivered in an interactive and fun atmosphere”
“A valuable and very encouraging experience for taking back to the co-op and implementing. Strategy for handling other people’s expectations and improving current standards of communication with regards to the future”
Really useful day, given us loads to think about”
“I got a lot out of this seminar that can be fed back & used in our co-op!”
Co-op Skills Seminar: Strategic planning & managing change, for Co-operatives UK, Glasgow & London June 2015
“A lovely, friendly, informative training, well delivered relevant information”
“Interesting lively training environment. Lots of opportunity to discuss topics and explore individual situations. Thank you!”
“Really useful event, and great to meet people with similar problems in different sectors”
“Very constructive course that delivered very useful tools and approaches for strategic planning”
Co-op Skills Seminar: Strategic planning & managing change, for Co-operatives UK, Birmingham July 2014“The policies and procedures workshop was very useful in helping our understanding of how we can improve our governance – and why we should.”
Sanford Housing Co-operative“Very interactive and helpful course. Got masses of very useful information and tips on how to implement it. Loved every minute of it!”
Co-op Skills Seminar: How to be a good co-op member, for Co-operatives UK, Bristol June 2014“Nathan had taken the time to tailor the information he provided to the specific and unusual requirements of our project. He was able to take everyone with him even though the group came from very different starting points. His style was inclusive and he showed a genuine interest in the project. He made sense of what we wanted although in parts we were very unclear ourselves.”
Mary Ann Johnson Housing Co-operative“Flexible content and thorough research in advance of meetings. Nathan tried hard to ensure his advice was specific and not generic.A useful service”
Retrofit Works Limited“It was brilliant, relaxed yet hard-working. Moved through the material at a reasonable pace. Covered issues in depth and made me feel reassured. Thanks Kate!”
“The workshop was delivered in a relaxed, engaging and informal way which helped me understand the requirements of the case study.”
“Very useful day and gave clear guidelines on completing our case studies, interesting discussions during the day, I felt that I learnt a lot, but also learnt there are still many grey areas that are often open to the advisors interpretation or expertise/ knowledge in certain aspects. Really enjoyed the session the best one yet!”
Feedback from ‘Understanding Co-operative Enterprise’ Unit of Core Competencies Training Programme for Co-operative Practitioners
“Sound basic advice on co-operative values, what makes co-ops different, the importance of what it says in an organisation’s rules and requirements of a business plan”
Co-operative Enterprise Hub client“Kate has helped to empower us to move the business in the right direction. As an established coop, it is invaluable to have an external facilitator for major structural discussions. Kate is very flexible in her approaches, she always lets us lead and we have improved our structure massively with her help.”
Unicorn Grocery, Manchester 2013“We had a really good session and much was clearer. We now have an action plan and hope to continue to work with Co-operantics.”
Home Presteigne“Nathan Brown from Cooperantics has helped me on numerous occasions in my position as Secretary for a large southern Housing Co-operative. I found his input and advice absolutely invaluable. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lost working in a volunteer ran organisation, but Nathan broke everything down into simple steps and suggestions helping me to see where the problems lie and the areas requiring improvement. Hamwic now see Nathan as a must-have consultant whenever we take on new projects, developments or reviews and we highly recommend him to anyone hesitant about consultants. You won’t regret it!”
Hamwic Housing Co-operative“We would gladly recommend Co-operantics. We found the consultant to be extremely helpful and responsive to our needs.”
FC Utd Manchester“Impressed with Nathan’s knowledge and ability to communicate.”
“Interesting, informative, interactive, lively, friendly, clear, understandable.”
“The workshop cut through the details of structures, both legal and operational, with clarity. Nathan was knowledgeable and generous with his knowledge but also opened up most issues to constructive conversation, allowing all of the group to benefit from each other’s knowledge. The materials used in the session were strong and gratefully received.”
Feedback from ‘Understanding Co-operative Enterprise’ Unit of Core Competencies pilot Training Programme for Co-operative Practitioners
“One of the best things we learnt from Kate’s sessions was how to take action minutes. Before learning this, minutes at our co-op had been a lengthy and drawn out experience. The second best thing, was being given a gentle reminder of how to chair more effective meetings. One of the practical sessions our co-op had with Kate highlighted the importance of competent chairman skills for good co-op meetings. These two practices; action minutes and competent chairman skills are now an important part of our meeting process and we continue to use them as standard practices in our co-op”.
Secretary 8th Day Wholefood Co-operative“Kate Whittle provided excellent support and advice to Olive Co-operative at a time when it was much needed. Kate came to meet us at short notice, provided very useful and impartial information and facilitated meetings addressing many complex issues. Kate did her homework on our specific situation before talking with us and was clearly very experienced in the co-operative movement generally. Kate sent useful written information and was available and approachable to all co-op members. It was useful to go through co-operantics website’s on-line questionnaire about effective meetings – it helped us to see more precisely what we each needed from meetings and how meetings could go better. Kate’s skills at conflict reduction and co-operative decision making were invaluable in helping us move towards resolution along a smoother path. Olive Co-operative would have no hesitation in recommending Kate to other enterprises, especially those going through difficult times.”
Olive Co-operative“Kate ran a day workshop at our offices, together with 12 directors, looking at how we could re-evaluate our objectives and aims. The session was very productive, creative, validating, relevant and above all human. We still benefit from that work now and would repeat the process, as she is very knowledgeable and pleasant to be with”.
Felix Lozano, Director Wave Design Co-operative“I thought your session on Governance was excellent and will help me shape the workshop leader’s brief for the next two events”.
Local Food Adviser Team Manager“I was struck by Kate’s knowledge combined with a very caring and supportive attitude. In addition when it became clear that dissension within the Board was hindering decision making she switched into helping us resolve it”
David Saunderson, High Street Organicsabout Conflict to Co-operation: “it was brilliant – seeing all those ideas I sort of knew but couldn’t have put my finger on. I wish I’d found them (the booklets) years ago.”
Janet Warren, Co-operative Group Member“I’m sure everyone agrees that the process was incredibly valuable, and so far the outcome has proved pretty useful too. Thanks again for all your help in getting it going & helping us to see it through, I’m not sure how far we would have gotten without it”
Unicorn Grocery, 2007