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Cooperantics has recently reviewed the quality of our services in three ways:

1.  We provided the Co-operative Enterprise Hub, to whom we are a sub-contractor, with evidence of: how we carry out personal reviews to ensure our practitioners are able to deliver a quality service to clients; how we keep track of our practitioners’ ongoing personal development; how we conduct reviews of the service our organisation delivers, and how we provide our complaints procedure.
2. We took part in a service review session with members of two other Co-operative Development Bodies: Principle Six and Co-operative Solutions. The process enabled us to learn from each other’s practice and identify ways in which we could all improve the service we provide to co-operatives.
3. Each practitioner in Co-operantics underwent a peer appraisal, in which we reviewed our practice with a client. This process helps us identify our strengths, weaknesses and areas in which we would like to develop skills or understanding, which in turn influences our professional personal development plans.

We are confident our ongoing review process maintains and improves the quality of the support we provide and feedback from clients indicates that view is shared!

Happy Holidays from Co-operantics, here’s to health, happiness & co-operation!

How about some festive music-making fun (thanks to Lizzie & Wayne)

 

Although it has been out in the wild for over a year, we think this video is a great introduction to the wider movement for members of co-operatives.  You could use it in your induction processes

If your co-operative is located in the South East of England or London, we may be able to provide with some support for free.  As part of the regional co-operative consortium South East Co-operative Support we are able to work with co-operatives who apply for support from The Co-operative Enterprise Hub.  To make sure you identify the right sort of support, and that the work is allocated to Co-operantics, we advise having a chat first.  Nathan is our contact for these areas so contact him using the form or email address on our Contact Us page.

People interested in starting a new co-op can also receive assistance through The Co-operative Enterprise Hub.

We have had a blog introducing the need for Co-operative Skills published on the Guardian Social Enterprise Network’s Co-operatives and Mutuals Hub. If you are interested you can read it here:
http://www.theguardian.com/social-enterprise-network/2013/apr/19/cooperative-skills-what-are-they (Link updated 19 June 2014)

Co-operantics are pleased to announce that we were successful in being accepted onto the Wales Co-operative Centre‘s provider list to deliver support to Housing Co-operatives in Wales.  We hope that with our focus on co-operative skills in addition to governance processes and operational issues, the groups we work with will be in stronger position to thrive.

Both Kate and Nathan have worked with a variety of Housing Co-operatives in the past, and Co-operantics are already engaged in another piece of work with a long established Housing Co-op.  In fact, Nathan’s first paid development worker role was as a Housing Co-operative specialist!

2012 was a good year for Co-operantics!  We became a co-op, with Nathan Brown joining as the first of (we hope) many new members. 2012 highlights included CUK’s Co-operative Skills Masterclass in London, Richard Sennett was a thoughtful key speaker, and we ran the jigsaw game, always a rich source for reflections on communications in co-operatives. We were proud to be commissioned to work with Jim Brown and Mick Taylor on a CEH-funded national training and CPD programme for co-operative development practitioners – delivering and assessing the Understanding Co-operative Enterprise (UCE) Unit.

We were very excited to attend Co-ops United in Manchester in October, it was a great honour to meet co-operators from all over the world – and we were especially thrilled to meet co-op developers from the United States and Canada and hear their views on the training of co-operative business advisers. Presenting the Co-opoly game was the cherry on the cake!  Our ‘pod’ attracted huge interest, with lots of people popping in to see what was going on and hear about this great new game. The players clearly enjoyed it and the Guardian interview helped to promote the game here in the UK – we were proud and happy to hear that sales from this side of the Atlantic increased as a result.

However, perhaps the most heartening development for us in 2012 was the growing and continuing interest in ‘co-operative skills’. We attended ‘Co-operative Working Skills – the heart and muscles of co-operative management’ at the CEH Conference, where Bob Cannell talked about:

• collectively agreed authority
• members participating in decision-making and implementation
• where the power of many is used:
  • to get more done
  • to support each other
  • to develop new ideas
  • to interact better with customers and suppliers
• and where management resources are used to develop the business, not to fire-fight conflict

and much more. In the short space of time available, we could only touch on some of these important issues. However you can get more insights drawn from Bob’s 25+ years’ experience as a worker owner at SUMA at his blog

Bob, along with Britta Werner from Unicorn Wholefood Grocery and others will be delivering ‘Governance and participation in co-operatives’ – a workshop for co-operative development advisers on 22nd January. The workshop aims to explore how we, as co-operative development practitioners, assess support needs in this area, how we work with client groups to promote good governance and participation, and whether the recently revised Worker Co-operative Code of Governance provides a starting point for co-operatives to diagnose, develop and improve their practices. Cooperantics will be there, keen to learn from others and share our experience.

Finally, we were very pleased to read in the Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade:

“Participation: The aim is to elevate participation within membership and governance to a new level, and to do this by focussing on the practical aspects of participation…”

And we hope to be able to contribute to the ongoing debates – not least by building our collection of hints, tips, tools & techniques for improving co-operative working.

 We’d be interested to hear your thoughts:

• How do you ensure good co-operative skills in your co-operative?
• What are the dangers of not paying attention to these essential skills?
• How do you welcome new co-op members and help them to contribute?

You can leave comments here for the next fortnight – alternatively, email us at

kate[at]cooperantics.co.uk

 

 

 

Co-operantics, together with Unicorn Co-operative Grocery, Calverts & Cornerstone Housing Co-op are proud to present the first mass Co-opoly game playing experience in the UK! In Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives, players collaborate to found and run a democratic business. In order to survive as individuals and to strive for the success of their co-op, players make tough choices regarding big and small challenges while putting their teamwork abilities to the test. This is an exciting game of skill and solidarity, where everyone wins – or everybody loses. By playing Co-opoly, players discover the unique benefits, challenges, and operations of the co-operative world – as well as the skills needed to participate in a co-op!

Remember to arrive on time at 12.30  – it’s a board game and it takes at least an hour to play – see you there!

On the Eighth Day Wholefood Co-operative, Manchester

Birmingham Bike Foundry

Unicorn Grocery, Manchester 

have each won a lovely box of chocs as a reward for taking part in the Cooperantics client questionnaire earlier this year! Booja Booja chocs are on their way!

One of our questions was a request for co-operatives to share games, techniques, tools & tips for promoting and developing co-operative skills and we received some positive responses, which we will be sharing here.

The first one comes from the True Food Community Co-op:

Yes… Network, Network, Network! and get as many customers as possible to do the same.  Find a publicity message and recognisable image that seems to attract positive comment, and then network with it.  Start now and don’t stop – and have fun with it.  Occasionally change/update your message and image and share the fun with your customers.  Make them smile, we all need a laugh now and then!

Good luck from us all.

Thanks True Foodies!

& watch this space for more ….

 

But now a co-operative! Cooperantics LLP was recently registered and we have applied for membership of Co-operatives UK. Partners Kate Whittle & Nathan Brown aim to provide co-operative skills development and other co-operative development services including support, advice, training, facilitation, coaching and the creation of written materials. Although we are starting small we hope in due course to bring in other members, and in particular we will be investigating the potential for developing a co-operative skills apprenticeship scheme.