Member Centric Governance and Management

Join us for this engaging online course on Excellence in Member-centric Governance and Management. Designed for seasoned decision-makers and emerging leaders from any sector or type of co-operative, all will benefit from this knowledge-rich course.

This participatory education experience focuses on enhancing your knowledge and building your network. Discuss and debate the many facets of the membership aspect of co-operatives, including people-centred management, ownership and control, and network governance. Grapple with the unique challenges inherent in leading and managing co-operatives while including voice, representation, participation, and engagement of people at the core.

Objectives

• Broaden your knowledge through discussions of the co-operative enterprise model.
• Be inspired to think deeply about your members, and how you operationalize their responsibilities as the users who own, control and benefit from the organization.
• Identify member-centric strengths and areas needing improvement in your co-operative.
• Expand your co-operative network. 

A Framework for Co-operative Enterprise

A framework for the co-operative enterprise model sets the stage for the course. It is presented as a ‘puzzle’ (with many component parts). You will explore the macro-pieces of that puzzle and how they fit together, plus identify gaps, weak spots, and areas of strength.

You will discuss the trifecta of purpose, values, and principles coupled with three fundamental properties inherent in co-operatives as peoples’ organizations (people-centred, joint owned and controlled, and democratic).

Design

This course is ambitious in content with the aim of being thought-provoking and action-oriented. Together, we investigate the fundamental and essential aspects of co-operative enterprise as fuel for you to design a fit-for-purpose member-centric governance and management approach for your co-operative.

You are leaders in this sector and we aim to pique your interest, build your knowledge, enhance your community/network, and provide an opportunity for you to think deeply about the organizational model that you are a part of.

Excellence in Leading through Complexity

Co-operatives need both designed and emergent structures and processes for long-term survival in a complex system. Design provides stability by setting rules and routines, while emergence provides novelty, creativity and flexibility. The complexity of co-operative organizations and their environments demands room for both stability and uncertainty in order to innovate and thrive. It is with this mindset that co-operatives can embrace their transformative potential, and we created this course as an opportunity to explore this with you in a peer-exchange learning setting.

For more context, read Miner, K and Novkovic S. (Fall 2020). Diversity in Governance: A Co-operative Model for Deeper, More Meaningful Impact. Cooperative Business Journal. 

Facilitators

Karen Miner, Managing Director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management, Vice-Chair of Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, researcher and instructor.

Dr. Sonja Novkovic, Co-operative Economist, Academic Director of the International Centre for Co-operative Management, Chair of the International Co-operative Alliance Committee on Co-operative Research, researcher and professor.

Key presentations by Fred Freundlich (LANKI, University of Mondragon) and Erbin Crowell (Master's graduate, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association and Board Member of the National Co-operative Business Association).

Offerings

There is no course scheduled at this time. If you are interested in an upcoming offering, let us know at cme@smu.ca

 

"The Saint Mary’s University's Two Day Executive Course on Member-Centric Management was such an enlightening experience,” said Tim Wingate, CFO & Finance Manager at Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, VT.  "From the pre-course readings and case studies to several models, this session really helped to broaden my perspective of what it truly means to be member-focused."