An imagined Memo
from the Chair of the Co-op to his CEO
I met with the above named yesterday to review our recent
progress. The meeting was informative and encouraging.
As you will know the three individuals were all original
members of the Co-operative which they, with others established in Toad Lane,
Rochdale in December 1844.
There was a good deal of interest and excitement with regard
to the new premises in Manchester and some reflections regarding the contrast
with their original premises which had been fitted out on, as they recalled a
wing and a prayer.
Our visit to the Piccadilly Store also evoked memories and
discussion when they looked at the range of goods on display, Mr Smithies
commented that our simply value range reminded him to a degree of the simple
display of essentials such as butter, sugar, flour and oatmeal with which they
started in Toad Lane, tea and tobacco coming later as they built up their
capital.
During the meeting we reviewed some aspects of our current
business and membership offer, concern was expressed by both Mr Greenwood and
Mr Smithies that the membership offer was being affected somewhat negatively by
two factors.
The first of these, of course, is size, we currently have
some six million members and my visitors were clearly impressed by the way we
have grown the business, but as they observed it is hard for people to
understand themselves as ‘owners’ of such a huge enterprise. Equally however they
recognised that a membership on this scale gives is an enormous advantage in
both buying power and in our ability to meet the needs of our members across
the range of the family of businesses which we operate under the co-op brand.
The point that they emphasised was that the larger the
membership the smaller a cog the individual feels in the overall scheme of
things.
The other problem they noted, was that our competitors have
introduced loyalty cards which are easily confused with our membership card so that
members perhaps don’t realise that their ‘share of the profits’ is in fact the
equivalent of the payment a share-holder of a business might receive.
There was a suggestion that we might stop calling people
members and introduce the idea of being a share-holder in the co-op. This could
of course be emphasised by holding share-holder meetings with voting rights to
replace the current practice of membership meetings which are largely for
sharing information and are generally poorly attended.
Mr Howarth raised a further question about education and
whilst recognising and welcoming our investment in our co-operative Trust
Schools and Academies he observed that our ‘education’ for members was largely
focussed on our elected members.
We had a considerable conversation about we might extend
opportunities for education to the wider membership.
To this end we explored some possible partnerships that
might be developed with for example the WEA and U3A which would allow us to
roll out educational opportunities into local communities, community centres
and associations and evening classes in schools and colleges.
I found the meeting to be quite challenging as my visitors
referred back to their own business model and the principles which underpinned
it.
A particular challenge arose from their reminding me of the
fifth principle. At first I was a little uncertain as to what they meant when
they referred to adulterated goods as of course we maintain the highest
standards in sourcing our raw materials and in the production of our finished
products.
However both Mr Smithies and Mr Howarth referred to the
modern appetite for foods which can be high in sugars, salt and saturated fats
and low in fibre.
These foods are often associated with the increasing
epidemic of obesity leading to diabetes and heart disease.
I pointed out that all our foods carry a traffic light
warning which will indicate the levels of additives and provide an objective
measure by which customers can select healthier foods if they so choose.
However all my visitors were of the opinion that we had a similar
responsibility with regard to healthy foods as we do with for example fair-trade.
Overall however the meeting was positive in spirit and I
want to pass on to you the compliments of my visitors who were delighted to
recognise that from the early beginnings their initiative has been developed
into a business which more than holds its own in the market place, that the
relationship between the varying elements of the business are clearly set out
and that our members feel themselves to be part of an organisation which is
committed to continuing their original mission of creating a fairer and more
just world.
To this end of course the translation of our values and
principles into the goods we sell in our stores and into our membership
proposition is crucial as we seek to take the business forward in an extremely
competitive and in some ways, still hostile environment.
Those of us on the membership side of the business are of
course still members and earn our place on regional boards and even on the
group board as a result of being elected by the wider membership.
Any democratic organisation is only as effective as its
initial membership proposition and for
this reason I invited my visitors to reflect a little with me as to how they
saw membership in the early days compared with today and of course as we look
into the future.
The original proposition remains crucial. It was both
political and philosophical. It challenged both the owners and those with a
vested interest in things staying the same.
Their original thoughts as they invited people to become
members was to create a fair and open society and for this reason they insisted
that membership was open to all and that each individual member had an
individual vote.
Whilst that remains true today there is less commitment to
active participation in the democratic process either nationally or locally or
indeed with regard to membership of the co-op.
However as the meeting went on my visitors emphasised a
number of points.
One was the idealism of young people, we see this of course
in our Trust Schools and Co-op Academies and it is essential that we continue
to emphasise the need for debate and discussion of global values and principles
as contributing to both the day to day governance of our schools and to
pedagogy. In this way as my visitors commented we will build up an increasingly
literate and engaged cohort of young people prepared to play their part as
co-operators.
Geography mitigates against attendance at regional meetings
and not everyone has access to technology, so maybe we should be giving more
thought to ensuring that our meetings are more local. After all we recognise
that our core business in each store will be local, people travelling a
relatively short distance to shop, so maybe we could consider holding our local
meetings in local community centres linked to the location of our stores.
It will be time consuming and demanding on staff but it is
essential that being a member of the co-op is an altogether different
proposition than being a customer.
We have tried divi, we have issued stamps, now we have a
card which to all intents and purposes feels like a loyalty card. Perhaps what
is needed is to raise the stakes whilst promoting the excellence of our
financial services by issuing a combined bank, cash and shareholder bonus card.
My visitors recalled that it was a basic principle of their
initial offer that all purchases were to be made in cash, but they also
recognised that today there is a movement toward society in general becoming
‘cashless’, especially with the new generation of intelligent cards.
I believe that we should task our financial services people
to make this a priority.
The Chair
