Integrating Policy
Recently, I read an article on the Zapatistas and in this article, they listed the following principles...
Seven Principles when People are in Positions of Authority:
Governance is about path-finding, but it is also about representation. As a cooperative grows in membership numbers, we may find our path from the owners to fray, become diffuse, and disappear. As that happens, we start to question our path forward in time, enterprise development, and cooperative development. Democracy suffers. We reach a tipping point where a new way of path-finding becomes necessary. The following treatise is looking for that way.
Currently, governance, marketing, owner engagement and community engagement exist in what are effectively silos. We may report on them but overall, they remain apart. A core document that integrates them will change the story and the ends we are seeking.
When marketing, if we move from product marketing to story marketing, we change the focus of our intent. Shoppers who visit a food cooperative come there for a definite purpose and product line. If the products exist that the consumer-owners want, then the marketing is done and the consumer is already sold. The challenge is to “Sell the Cooperative” to a wider audience; to sell cooperative ownership. This requires a strategy greater than found at Shelf-Side. The selling is done in a two-way capacity; to serve the greater community. We are here to complement the local economy, not replace it. Build trusting bridges with local residents. Follow some rules of engagement that lead us to a more popular image. Market by example the principles we hold. Show our arguments for the value of cooperative enterprise. Reach to individuals and their neighborhoods.
Owner engagement requires meeting owners where they are in a myriad of venues and methodologies. Part of it is about education but a larger part is about holding a conversation, a dialogue, in which the owners are heard and, more importantly, acknowledged. They are part of the story as it unfolds, not just a stone on the path.
Community Engagement happens at many levels, from the neighborhood potluck to the municipal committee meeting. This is P7 in action. How might the preceding principles be applied here? If we as an association were to serve the community, what might that look like? Being representative relates to the paragon. Might we engage the community in how we act and what we support? Can we construct bridges, more refined systems, stronger linkages with our community? Obedience need not be looked at in absolute terms but in being true to the cooperative nature of the association. Let's not mandate change on the outside but change ourselves as an invitation to others. Let our actions propose to others the change we all wish to see in the world. How we act toward those who have less measures our true character.
Seven Principles when People are in Positions of Authority:
- To Serve Others, Not Be Self-Serving
- To Represent, not Supplant
- To Construct, not Destroy
- To Obey, not Command
- To Propose, not Impose
- To Convince, not Win and
- To Go Down, not Up
Governance is about path-finding, but it is also about representation. As a cooperative grows in membership numbers, we may find our path from the owners to fray, become diffuse, and disappear. As that happens, we start to question our path forward in time, enterprise development, and cooperative development. Democracy suffers. We reach a tipping point where a new way of path-finding becomes necessary. The following treatise is looking for that way.
Currently, governance, marketing, owner engagement and community engagement exist in what are effectively silos. We may report on them but overall, they remain apart. A core document that integrates them will change the story and the ends we are seeking.
When marketing, if we move from product marketing to story marketing, we change the focus of our intent. Shoppers who visit a food cooperative come there for a definite purpose and product line. If the products exist that the consumer-owners want, then the marketing is done and the consumer is already sold. The challenge is to “Sell the Cooperative” to a wider audience; to sell cooperative ownership. This requires a strategy greater than found at Shelf-Side. The selling is done in a two-way capacity; to serve the greater community. We are here to complement the local economy, not replace it. Build trusting bridges with local residents. Follow some rules of engagement that lead us to a more popular image. Market by example the principles we hold. Show our arguments for the value of cooperative enterprise. Reach to individuals and their neighborhoods.
Owner engagement requires meeting owners where they are in a myriad of venues and methodologies. Part of it is about education but a larger part is about holding a conversation, a dialogue, in which the owners are heard and, more importantly, acknowledged. They are part of the story as it unfolds, not just a stone on the path.
Community Engagement happens at many levels, from the neighborhood potluck to the municipal committee meeting. This is P7 in action. How might the preceding principles be applied here? If we as an association were to serve the community, what might that look like? Being representative relates to the paragon. Might we engage the community in how we act and what we support? Can we construct bridges, more refined systems, stronger linkages with our community? Obedience need not be looked at in absolute terms but in being true to the cooperative nature of the association. Let's not mandate change on the outside but change ourselves as an invitation to others. Let our actions propose to others the change we all wish to see in the world. How we act toward those who have less measures our true character.