A
Director's Chair: How we make decisions
by
Susan Weinrich
One of the
things I enjoy most about the Honest Weight Food Coop is its commitment
to
participatory democracy. I believe that people have both the right and
the
responsibility to make decisions about their lives, and I am fascinated
by the
creative and sometimes excruciatingly slow and tedious process involved
when
large groups of people try to make collective decisions.
Sometimes
the process isn’t as well thought out as it could be, or perhaps it
doesn’t get
us the decision that one version of “we” is completely comfortable
with; but
this is the nature of the group dynamics and, as a student of group
process, I
am comfortable with this knowledge and continually try to balance
process with
an organization’s need for clearly defined structures, roles and
responsibilities. The HWFC bylaws emphasize that the health and welfare
of HWFC
depends on a working cooperative relationship among the members (with
active
participation on committees and final approval of all policies), the
Board of
Directors (with corporate fiduciary and policy development
obligations), and
management and staff (with responsibility for day-to-day store
operations). The
bylaws attempt to balance the rights and responsibilities of each of
these
components of the HWFC community.
Honest
Weight has tried to minimize the concentration of power by establishing
a
Collective Management Team (CMT) instead of hiring a general manager,
and
emphasizing consensus decision making both on the Board and CMT levels.
Over
the past year we have brought several issues to the membership in a
process
that was designed to find as much common ground as possible. Although
some Coop
members may not want to be involved in such decisions, others take an
active
interest and are grateful to have the opportunity to participate.
Over the
next few months we will be asking members to help us clarify and refine
our
organizational infrastructure. Honest Weight has a membership — the
owners of
the store and the ultimate body of authority. The membership body
elects the Board
of Directors, which bears legal and fiduciary responsibilities and is
accountable
to the membership. The Board, in turn, hires and supervises the CMT to
run the
store and hire and supervise additional staff. Depending on the jobs
that
members have, they are either accountable to the Board for
participation on the
various (governance) committees or to staff for their work in
operations.
Although we continually struggle in our efforts to hold each other
accountable,
structures exist to address gross negligence and lack of follow-through
on
important matters.
I
understand that in the relatively recent past, a Board and general
manager tried
to take the store in directions that a large number of members did not
feel comfortable
with; but it seems to me that the system of checks and balances worked,
and we
now have a Board and management structure that, by most accounts,
better
reflects our collective values and vision.
Outside of
the above structure, Honest Weight also has a Governance committee (GC)
that the
bylaws defines as a joint committee of the Board and membership, and
which
provides advice and support to both. According to the bylaws, the GC’s
responsibilities include: monitoring HWFC policies and governance
procedures to
ensure that they are consistent with existing bylaws and policies;
assisting the
Secretary in maintaining a current record of the bylaws and official
policies of
HWFC; reviewing all notices pertaining to referenda and membership
meetings before
they are issued; and, if the Governance committee concludes that there
has been
a violation of the bylaws, then it may call a Special Membership
Meeting to
submit the issue to the membership.
The Coop’s
Governance committee is, as far as I can determine, relatively unique.
I have
tried to find other models similar to ours and, in all of my research
and
experience with nonprofits, coops and corporations, these are
committees of,
and accountable to, the board of directors (and like other committees,
they may
include non-board members). In fact, they tend to operate as board
development or
nominating committees, ensuring that the future of the organization is
stable
through the election and maintenance of a diverse and qualified board.
It is
through such a partnership with the board that members can provide
oversight and
guidance.
Now that
the Governance committee has been in place for a couple of years, we
have begun
to identify some of the issues that the bylaws did not adequately
address.
These include: the limitations and authority of the GC; the role of the
Board
liaison on the committee; oversight of work hours; the GC’s
relationship to the
Board of Directors, CMT and membership; and how the GC is held
accountable by
the Board and membership. Not unexpectedly, the GC and the Board see
these issues
from different perspectives and, rather than become entrenched in our
own
positions, we have collectively decided to engage the membership in
this
discussion.
I
look forward to the opportunity to participate in the dialogue with
other Honest
Weight members to continue to clarify the roles and responsibilities of
the Governance
committee and its relationship to the Board of Directors, the CMT and
the
membership. I look forward to challenging myself to see many different
perspectives
on this issue, and I have faith that ultimately, together, we will make
the
best decision possible.
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