Worker Cooperative People Skills: Cooperation Skills for Startup, Operations, Growth and More

By Carol Manetta

Buckle your seat belt for news in this comprehensive set of remedies and prevention tools for most common difficulties that face interactions between members of worker owned cooperatives. This source book will be referred to many times among memberships as they travel uncharted waters in employment as equals. Be ready for some new approaches, some timeworn good advice and reward systems to make smooth the daily life within cooperatives. Ahoy!

87 Pages

• Language: English
• Publisher: Earth Goodness Publishing
• Release date: Apr 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781732466807

Carol Manetta

Carol Manetta was born in MIchigan, USA. Her devotion to writing is more dedicated to her lifetime of teaching and instructional design. With past experiences in corporate, government and nonprofit instructional work, her latest focus is on the future of Earth and its promises.

Book preview

To the good people in my life

May you be forever uplifted by your good actions towards others.

Worker Cooperative People Skills

Cooperation Skills for Startup, Operations, Growth and More

Table of Contents

Preface

Module 1: Beginning

An Introduction to this training on worker owned cooperatives

Module 2: Development

How to begin the development of a cooperatively owned business; definitions to live by

Module 3: Sanctity

Preparing to work side by side with equals for the long term

Module 4: Worker Alliance

Forming relationships with others for the sake of unity

Module 5: Justification for Leadership

Forging alliances with natural leaders; how to recognize them

Module 6: Feedback

Listening for equal input and subsequent treatment

Module 7: Improvements

Assessing what’s wrong, righting with internal feedback and setting a new course

Module 8: Change of Direction When Necessary

Preparing for change, implementing agreed-upon changes, and assessing the outcomes fairly

Module 9: Rewards

How to find the right rewards for good work done, bringing the rewards into the limelight, and supporting those whose rewards will come later

Module 10: Ownership Transfer

Preparing to suspend operations, continuance with another owner, leaving at the right time for all concerned

Module 11: Leaving the Company

Individual compensation at time of departure, going it alone into another situation with ease, support from former work mates/owners

Module 12: Community Involvement and Rewards

Applying harmony from the workplace into the community to create kinship, economic sharing, and wealth creation outside the cooperative

Module 13: Nation Building/Support Overseas

Supporting other nations with knowledge, prosperity creation and ongoing support to spread wealth through cooperative businesses

Module 14: Trial by Error

Learning through trials and educating as to harmony instead of rancor, using lessons learned to create new relationships in businesses surrounding the initial cooperative, development of the Mondragon model anywhere in the world

Module 15: National Kinship in Washington, DC and Other Capitals

Using model legislation for development of cooperatives nationally and in other capitals, developing relationships based on honor with legislators and diplomats

Module 16: Partnering and Its Drawbacks and Rewards

Developing partnerships in stages and keeping only such partnerships that exist for mutual gain in the community and in the economy

Module 17: Dissolution upon Request by All

Ending a quality relationship in business and in the community or partnerships, allowing endings to ensure more harmony after departure, how to end gracefully for the sake of all

About the Author

Preface

THIS BOOK IS INTENDED as a startup to training in earnest for betterment of an existing worker owned cooperative or improving the chances of starting a worker cooperative. It is intended that you should seek guidance all along the way from professionals in the field of cooperatives who embarked on such a journey as yours and is willing to take you by the hand, so to speak.

Our journey together is as friends and coaches in this book, speaking from the wisdom of many who have observed cooperatives and shared their expertise so that you, the readers, can make this journey with each other as simply and gloriously as you imagine it could be.

Take up this book together and with the notion that your own cooperative deserves specific training beyond the comprehensive but general knowledge training modules you will read here. It’s intended that you think carefully about your own cooperative as you read these pages so that you can ease your way into smooth situations or out of sticking points. Keep in mind there is no sure cure for any problems that face human beings; we are that different from each other. There is only the assurance that if you try to remember what is written in this training book, you can take charge of all examples you see here. They are many, and so you can eliminate many of the most common situations that frustrate newcomers and experienced worker owners.

Take charge of situations early on, and you will find simple, small adjustments can undo some grievous harms in your thinking. Just find in each other the best of you, and run with dignity to solutions in these pages to undo harm and ease back into harmony. You are sure to know you tried your best and the rest is up to nature and nurture.

With respect,

Carol A. Manetta

Module 1: Beginning

AN INTRODUCTION TO this training on worker owned cooperatives

Startup can be precipitous without careful planning and development. Instead of jumping right into placement of a coveted business model, begin at the beginning...the dream.

Articulate in your mind the vision of how you and other people will be working side by side as equals in all ways, no matter the title in front of or behind the name. Working side by side, really see the difference it makes to know exactly what moves to make, starting at the beginning of the day and proceeding all along the facility and looking at the ownership that comes with your vision. It is precisely this vision, and the good feelings that come with it that will take you and your co-owners and colleagues to their greatest heights in any type of company, whether strictly manufacturing or service oriented work.

Taking this vision into your view for a moment, as an example see the ability to grow food for the masses. The smiling faces of all who eat of these foods is the picture to retain under all circumstances. From this point allow kinder thoughts to enter your mind as to all aspects of the business. Each day, before entering the greenhouses, offices, or delivery vehicles see the success of the day. Envision kind exchanges among each owner, among customers and students and bystanders who observe the miracle of this company and its many programs of support and prosperity.

At the beginning of each new cooperative venture is an opportunity to bring together like minds and hearts. This opportunity cannot be overestimated. Instead of reaching for this person or that, bring together those people whose hearts and minds and souls are reaching for the same star. That way, when things get tough in decision-making, the best opportunity exists for straightening out any ideas which might not be in sync.

Bring together those people whose talents can contribute to the beginning, middle and if necessary the ending of a quality business. If any person is lukewarm to the idea of entering into such an agreement that person might do well to sit out for a while and watch and observe how things go forward before making a decision to join such a movement. Likewise, if a person is not seen as being appropriate but others may want this person to join, urge those recommenders to wait a while and observe along with this person to see if there's a quality fit. Putting a square peg in a round hole has never worked, and belief in success is quite different than enacting a success. If a person is not qualified in the beginning, it may be that there is additional schooling that needs to take place, or additional experience outside this new organization. Then, in the future that person may be qualified to join an existing cooperative after things get started.

Allowing time to heal the frazzled conversations and actions at the beginning of the company will require much patience. Therefore, it stands to reason that the people who start the business must be passionate about its purpose, easy to get along with, and have a zest for life that overcomes any difficulties. Is this the right mix that will bring success in the future during the hard times of the beginning? This cannot be over emphasized. If the wrong mix comes together at the beginning, then all heck will break loose in time, failing the business and what was once good relationships.

The next section of the training will begin to deal with the planning that's necessary before the venture begins. Looking forward we will see new opportunities to think differently about the beginnings of any business. The crux of all businesses is not the profit that is made, but the relationships that are made with each other, with the community, with customers, and the general public who will be watching the success model. This training module is simply an introduction to this success model. More will come to encourage you to keep reading, keep watching yourself and others around you, and deliver the very best of opportunities for worldwide security in goods, services, money, and most importantly of all, harmony.

Module 2: Development

HOW TO BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT of a cooperatively owned business; definitions to live by

The starting point

Begin at the beginning. This means the process starts with cooperation. It's as important to define cooperation as it is to run a business lifelong. This is because cooperation begins on day one and continues for the duration of the business. It's here that we will take the time to define the term cooperation.

Cooperation means the fine art of adjusting one's thoughts for the benefit of the whole.

If cooperation is done correctly, all will feel good about the outcome. This is not the same as the term consensus.

Consensus means that all agree to live with the consequences of an action.

When cooperation takes place, all have had their say as to the next course of action to take, and where there is disagreement, all parties have their say and adjustments are made to thinking in order for the larger concept to go forward.

Here's an example: if there is disagreement about what fertilizers to use in a hydroponics system, all will justify their reasons for choosing one type over another. In the event that the reasons seem plausible enough, one type will be chosen over another, even though some people would wish for their own type of fertilizer to be used. The adjustment takes place as a decision for one type of fertilizer to be used in the future until evidence occurs that this type of fertilizer would be less effective than another one.

Cooperation can also take place in the event there is an adjustment to the actions that was unintended. If something breaks, all people will adjust their schedules immediately to cooperate and fix whatever needs to be fixed for things to be running smoothly again. In some cases this type of cooperation is critical. For instance, if an aeration pump breaks down, all who are nearby and even some who must come from home will rush to the scene and cooperatively fix what is needed in order to keep the business going. Consensus is not needed in this instance.

Adjustments that need cooperation can also come in the form of pay raises. In this type of situation all who are working must cooperate to make the adjustment in pay scale. If this discussion takes place in a cooperative manner, smooth sailing is ahead. All parties go away from the discussion session feeling as though they have cooperated (adjusted amicably) to make certain the business is solid and that each person is given his or her due. Once achieved, all parties will feel the consensus or feel the cooperation and understand the difference.

The starting point of development

Until now all development was in the form of existing models of business. Instead, we will bring new life to an old business model, that of working together as equals such as it was in the days of workers in tribal communities and religious formation of groups as equals in a closed community. These democratically run institutions, whether formal or informal were highly successful economically and in forming caring communities.

Juxtaposing the systems of government inside these structures, we have the right to help one another while maintaining systematic individualism for prosperity. It is here where we start to develop a new way of looking at the old tribal systems and the religious communities, and help form a new system, that of the cooperative where newcomers are of differing backgrounds and religions, if any. The individuals who join into a cooperative