Each for All: The Co-operative Connection

Eryk and I had the opportunity this week to visit the Canadian Co-operative Association’s, Institute of Co-operative Studies. The Institute is a national co-operative event that contributes to the development of leadership within the co-operative movement in Canada.

The Institute has been held approximately every eighteen months since 1983. It is managed by the Canadian Co-operative Association on behalf of member organizations: co-operatives and credit unions from across Canada. Topics are drawn from experience and knowledge of other Canadian management/leadership seminars, institutes and schools, literature reviews on topics of relevance and from surveys of member organizations' needs and objectives. This year’s topic is Values, Structure and Governance—Strengthening Performance, Leadership and Identity within Co-operatives and Credit Unions.

The group is packing a lot of learning into the three short days so we dropped in on them briefly during their lunch break for a quick set of Interviews.

Françoise Morissette

Our first interview is with Françoise Morissette, who had just finished presenting. Françoise Morissette is a major contributor to the field of organization development in Canada. She teaches on a number of programs within Queens University’s Industrial Relations Centre. She is currently preparing a book on leadership development in Canada, but we’ll let her tell you about that.

Quinton Fox
Next we managed to get a few minutes of Quintin Fox’s time. Quintin is the Manger of Member Services at the Canadian Co-operative Association and was a key organizer of the event. Here’s Quintin.

Peter Couchman
Peter is the Group General Manager – Membership & Corporate Marketing at the Midcounties Co-operative, the fourth largest co-operative in the UK. He heads the team responsible for keeping the Society at the forefront of promoting membership and co-operation in the Co-operative Movement.

Glen Tully
As we moved around from interview to interview at the forum, I saw a familiar smiling face. Glen Tully is the Chairman of the Board for Federated Co-Operatives. The largest consumer co-operative in Canada and the 66th largest Co-op in the world. Glen and his lovely wife will always hold a special place in my heart. In 2005, on my way back from a conference in Colombia, Glen and his wife bailed me out when I arrived in Panama without enough money to pay the exit tax. Thanks again Glen.

Lou Hammond Ketilson
Next, we were privledged to sit down with Lou-Hammond Ketilson, Director, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, and Associate Professor, Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Saskatchewan. Lou kicked off the day’s events with a presentation on the power of co-operative values.http://www.usaskstudies.coop/

Onno-Frank van Bekkum
Our final interview was with another speaker, Onno-Frank van Bekkum, Senior Researcher and Advisor, Netherlands Institute for Co-operative Entrepreneurship. Onno has been working with Garry Cronan from the International Co-operative Alliance on an ambitious project to track and rank the top 300 co-operatives in the world. This is a passion for Mr. van Bekkum so we’ll let him tell you about it.The current ranking can be found at www.global300.coop if you are interested.

That is it for interviews from the 2007 Institute of Co-operative Studies: Values, Structure and Governance Strengthening Performance, Leadership and Identity within Co-operatives and Credit Unions.

Thanks to all our interviewees for their time. It was pleasure to learn about what this Institute of Co-operative Studies is all about and to meet people who are doing such interesting things in the Co-operative Movement in Canada and around the world. Thanks.