You may have noticed that education is an important priority for our Co-op — we help organize and host various workshop sessions every month (check out our events page!).

Fortunately for me, this emphasis on the value of education extends to our onboarding of new Board of Directors members. I am one of the Board’s newest members (I was just elected last Fall), and I was pretty nervous about running because I wasn’t sure I had the necessary expertise — I absolutely love the Co-op and can’t imagine running my household without it, but my professional background is nowhere near the food supply chain business. The onboarding that all new members partake in provided me with enough context to get past this nervousness and feel comfortable participating in our discussions and decision-making.

I would like to give you a peek into what this training was like. My hope is that if you are interested in running for the Board, this will show you that you will be supported and encouraged to take the leap.

• So, here are my training highlights from the past few months:
  Before joining the board, I attended two Board meetings (all candidates must attend at least one of these monthly meetings). This taught me the process by which meetings are conducted and how decisions are voted on and exposed me to the types of reports that the GM provides to the board.
• After joining, new members attended two in-person training sessions. The first, which was led by the Board President, taught us about board responsibilities and went over how to navigate our online repository of board documents, reports, and records. The second, which was led by the General Manager, took us on an in-depth tour of the facility. We learned how the space evolved over time and heard a bit about ideas for the future.
• There was also a half-day online session led by consultants from Columinate, which provides training to co-ops around the country through classes and a huge library of articles. This session taught us about co-ops in general. Some of the topics we covered included:
  • History of Co-ops and why they were created
  • Functional and legal responsibilities of directors
  • The importance of keeping a record of all our meetings, discussions, and decisions through Minutes
  • Overview of the Policy Governance model, which is a system by which we delegate functional responsibilities of running the Co-op to the General Manager
  • How to read, interpret, and analyze financial sheets to gauge the financial health of the Co-op

One really valuable aspect of this training session was getting to participate in a few working groups with other attendees, which introduced me to other new board members from Co-ops in other parts of the country. I learned about the different processes and challenges at their Co-ops, which broadened my perspective on being a board member.

As you can see, there is a plethora of onboarding resources available to new board members. I have learned a lot over the past few months, and I never felt alone or like I was in over my head. If you are curious about some of these topics, I encourage you to browse Columinate’s website, as many of its articles are open to the public free of cost. And if you’re interested in joining us on the Board, you’re invited to one of our upcoming Candidate Info Sessions at the Co-op. Please email us here to let us know if you’d like to attend.