Co-op News (August 2019)

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HOW DO YOU MARKET THE CO-OPERATIVE IDENTITY? BY MILES HADFIELD Questions surrounding co-op culture and identity are vital to current efforts to double the size of the UK movement: how do we preserve that culture during the growth process, and how do we make that culture inclusive to new people brought into the movement? This year’s Co-op Congress, held in Manchester in June, looked at how to grow the movement – and included a look at the implications of this for marketing the co-op identity, and questions on how to engage youth in co-op culture. Co-operative identity came under the microscope at a Co-op Congress 2019 session when representatives from two leading co-ops discussed ways it can be marketed. Pete Westall, chief values officer at the Midcounties Co-op, whose operations include retail, funerals, energy, telecoms and childcare, said embedding the identity “at the heart of customer experience” is especially important, given the society’s range of operations. He gave the example of the Midcounties’ nursery business, Co-op Childcare. With all nurseries rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, the society had “licence to do something a bit different”. Firstly, Midcounties is using member insight, and encouraging every parent who has a child at one of its nurseries to become a member. “How do we reflect member needs and wishes in what we do in those nurseries?” asked Mr Westall. “We ask their priorities. They came back saying it was education – with education on the environment at the top.” In response, the society set up an ecoschool programme, showing children where food comes from, and ensuring food transparency in the nursery’s meals. This drive to put a message consistently across all nurseries is replicated throughout the society, with member experience the key to Midcounties’ co-op culture. “Putting members at the heart of what we do is important,” said Mr Westall, “and we have one person on our executive team whose job that is. “The culture is different – for the first time there is accountability at management level to make sure we stick to those values.” Different challenges in establishing a co-op culture among members is faced by Openfield, the UK’s only national grain marketing co-op – a large organisation with a turnover of £650m, supplying numerous high-profile customers. Marketing manager Richard Kaye described efforts to “get everyone on board with what we are”, including the farmers who own it, its customers and i t ss t a ff . To do this, Mr Kaye led efforts to clean up Openfield’s “muddled” messaging and branding, to explain simply the full range of its services and client base. He said Openfield is using the word “partnership” to stress its co-operative difference from foreign-owned grain plcs who send their profits overseas. All these messages are integrated, he added, so that “everyone can talk about how they add value to the Openfield Partnership”. Asked why he had opted for the word partnership, Mr Kaye said communicating the co-op identity is a “challenge”. “Partnership is my modern way of translating it,” he said. “We consulted the farmers and people didn’t understand ‘co-operative’; but they did understand ‘partnership’. As we move forward I want to go back to that. A line in the material does say we’re the only national grain marketing co-op.” 32 | AUGUST 2019
TEACHING YOUNG PEOPLE ABOUT CO-OPERATION Another session at Co-op Congress looked at co-op education, where panellists tackled the difficulties of bringing young people into the culture of co-operation. Jonny Gordon-Farleigh from Stir to Action described his organisation’s New Economy Programme, which works with people aged 25-45, on issues such as crowdfunding, community wealth building and sustainability. Stir To Action is also training young people to host workshops, and helping 18-35s in Brixton develop community and co-op enterprises to deal with local needs and issues. With its BAME partners giving referrals, Stir To Action has also set up international residentials, which included a visit from Mississippi co-op city project Cooperation Jackson. “We’re also working with book clubs … it’s a good way of engaging with youth looking for alternatives. Culturally, young people don’t like to identify as entrepreneurs, they are more interested in collaboration. Book clubs give them a chance to learn about this business model and get the skills.” He added: “I don’t think older organisations can repeat what we do by reading about millennials; more funding is needed for partnerships.” Asked why this was the case by Simon Parkinson, principal and chief executive of the Co-operative College, Mr Gordon- Farleigh said: “To a large degree it can't be authentically reproduced; it needs partnerships.” He added: “Some things are culturally native to younger generations,” pointing out that the Stir To Action team is now finding similar difficulties itself as it engages with the youngest generation as it enters the arena. “We need co-design and co-delivery with young generations,” he said. “Why is there such a lack of diversity? We invite people of colour but we are not involving them in the production of those events; it’s the same with young people.” He added: “Having younger members of staff helps but there’s still a huge cultural issue around older organisations.” Tanya Noon from Central England Co-op responded: “I do have to defend our work with young people; we bring a lot of expertise to the table. We found the youngsters did want to learn from us. It’s intergenerational work – it’s important to pass on our skills.” She told delegates how her society was helping young people set up co-ops. “We’re planting a seed to get them to look at co-ops … we connect them to the Hive, and students learn about consumer and worker co-ops. Students enjoy peer group working.” She said this means that students no longer saw the society’s stores as “just another shop” and now favour them over rival retailers. BY MILES HADFIELD Vivian Woodell, on the panel to discuss his role in the foundation of Student Co-op Homes, said: “The way generations relate to each other has shifted. As long as you approach people in an open way, don’t tell them how to live, they are willing to engage.” He said young people were keen to learn about alternative business models – giving the example of students in Sheffield, where these models are not taught; in response, they have set up their own forum. Mr Woodell also discussed his time at the Phone Coop, when he led the organisation's efforts to help students set up housing co-ops. A group in Birmingham was struggling to get a mortgage so the Phone Coop bought a house and leased it to them.“They’ve improved the property, added value and built two room,” said Mr Woodell. “We repeated the exercise in Sheffield, then a group in Edinburgh set up.” He called for more resources to scale up the model, including the development of secondary co-ops and the use of share issues to raise finance. “This is an opportunity to reach people at an important time in their lives, and open up the possibility of getting them involved in the co-op movement,” he said. “It’s an alternative to experiencing the cynical world of landlords and a chance to learn what they can achieve by working together.” He added: “Many of those founders are now working in co-ops. One is youth representative on the Co-op Group Members Council and working at Phone Co-op; others have gone and started co-ops.” JONNY GORDON-FARLEIGH AUGUST 2019 | 33
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