62. Worker Co-op Principles with David Thuss

In this episode of the Strategy Made Simple podcast Beth Cougler Blom explains how we can make better learning experiences by taking a learning design approach. She explains how her experience in learning design roles contribute to making better trainings and facilitating well with groups. We discuss how meeting ground rules and setting out the objectives for the learning experience. She also explains her experience in starting up her business and how her path led from helping with post-secondary learning experiences to helping social impact organizations. I think the experiences and methodologies that she shares can contribute to leaders working with teams or those that are looking to help others see new perspectives. Beth also interviewed me on her podcast Facilitating on Purpose where I was able to talk about how we can present value. We specifically talked about how we can emphasize the value that the people we're communicating with specifically care about by changing how we talk about what we're do and sell. You can listen to that podcast here. --- Be the first to know when the Strategy Made Simple online course on marketing for social enterprise is live by providing your email address: https://forms.gle/iTEqneZtBhN8YxxW7 You can continue the conversation by joining Social Economy Connect. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. https://social-economy-connect.mn.co/ Resources: BCB Learning: https://bcblearning.com/ Facilitating on Purpose Podcast: http://facilitatingonpurpose.com/ Design to Engage (Book): http://designtoengagebook.com/ Kathy Moore's "Will Training Help?" Flowchart: https://blog.cathy-moore.com/will-training-help/ Liberating Structures: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/   Socials: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bcblearning LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/facilitatingonpurpose Instagram: @bethcouglerblom Instagram: @facilitatingonpurpose --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Us: Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Epidemic Sound

Lauren Lee is the social enterprise manager at Resource Assistance for Youth. The main social enterprise at RaY is a moving operation called RaY Works, where they help nonprofits move between office spaces, as well as helping people in residential support programs move between homes. Because RaY Works is a program within the larger nonprofit, there are various benefits to both the nonprofit and the social enterprise. RaY Works gets to take advantage of extensive administration support and support for their trainees, while RaY is able to more quickly and easily help people move that are in their supportive housing units. Lauren and I also discuss the challenges of mentoring and training employees with barriers to employment, how they were able to focus their efforts on a particular kind of moving, and challenges in previous jobs balancing impact with revenue generation. --- Be the first to know when the Strategy Made Simple online course on marketing for social enterprise is live by providing your email address: https://forms.gle/iTEqneZtBhN8YxxW7 You can continue the conversation by joining Social Economy Connect. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. https://social-economy-connect.mn.co/ Resources: RaY Works: https://rayinc.ca/rayworks/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato

Lucas Stewart has many titles. Presently he is the Executive Director of The WRENCH in Winnipeg. Previously he has been involved in the founding and development of a variety of social enterprises including Purpose Construction (Previously Manitoba Green Retrofit), and Senior Partner with Encompass Coop. His driving goal has been to help reunite families through providing good stable work while building sustainable social enterprises.   In this interview, we talk about his current work with The WRENCH, how they fit their impacts into their operations, and how they build their culture. We also discuss Lucas’ professional journey, through various startups and attempts. Finally, we talk about an idea called Outcomes Purchasing, which is a way of funding innovative solutions to difficult problems by funding them in a similar way to other government services. --- Be the first to know when the Strategy Made Simple online course on marketing for social enterprise is live by providing your email address: https://forms.gle/iTEqneZtBhN8YxxW7 You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: http://encompass.coop https://thewrench.ca/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew:  Twitter: @MatthewRempel  Email: [email protected]  Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel  Additional editing by: Kailan Janzen  Music provided by: Envato

Robin Bryan was the General Manager of Compost Winnipeg at the time of recording (Jan 2022), and continues working with the team in a consulting and advisory role. Compost Winnipeg works to take food and other organic waste that would end up in the landfill and instead use it to make compost. Through this work, they have needed to work through some critical parts of the business including how they keep compost from freezing to truck beds in the middle of winter, and dealing with the growth of the business from just a couple people to a full team. --- You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: https://compostwinnipeg.ca/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Additional help by: Autumn Rempel Music provided by: Envato

Jessica Floresco is the General Manager at Mother Earth Recycling (MER). Mother Earth Recycling does a variety of electronic and mattress recycling which reduces waste in the Winnipeg area. In addition, they are a work integration social enterprise, providing good jobs to people who have otherwise been excluded from the workforce, and MER gives their employees the skills and experience for them to build confidence and self direction. Beyond these social enterprise elements, Mother Earth Recycling is also an indigenous owned and led organization. They provide an excellent example for other organizations and people in how they can interact with the work world and how they can operate their businesses. --- You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: https://www.motherearthrecycling.ca/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato

Hazel Corcoran is the Executive Director of the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation. The Federation acts as a bridge and advocate for the various worker cooperatives across Canada that form it's membership. They also manage some investment options for cooperatives so they can receive investment through RRSPs and TFSAs.  Hazel also describes her transition from a student attending a conference, to providing legal support, to becoming the executive director, along with some of the difficulties and turning points that came along the way. --- Join in on Work with Values, an interactive panel on co-op culture development: https://strategymadesimple.ca/2021-october-co-op-panel You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: https://canadianworker.coop/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato

Nancy Neamtan has been working on developing community economic development and the social economy ecosystem in Quebec for decades. Throughout that body of experience, she has been able to work on the challenges that come with building up a sector. In addition, she was one of the founders and builders of the Chantier de l’économie sociale, a major network of networks for the social economy in Quebec. In this conversation with Nancy we discuss some of the challenges of building organizations in the social economy, such as how to scale organizations, finding impact investment, financing, and patient capital. We also discuss the upcoming issues and opportunities for the social economy, including how we can connect and collaborate, and helping to re-define the purpose of the economy. --- You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: http://nancyneamtan.quebec/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato

Sandra Allen is a Member, Co-Owner, Board Member and People Team Lead for Shift Delivery Co-op. Shift Delivery is a last mile carrier based in Vancouver, Canada that uses e-assist trikes instead of motor vehicles for their deliveries. Sandra describes the value that Shift has in it's people, how they onboard new staff and help them prepare and transition into becoming members, and how Shift has been able to maintain their company culture. One intentional decision that contributes to their culture is that all members do the foundational work of triking and making deliveries. For more information, visit https://www.shift.coop/ A previous Strategy Made Simple podcast describing a process a co-op could use for workers to buy a business when owners retire: https://strategymadesimple.ca/blog/57-meg-ronson-on-l3-and-social-acquisitions --- You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: https://www.shift.coop/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShiftDelivery Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shift_Delivery --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato

Chris Nichols is a Worker, Co-Founder, Director and Operations Coordinator for Wood Shop Workers' Cooperative. Wood Shop is focused on creating wood furniture out of reclaimed wood for customers in the Vancouver area. They are working towards creating a more circular economy through their work. They started by using reclaimed pallet wood to create their furniture, but now they take materials from places such as residential deconstruction sites. The point of a circular economy is that what would be considered waste is diverted from landfill, and instead is used to create new products. For more information, visit https://www.woodshop.coop/ More info on the worker Co-op principles: https://canadianworker.coop/about/statement-of-co-operative-identity/ --- You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: https://www.woodshop.coop/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodshopvancouver Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodshopvancouver/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, for support for your social enterprise, or to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato

David Thuss is the current Director at the London Brewing Cooperative, and one of the founding worker owners of the Co-op. He has experience in many of the areas of the brewing business, but now works in a supporting role for the other workers in the Co-op. London Brewing follows a triple bottom line approach to running a social enterprise, and also emphasises partnerships with other values aligned organizations including an organic food delivery company, and a Café. Through these partnerships, each organization is able to lean on their strengths and rely on their partners for everything else. For more information, visit https://www.londonbrewing.ca/ More info on the worker Co-op principles: https://canadianworker.coop/about/statement-of-co-operative-identity/ --- You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneurs, co-op members and developers and third sector supporters to discuss issues and solutions with a focus on social outcomes in the economy. Resources: https://www.londonbrewing.ca/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LondonBrewing Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/londonbrewingca/ --- For more information about Strategy Made Simple, and to learn about social enterprise visit strategymadesimple.ca Contact Matthew: Twitter: @MatthewRempel Email: [email protected] Written, hosted, recorded, and edited by: Matthew Rempel Music provided by: Envato