Creating Consensus in a Co-Operative

I met Ian in my capacity as Chairman of a co-operative of Scottish Shellfish Farmers.

The co-operative way of working brings many benefits to its members, one of which is the diversity if experience, background and expertise that its members brings to the group and to the Board that represents its members.

The diversity of the group also brings diversity of opinions and ambitious which made the creation of a vision for the co-op a challenging process. Ian helped us to explore this in a very positive way by helping us to surface and structure ideas and issues relating to our individual and collective vision and goals.

The tools and techniques Ian used allowed the people involved to gain an insight into the views of others in a supportive environment that encouraged people to express their views about the future of the organisation. This helped us to identify key issues surrounding the attainment of our ambitions and the key actions that we will need to move from where we are to where we want to be.

With Ian’s help, we were able to generate consensus within the Board about the direction and the goals of the group as a whole – effectively painting a picture of what we want the organisation to look like in five years’ time. This process helped us to create a shared vision of the future that we will be able to use to drive change through the whole organisation.

I would recommend Ian to anyone who wants to explore where they want their organisation to be in the future by creating a realistic view of the key actions that are required to move the business forward.

Walter Speirs

Chairman