Suggestion Book: We're on a Mission. Really, We Are
by
Norman Weiss, Weavers Way Purchasing Manager
Weavers Way Mission Statement
It is the mission of Weavers Way Cooperative Association to operate a grocery-based consumer organization that is owned and governed by its members, and to build community, both within its membership and in the communities it serves.
We do things cooperatively. We encourage each member to contribute to and participate in all activities we undertake as a cooperative. We follow and promote the International Cooperative Principles, support other co-ops and cooperative efforts, and educate our members and our community about consumer issues and the cooperative movement.
We’re committed to each other as members. We maintain a welcoming store which operates in an atmosphere of trust and respect. We provide an equitable and rewarding workplace for our member-employees. We offer products and services that both reflect our members’ needs and balance quality and cost.
We’re committed to the community. We support local businesses, wholesalers, community groups, and institutions in ways that strengthen our community and benefit our members. We embrace diversity and seek to reflect that diversity in our membership.
We’re committed to the environment. We work to sustain a healthy planet, promote environmentally sound products and practices, encourage and support local and organic farming, and try to act with environmental consciousness in all our endeavors.
Greetings and thanks for writing. As usual, suggestions and responses may have been edited for brevity, clarity and/or comedy. In addition, no idea, concept, issue, remark, phrase, description of event, word or word string should be taken seriously. This also applies to the previous sentence.
Weavers Way has a mission, and one of our Board’s duties, as directed by our bylaws, is to assure our mission is carried out. We’ve had a mission statement since I’m not sure when, at least since the mid-’80s, maybe longer.
“Mission” an is interesting word, as lately it is frequently used by organizations (including for-profit businesses) to reflect their values and purpose, plus there is the more traditional use, such as by the military and church.
We recently hired a consultant to perform our annual staff survey. As I filled it, I was kind of taken aback to see this: “The next two questions will ask about Weavers Way’s mission. Here is the mission statement (also called the global Ends policy): Weavers Way Cooperative Association exists to provide commercial and community services for the greater good of its members and community, to champion the cooperative model and to strengthen the local economy.”
While that is a fine statement, it is not our mission statement — it is from the introductory paragraph of our Ends policies. It appears our consultant did not realize that at Weavers Way, the mission statement is different from the Ends. While it may seem like a small and relatively irrelevant difference, to me it reflects a lack of understanding of the role of mission statements and Ends policies in our organization, not to mention a lack of familiarity with the Co-op by the consultant.
Our mission statement is sort of long, and is probably due for a review. We have other governing documents, such as our bylaws, Ends statements and Executive Limitations. All are occasionally modified and updated by our Board, but I don’t remember us ever changing the mission statement. When I think about how a mission statement and Ends statements are related, I believe they will be in alignment in that you end up achieving your Ends if you continuously and successfully carry out your mission. Mission statements describe actions; Ends describe results.
When governing documents like mission and Ends statements and bylaws are well-written and accurate, they can form a clear basis upon which a co-op can base expectations of its staff, members and community. When there is confusion about the content or the role of governing documents, clarity of action suffers, as does communication, sense of purpose and, ultimately, results. Maybe it’s time for us to have a look at these documents and talk about their role at Weavers Way.
Weavers Way’s mission statement is on our website, as is our Ends statement, but since the mission hasn’t been updated in a while, I thought I would print it here. (See the sidebar.)
suggestions and responses:
s: “Can we consider Ozery Bakery One Bun?”
r: (Matt MA) We’ll look into availability.
s: “Can we carry Artisan Tropics Sweet Plantain Strips? They are a low-salt product made by a family owned business and are not similar to the Terra Plantain chips, which are not sweet and very salty. The Artisan Tropics were supposedly outsold by the Terra chips. Not a fair contest because the Terra were on sale for $1.99 at the same time as the Artisans were $3.59. Could you please bring them back?”
r: (Matt MA) We will give them another chance.
s: “O’Dough’s bagel thins — they are amazing gluten free bagels, the only kind my daughter with celiac will eat. Thanks!”
r: (Matt MA) I’ll meet with our bakery buyer to consider these. In the meantime, you can pre-order in cases of six bags.
s: “I’m a jockey and need to keep my weight down but I want the benefits of consuming coconut and olive oils. Is there a ‘lite’ version of these oils?”
r: (Norman) We can get a version that is “lite-ened” by having nitrous oxide bubbled through it, which makes it more like a frothy oil so the same volume of oil is lower in calories. However consumption of it apparently results in fits of uncontrolled laughter in some people, so you might not want to consume it before a race, as no one would bet on a jockey they thought had the sillies.
s: “For a while the Co-op carried Louis (Louie’s?) chicken sausages (feta-&-spinach; cilantro); skinless, they’re excellent. They’ve been replaced by D’Artagnan (pricey!) and Dietz & Watson. (Pork casing? Also don’t like the flavors as much.) Can we switch back?”
r: (Dale MA) Turns out our supplier, Garrett Valley, now requires us to order 40 cases of this item, which is too much for us. If they change, we’ll stock.
s: “Please order the Bearitos Yellow Corn Chips with NO ADDED SALT. (The regular ones are very salty.) Thanks.”
r: (Matt MA) Unfortunately, it was not our choice to stop carrying the unsalted Bearitos. I’m not sure if they were discontinued by our supplier or if Bearitos stopped making them, but they seem to have vanished. We’re very sorry for this. We were very disappointed when we found out that we could no longer order them.