Member Spotlight – Wicked Elephants lead Strategic Planning
In the heart of The Co-op Federation beats a passion for collaboration among co-operatives. One shining example is Wicked Elephants, a dedicated member cooperative specialising in facilitating group processes, including strategic planning.
We’ve seen that amongst our Federation members, cooperation is more than a principle; it’s a deep commitment to shared values of active democracy. Wicked Elephants recently collaborated with Common Equity Housing (S.A) and its housing co-op members, leading a participatory process for a bottom-up, community-led strategic plan.
Here’s what Caresse from Wicked Elephants had to say about the experience of hosting the strategic planning process:
“WE love working with other cooperatives!
Why? It’s simple! We love the shared commitment to the community’s participation in matters that impact members’ lives. You know how it is, how boards or CEOs have created strategic plans that don’t get a lot of buy-in from the community or workplace. Well, what happens if the community is involved? We have an engaged membership!
And yes it does work.
We specialise in supporting people to work together across multiple differences through the use of engaging interactive tools to cut through the blah blah, support people to genuinely cooperate and generate results that the community owns.”
Common Equity Housing (S.A) CEO, Stephanie Miller expressed: “It has been wonderful working with you [Wicked Elephants]. I am very happy with the outcome. It is where I wanted us to get to. It’s been intense but also lots of fun.” We think this sentiment encapsulates the power of cooperation and the joy which comes from a collaborative, community-driven process.
In the opinion of us here at The Co-op Federation, Wicked Elephants excels in cutting through the noise, using fun tools and activities to generate ideas and direction which creates Strategic plans that aren’t mere documents but living roadmaps owned by the community.
We are so happy to showcase cooperation among cooperatives, breathing life into the sixth cooperative principle. If you’re thinking about getting help with your Strategic Planning or other co-op-related needs, you might want to check out one of our member co-ops, like Wicked Elephants, The Grove is Open, Prosocial Co-op, Sage Room Co-op, Mercury Co-op, Campfire/Percolab Co-op, or even get a quote from The Co-op Federation! info@fed.coop