I left our annual Board retreat last weekend invigorated and excited to be on the Board at this particular time. Why?

First, as a new Board member, it was the perfect opportunity to get to know the other Board members a little bit better. As the weekend progressed, it became apparent that we all shared passion and enthusiasm for making the Co-op and our local community a better place. Importantly, everyone brought different, creative ideas to the table—and we all learned from each other.

Second, with the Co-op's strategic plan in place, the Board can now rethink and rework our policy governance “Ends” statements to align with the strategic plan and long term goals of the Co-op. “Ends” is simply a way of defining the Co-op's long-term vision. The process of reworking the Ends allowed us dedicated time to think about the lofty ideals we want our Co-op to embody, going forward. While the new Ends are not yet finalized, some of the ideas we came up with included (1) the Co-op is a democratically controlled business; (2) the Co-op fosters a robust and sustainable local economy; (3) the Co-op models environmentally sustainable systems; and (4) Co-op members buy and eat local and organic foods and understand the importance of supporting sustainable agriculture. Why is all of this important? Once the new Ends are in place, they will drive our organization – all of our strategic planning should relate back to these Ends.

Third, now that the Board has implemented and is familiar with Policy Governance (the Board's governing tool), we can finally make it work for us. At the retreat, we learned how to better use Policy Governance at our monthly meetings to fairly and efficiently complete our business. We are all committed to spend more time reading, thinking and talking about themes important to the future success of our Co-op—and completing our monthly business more quickly will allow time for this. To this end, we have created a Board committee to compile articles, books and other readings for us to discuss as a group at each monthly meeting. The first article is about the failure of the Berkeley co-op —important and timely, given the current economic downturn.