Why We Keep a Scorecard

Dear Co-op Members,

I recently met with a team of employees to work on compiling the Scorecard, a document that provides a brief, information-rich snapshot of the work we do at our Co-op over the course of a year. Our Scorecard shows us how much progress we’re making toward our Ends, a series of statements often summarized as “the end results we aim to achieve in the world.” Our Board of Directors, which represents our membership, crafted our End statements years ago. Our cooperative strives to work toward our Ends every day. Our Scorecard lets us see how we’re doing.

In our Scorecard, we collect metrics from the previous year, then share those metrics with all our employees and member-owners. It’s an excellent tool, and I particularly enjoy the conversations and teamwork it takes to pull all the information together. When we look ahead at where we’re going, sometimes it’s easy to forget where we’ve been. The Scorecard is an important reminder of what we’ve accomplished together.

I’ve written before about transparency, and how it can be nothing more than a buzzword unless people work together to embrace it. If anything describes our Scorecard, it’s transparency. What the Scorecard symbolizes is as important as the information it contains. To create this document, our employees and their teams must embrace a philosophy of transparency, keeping us accountable to one another and true to our collectively owned identity.

Never forget that in a cooperative, we are all accountable to each other. No individual rises above the masses. No matter who we are and what we do here, making progress as a business, furthering socioeconomic justice in our food system, and putting into practice the principles of cooperation unites us all. So when you read the Scorecard, and I hope you do, I encourage you to remember that behind the transparent metrics are many people working together for the Co-op Ends and, by extension, for the common good.

My thanks to all the members who make our work possible. Want to talk more about this or anything else? Reach out to me anytime. My door is always open to you.

—Ed Fox

NOURISH. CULTIVATE. COOPERATE. 

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Ed Fox

Ed Fox is the Co-op General Manager. To contact, email EdFox@coopfoodstore.com.

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