Today more than ever, it is necessary to clearly establish what is the role of the Leaders of our cooperative organizations. Every day the profile that the applicant delegates and / or cooperative leaders must have in order to efficiently and effectively fulfill the responsibility delegated by the members for the correct administration of the cooperative patrimony is more demanding. Being immersed in a globalized economy of aggressive competitiveness, our movement requires boards with capacity for change and vision for the future.
The members of the Councils and Committees that make up the associative dimension of the Cooperative, must assume their positions with due preparation and knowledge of aspects of a business, legal, administrative, financial, general culture nature, and logically the cooperative doctrine. In this sense, some of the main issues that they should be aware of are related to Cooperative Legislation, Recommendations of the International Cooperative Alliance -ACI- Norms, Resolutions and Directives of the SBS, Fenacrep, Sunat and other state entities linked to cooperative activities; ILO recommendations on the promotion of cooperatives and successful models of cooperative development in different sectors, both nationally and internationally.
In addition to the above, they must improve their capacity for analysis and timely information on aspects related to: knowledge of the current reality, of the economic situation, of the market where their cooperative develops; knowledge of cooperative business development trends; strategic planning; organization and methods; Accounting systems; business Administration; promotion and marketing; budget preparation and control; internal control; basic knowledge of project formulation and evaluation; human relations, public relations; social balance and computer systems.
All this information and knowledge baggage will allow, on the one hand, managers to improve their ability to understand and know how to make better business decisions; Likewise, managers, officials and specialized personnel will be able to present, without many limitations and with a greater understanding, the best proposals, plans and projects, as well as organizational, operational, administrative, financial, marketing and computer measures, thereby promoting more efficient management., agile, dynamic and with greater organizational consensus, that generates the shared vision of our organization.
For this, the decisive participation of the manager of the cooperative is extremely important, in his role as principal advisor to the general assembly, councils and committees. Being the highest level official and by the same trust delegated by the board, the manager must assume full ownership of the business management of the cooperative, guiding in a transparent, honest and professional manner the effective performance of the various levels that make up the associative part, aiming to reconcile criteria, both technical and social, balancing internal power structures towards Good Cooperative Governance. Sometimes the management is inhibited from getting involved with the managerial part, ignoring its role of technical advice to precisely help decision-making on aspects that later affect its executive actions. And at other times, the directors discard or exempt themselves from convening it to deal with issues and areas that, due to their condition as directors who meet once a month, are not properly informed and have little knowledge about certain items.
The trust between the Management and Cooperative Management is mutual, of permanent reciprocity; they are groups with similar responsibilities and powers that must coincide in the mission and vision of the organization, enhancing its capabilities and reinforcing its limitations, promoting mutual respect for its fields of action; but jointly managing an efficient cooperative business management. The challenge of both bodies, executive and executive, is to achieve and maintain the associative and business balance that characterizes our institutions, which is wisely summarized in the well-known definition of Cooperative: “it is an autonomous association of people who have voluntarily joined together to satisfy their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and managed company democratic ”.
