THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF THE ISSUES TO BE CONVERTED IS TO TAKE PARTICIPANTS TO REFLECT ON COOPERATIVE AS AN ORGANIZATION OF PEOPLE TO ACHIEVE A PURPOSE
That purpose has two dimensions that cannot be ignored; a clearly social one of the member members that accounts for the origin of the cooperative and another economic one that means that the operation must be profitable in order to adequately fulfill the social function. Therefore, good economic functioning is a requirement for the fulfillment of the cooperative's social objective, which is its reason for being otherwise.
The cooperative is an organization: in essence, an organization is made up of two large elements that interact to function and fulfill the purpose of its reason for being:
Therefore, for any effort aimed at improving performance, results, growth in business, etc. to be successful. it necessarily requires a good understanding of the operation of both elements and it is necessary to work together and articulate with both, otherwise solid or lasting results are not achieved
Improving functioning: Traditional approaches to organizational development stemmed from the conviction that basically by improving processes things had to work well, downplaying the behavior element of people; The very practical experience of successful organizations has amply demonstrated that belief to be wholly wrong. Today it is a non-debatable fact that it is the people, the human capital of the organization, who contribute the added value of the results, it is the people who ensure the creativity and competitiveness of the operation, interacting and managing efficient and effective processes.
But high results are not achieved only with good processes; high performance behaviors must be formed and developed at the command and work team levels. In this, the key aspects revolve around the leadership capacity at the various levels of command, the effectiveness of conversational communication between the members of the organization, knowing how to manage commitment and motivation and promoting individual-group good practices that allow generate and consolidate a productive internal culture open to lifelong learning in the organization.
This way of looking at things is what is present in everything we present in this workshop and the fact that in a Cooperative changes to improve and professionalize the operation occur from the top down; from the Board of Directors to the rest of the organization.
Before starting to talk about each of the topics, it is good to keep in mind something that we all know: REALITY IS NOT GIVEN BUT WE BUILD IT THROUGH OURS…
Topic 1: Internal culture of the CACs; Organizational culture and group behavior
Organizational culture is a phenomenon that involves beliefs and behaviors that exist at different levels of the organization and that are manifested in a wide range of facts of organizational life, such as structures, control and reward systems, symbols, myths and practices of human resources, which are very difficult to operationalize and measure
The term "culture" has many meanings and connotations. Its combination with the term organization generally creates conceptual confusion, since culture is mostly associated with population groups, countries or group of countries, ethnic groups, nations, etc.
To understand this concept without going into an academic analysis, we can say that they are the behaviors observed on a regular basis that occur in the relationship between the members of the CAC, they are the implicit norms that govern the behaviors of people in teams or areas work, are the basic assumptions and beliefs shared by the members of an organization, which operate unconsciously and define, as a basic interpretation, the vision that the company has of itself and its environment.
Note: By presumption we mean a statement that is true, independent that can be proven or not.
These assumptions and beliefs are responses that members of the organization have learned from the problems and situations they have had to face.
The organizational culture concept can be observed through three aspects of a particular organization; the beliefs that guide the organization's politics, the dominant values accepted by the company and the norms of behavior that are developed in the work groups, regardless of whether or not one or more of these aspects exist implicitly or explicitly.
Organizational culture is then the way of acting and making decisions of people based on the dominant beliefs and values of those in charge; the internal culture is imposed from the top down and although later there is influence from the bottom up.
And this is how an organization can have an internal culture open to growth, creativity, innovation, continuous learning that allows it to constantly adapt to the changing environment and be competitive (intelligent organization) and others simply have a closed culture, which are the ones that do not grow, only survive, stagnate and finally end up disappearing.
In sum; Internal culture is a crucial aspect, of first-rate importance for any organization… only you don't have a proper understanding of it!
How is the organizational culture of the CACs characterized?... with resistance to trying to change, however it is about changing to improve to be more competitive, to grow in business, to obtain higher income.
In terms of operation, the opinion is heard from various sides that they do not operate with a sufficient level of professionalism, that they must improve effectiveness and efficiency in general, that they must modernize their business model, that they must develop strategic planning… in short, they must raise the quality of both strategic and overall operational performance.
However, it is difficult for the Council to decide to adopt modern ways of doing what they do; There is resistance to implement a competitive business model in the terms that is understood today.
Verbally, as for the most part, there is agreement on modernizing performance and making changes, but at the time of making the decision, contrary opinions appear in some members of the Board, so that the changes remain as an intention for later.
In summary; resistance to change is evident on the part of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative… and as indicated at the beginning, changes to improve and professionalize the operation occur from the top down; from the Board of Directors to the rest of the organization.
Possible factors of resistance to change from the perspective of the decision makers, that is, the Board of Directors
- Perception of negative consequences: they believe that the changes will affect them negatively, fear of the unknown, loss of position, loss of authority Way of seeing the cooperative: Council members see it more as a collaborative partnership between members who as an organization that must do business profitably, therefore do not want changes to grow Having to incur changes in existing habits: a process of changes aimed at professionalizing the CAC could involve changing the current way of controlling and deciding that the Council exercises over the operation of the cooperative, which they do not want Effect of a change process: there is not enough understanding about the economic benefits for the members that a change would bring to grow in business lines and be more competitive,therefore they are not approved Stable economic situation: to the extent that the organization does not report losses, there is no clear motivation to make an effort to change, one opts for the safe, the change could mean risking what one has Who must carry out a change process: consider that it is the responsibility of the manager to make the Cooperative's performance more competitive and professionalize and not to spend on external consultancies for this. people and processes and that this simply cannot be expected of the manager nor corresponds since he is to manage and not to be at the same time an expert consultant in organizational change Position against a new business model:also linked to the above, they consider that the CAC does not need a new business model, only to make it work well the one that has what is the responsibility of the manager and heads of areas
What then to do to improve, professionalize the CAC? start by changing the beliefs and perceptions of the members of the Board of Directors! improve "what you have" question that can be done
How ? through a training process specially designed for members of the Board that provides them with an efficient level of knowledge both on strategic and tactical decision-making as well as on supervision of management and performance of people and effectiveness of operational processes
Topic 2: Interpersonal communication relationships and the effectiveness of feedback
The good functioning of a work team depends on the quality of the conversational interpersonal communication, since the way in which the conversations are held generates perceptions that may be liked or disliked, agree or disagree, manifest or hidden, assessment or devaluation who speaks and who listens, ultimately determines whether the interpersonal relationship is productive or conflictive… and I think we all agree that good individual and group work performance can hardly be achieved when relationships between people have more elements conflictive than productive.
However, this is obvious to everyone, yet human beings do not assign due importance to conversational communication, the tendency is to assume that things must be understood well without worrying about how we should communicate with others so that there really is good interpersonal understanding.
It should be borne in mind that conversational communication is a complex subject that is made up of a series of relational elements between people.
In this opportunity we are going to refer to two of its elements; the exchange of judgments associated with feedback and listening skills.
Regarding the first, it turns out that the way the members of an organization exchange judgments is a decisive factor for good communication.
In this, feedback plays a role of the first order, understanding feedback as all the responses and exchange of opinions of others to an initial communication of one, capable of being used productively by oneself and by all.
The exchange of judgments allows feedback between the work team; It allows us to analyze how what is being done is being done, what is being done wrong, what needs to be improved, what is being done well, therefore, maintaining and promoting it, how to handle particular difficult situations, observing how the competition is doing, eventually obtaining learning, maintain effective follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of operation, etc. etc.
From the effect perspective, it is clear that feedback is essential for individual and collective learning of successes and mistakes, to improve what is done and how it is done, to create and innovate, to be more technologically competitive, productively, commercially, in short, for the growth of the organization .
In short, productive feedback requires good communication, and good communication is a condition for the qualitative (technology, innovation, work system) and quantitative (sales, products) development of an organization.
Only that feedback is a matter that goes hand in hand with the exchange of judgments or opinions.
But exchanging judgments is not an easy matter; especially when it comes to
critical judgments
The way of exchanging critical judgments between the members of a team is extremely important because of the effect it has on the performance of people in the organization:
- It influences the emotionality of the group and their willingness to work It influences the quality of interpersonal relationships It influences the trust between team members It influences the level of mental openness to learning
Exchanging critical judgments is not an easy matter since we generally resist criticism.
The first reaction is usually defensive, we do not like to feel questioned, we cannot avoid feeling upset and even offended
We look for ways to explain and justify what we have not done well, regardless of whether we are clear about our error or “blunder”, we develop multiple mechanisms to avoid criticism, to avoid what corresponds to us, we use all kinds of arguments to escape the Criticism regardless of whether the reasons we put forward make logical sense or not, or how much real basis they have…
The "thick" problem occurs when defensive attitudes are shared by all team members; each one points his finger outward and reacts defensively when someone points his finger at him…
In that situation, nobody ends up taking care of anything...
Consciously or unconsciously we try not to feel guilty about something
It is part of our inherited culture, of our way of being
With this attitude, not only is the individual learning of team members negatively affected, but the possibility of learning of the organization as a whole is limited, limiting its ability to react, improve growth, among other negative effects.
And it is a serious obstacle if we consider that the main source for continuous improvement as an organization arises precisely from the interest of taking charge of what does not work, of the insufficiencies that performance shows.
Consequently, if the possibilities of exchanging critical judgments are limited, the ability to improve, learn, grow, innovate is also limited.
This ends up giving a “hard blow” to the effectiveness and competitiveness of the organization.
Definitely; a team that does not know how to exchange critical judgments about its performance, will hardly be able to learn from its mistakes and insufficiencies, will be limited to overcome them, maintaining a functioning that will not be able to advance to the desired extent, nor in efficiency and competitiveness.
Therefore it is essential to train people the ability to make and receive critical judgments.
Open question: to what extent is this that “nobody takes charge of anything” is an attitude that manifests itself in the members of the Board of Directors? the answer is in every member of the Council.
And the second aspect of the communication field that we are going to briefly refer to is listening.
Listening ability is a more relevant individual attitude than it seems at first glance, due to the fact that it directly affects the quality of interpersonal relationships, the quality of relationships in work teams, the type of feedback that can be implemented in work teams, and in general affects all our relationships with people.
It turns out that we mostly practice hearing what we are told and to a much lesser extent listening to what we are trying to convey
We will give a brief explanation that is sufficient to understand the difference between hearing and listening:
Listening implies an attitude of trying to analyze from the perspective of who is speaking to us the message we receive and in this way trying to understand what we are being told. For the same reason we can analyze in a more objective way what we want to transmit to ourselves.
While hearing means getting the message but keeping our perspective or position strong so that we mentally "give up" the part, reflecting or analyzing what the other is trying to convey.
When we are in the "listening" attitude, we are actually more focused on what we are going to respond to and less on the validity or degree of reasonableness of what is being transmitted to us.
In that case, many times the tendency is for quick responses to emerge with strong defensive doses, partly to demonstrate that we know the matter well or better than our interlocutor, or to express our opinion, or why we are concerned about the image we are unfolding, instead of calmly reasoning about what he says without thinking about "winning for winning" or making verbal demonstrations.
Therefore, the difference is that when I "hear" I am understanding the words but basically from my perspective of focus, for the same reason I easily fall into the temptation to "eject" quick responses trying to defend my position, whereas when I "listen", I am trying to put myself in the other's perspective so that first I analyze and “chew” what they tell me and then I express my opinion.
It is evident that this is a more than relevant issue to achieve being effective and productive in conversational communications and feedback.
Topic 3: The growth of CACs businesses: particular desire or objective need?
We will tackle this topic with an exposition on the situation of the CACs and then taking as an illustrative case one Cooperative that is having economic and financial success and another that is in trouble.
Depart indicating briefly we mean by c rowth business: in broad terms, means various actions of organizational type (aimed at improving the performance of individuals and streamline key business processes) and marketing (development of strategic planning) for the purpose to strengthen the cooperative by expanding its business base in order to provide more and better services to its members and achieve increasing returns.
To achieve this objective, the cooperative needs to be more competitive as a whole, which means making broad adjustments and improvements in the business model as a system or integral form of operation, that is; streamline the general performance of people (command levels as operational-administrative levels), modernize the cooperative's key processes and systems, develop and implement an effective marketing plan.
Without error, it can be concluded that business growth and improvement of operating effectiveness is an objective necessity to ensure the permanence of the Cooperative in the market in which it operates.
Topic 4: What to do for high performance performance and results?
Achieve an effective articulation between people's behavior and critical operating processes for the result
Key elements for high performance operation and results
- Develop and implement an effective strategic-tactical marketing plan Motivation and commitment to management objectives and goals The strategic leadership factor and team leaders Formation of proactive behaviors and habits Organizational modernization and operational processes Critical process; information system, indicators, decision making Critical process; collection management, risk management The Balanced Scorecard tool
to. Develop and implement an effective strategic-tactical marketing plan (own approach)
Strategic-tactical Marketing Planning Approach CACs: In the following, each of the first five phases of the first stage A is briefly described. The second stage B is to modernize the key processes and implement the marketing plan. It should be noted that this is an own approach developed for Cooperatives from direct experience in various financial organizations.
i). First phase-objective: Validate the objectives of the Strategic Planning Process with the highest authorities of the Cooperative
R is u l tados: Definitions validated consensus -Board of Directors, Management- regarding scope, importance, commitment, business goals, participation, monitoring and approval instance advance the process of participatory-PE and other operational aspects to pass the second phase of the process.
ii). Second phase-objective: Determine, in an adequate and efficient way, the current state in which the Cooperative is "where we are now" from a perspective of its organizational culture, values, objectives, people's behavior, process efficiency and others aspects that characterize the internal performance situation.
Determining all of this using traditional methods and techniques (diagnosis, measurement of organizational climate, group meetings, etc.) consumes a lot of time and resources. From the experience of many years using these techniques and observing various limitations of them, develop your own method to make knowledge of the state of the organization more effective; the FeedbackReport, a method that allows establishing and evaluating in a consistent and quick way the existing situation regarding performance, behaviors and operational processes of the operation, the results of which provide a solid basis for quickly defining the critical aspects (people and processes) that need to be improved in the organization.
R is u l tados: ID specific situation and based on organizational culture predominant performance of people and processes, as the basis for (re) formulating corporate values and proceed with the actions of the following phase.
iii). Third phase-objective: (re) Formulate values, mission, corporate objectives; it is about establishing "where we want to go" as a horizon for the cooperative's action from the perspective of the member-client and the business market. R es u l tados: Description of values, mission, corporate objectives validated by the highest authorities of the Cooperative
iv). Fourth phase-objective: To develop the commitment and motivation of people with the established corporate values and objectives and to strengthen proactive individual-group behaviors of the organization.
This activity is not part of any traditional approach to the Strategic Planning process; It is not only limited to establishing the type of values and organizational culture that the organization needs to achieve the strategic business vision, but it proceeds with the development of actions to form the desired organizational culture and commitment in people.
R es u l tates: Levels of command formed in key soft skills to proactively lead and drive the growth process of business and operational level personnel committed and motivated with the new vision and strategic objectives of the organization.
v). Fifth phase-objective: Design of central guidelines of the business strategy.
R is u l tados: Power materializes business lines to develop, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) specifies the actions to take (organizational development, processes, performance people) are determined to implement the business strategy.
b. Motivation and commitment to management objectives and goals
Motivation + Commitment = people with "the shirt on" with the organization and the objectives, they perform the best they can in what they do, it is a key factor therefore requires special attention.
In essence; managers and levels of command must have the ability to manage people's motivation and commitment through proactive leadership along with other elements required for this.
Leading people generating motivation and commitment is not an easy task, it requires who does it a series of personal skills that if they do not have them, they can be developed, not with all people but in a good number of cases it is achieved with the added support of a strong decision of their own for self-development.
This statement does not come from theory but rather from long years of practice with various organizations and people.
Motivation is not a simple concept. It is difficult for psychologists and specialists to describe the drive behind a behavior. Motivation is what makes a person act and behave in a certain way.
In general, work motivation is a series of elements that participate in labor relations, in the communication system, in work systems, of the people and teams of the organization, and as such are dynamic processes that are developed towards one or the other direction based on the experiences that the processes themselves leave.
Organizations maintain varying degrees of concern about the level of motivation of their employees; some take an active concern about it, constantly worrying about maintaining high motivation in the staff, while others simply do not even consider this aspect.
There are different approaches on methods to achieve motivation in the work of people, those indicated are general:
- Make the work interesting; design measures to enrich the job, minimizing the monotony of it. Relate economic reward with performance; which is not often easy for organizations due to various complications, assigning additional bonuses to salaries; Providing rewards that are valued; There are remunerations that are very motivating for employees, such as distinctions, recognitions, functions that are based on trust, Developing relationships with employees based on respect and treatment as people, not as mere numbers of the organization, Promote the participation and collaboration of the employees,generating “listening” spaces regarding their opinions and suggestions Stimulate good communications and fluid feedback among the members of the work teams, so that improvements or advances are generated from themselves Promote a good work environment, both general and in each of the areas of the organization, an issue that is linked to the above aspects
The commitment of people to the objectives of the organization and goals of teamwork is seen as the impulse that produces the identification and involvement of an individual and group with the organization.
That link with the organization determines the conduct and attitude of what it does and how it does it in the workplace.
There is a tendency to observe motivation with commitment as synonyms, but there are both conceptual and applied differences in the intervention to enhance or improve each aspect, a matter that for obvious reasons we are not going to delve into this opportunity.
The commitment that the person maintains with the organization is seen as the combination of three dimensions; economic dimension, growth dimension, moral dimension. We will see very briefly each one:
- Economic commitment ; the main or only reason for belonging to the organization is the economic conditions it offers the person Commitment to growth; the main or only reason for belonging to the organization is due to the possibility of learning and professional development offered to the person Moral commitment ; the main reason for belonging to the organization is because the person feels identified with the values of the organization, feels that they share and with their work contributes to the noble cause of what the organization does, they feel supported by the internal culture
When the predominant types of commitments and their causes are identified, a map of the expected consequences on the attitudes and behaviors of the people in the organization can be established, and from there, guide the commitment management action.
The important thing is to strengthen the moral commitment of people, in order to ensure that they are mostly aligned with the values and objectives of the organization.
c. The strategic leadership factor and team leaders
The strategic leadership capacity (what) and tactical (how) is crucial for the good operation of any organization, especially if high performance objectives are set, grow in business, be more profitable, have a greater market presence
Conversely, it is very difficult to function well, if not almost unthinkable, when proactive leadership skills are lacking.
But it is not about having a single leader at the managerial level, but rather leaders at various levels of command and members who participate in the organization's work teams, people with the ability to face problems and seek solutions, with effective management of conversational communication and feedback, with the ability to induce motivation and group commitment, who knows how to do well what must be done or take calculated risks, with the ability to learn without ceasing, with the ability to transmit knowledge to the team and others aspects of managing individual and group attitudes and behaviors.
So the issue is to stimulate leaders at various levels of the organization.
On leadership, as well as on motivation and commitment, there are an infinity of approaches and points of view. There are numerous descriptions and recipes regarding the individual characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors that a person must develop or must have to become a leader.
A group of researchers after analyzing what famous specialists on the subject had written, concluded that effective leadership is one that focuses more on the relationship between leader and followers and less on personal characteristics.
They conclude that " e l have followers of good will is the only thing that clearly differentiates leaders are those who are not. Leaders have followers of good will, non-leaders do not. And nobody is a leader until they get these followers ”
Therefore, leadership is not something that is imposed on the people who are directed, but rather "wins" or voluntarily obtains from them, otherwise, what you have is being the head of the non-leader, you have command over the team. but not leadership
How do you become a Leader?
Obviously, having certain personality characteristics so that not everyone can be leaders, but if they are, then through a process of personal self-development
A process of personal self-development requires support - guidance through targeted training, where conversational communication skills and emotional intelligence of individual and group management are key elements, along with other aspects of personal attitudes and behaviors, and of course, added to having a good level of technical knowledge and expertise of the role and tasks to be carried out efficiently and effectively, as a leader has to demonstrate professional ability.
Finally, it must be emphasized that in order to form effective leaders at the levels of command, the internal culture of the organization must necessarily be aligned with that purpose, in the sense that the organization must effectively assume the internal values that really allow and stimulate the generation of leaders. Otherwise, there would be a conflictive situation between the managerial level (Board of Directors) and the managerial levels that decide to act as leaders.
Not a few organizations want word of mouth leaders, but in fact, the culture and values that high levels of decision implicitly transmit downward and the way they communicate and supervise their executives simply do not allow it. In fact, they induce more “obedient” managers and bosses to give “complacent” responses with what high levels of decision think.
This type of ambiguous practice undoubtedly has a negative effect on the overall performance of the organization, in addition to generating feelings of increasing frustration at the command levels.
Therefore, we reiterate, supervising and directing people towards high performance results and performances is not an easy task.
d. Formation of proactive behaviors and habits
Forming behaviors and productive habits in teams is something that is done from the top down (boss - team) and among the main competencies that at the boss level it requires to have in order to promote good practices in the team he leads are the following:
- Knowledge of the work; have a sufficient level of specific knowledge on the various operational, technical, and administrative aspects related directly and indirectly to the process or activity that it directs. Knowledge of roles and responsibilities; own and the team that leads, which must be explicitly established so that there is no room for individual interpretations in this regard, in order to develop a conduct of work consistent with the functions defined for each position. Knowledge of the internal system and policies of the organization;Know the internal culture of the organization, its work system, its way of applying effectiveness and efficiency, as well as internal strategies, policies, regulations and rules, and other specific aspects. Ability to instruct; know how to train your team operationally (handle the “know how” required), know how to technically induce the team towards adequate performances that allow achieving the proposed objectives and goals, through clear and precise interpersonal instructions and communications. Skill p ara optimize methods;have the technical capacity to - interacting with the team - improve systems, methods and work procedures that allow rational and efficient use of the resources available to carry out the operational processes under their direction and responsibility. Ability to lead; knowing how to lead the team reflecting confidence in their performance, so that they achieve a high degree of credibility and collaboration on the part of the team. Ability to motivate; know how to develop leadership and communication strategies that allow you to keep a team motivated and committed to what you do and the quality of what you do, without the need to exert threatening pressure on people and the team
As can be seen, it means proactive leadership capacity at the various levels of command of the organization
and. Organizational and operational process modernization
This element is functionally complemented and articulated with what is referred to as people management, motivation, commitment and leadership, since enhancing or improving everything without having an adequate internal organizational form and efficient processes and work systems would be a “lame” treatment. ”That would not provide a positive effect on the general operation of the cooperative.
Modernizing the organizational structure and making key work systems and operating processes more efficient is a specialized matter, as is people management, which requires intervening in various operating elements.
This time we will only make a couple of specific points in this regard: modernizing the organization is something that should not be done in a standard way, trying to implement a pre-existing scheme since it would not provide efficient results; Modernization of the “tailored suit” type must be developed and implemented that tangibly improves the efficiency of service to the partner-client and the effectiveness of global performance and new businesses where growth is projected.
In this, it is key to improve coordination-communication relationships - feedback between areas, resolve possible operational-administrative "short circuits" between work teams and command levels. Also formulate policies that promote effectiveness in critical efforts: risk, credit, collections and other keys to the result of each year.
Lastly, the procedures manuals must be adapted and the position profile, functions and responsibilities manual must be updated, so that all members of the cooperative are duly informed (available online) and clearly understand the changes made.
F. Critical process; information system, indicators, decision making
Due to the very nature of the Cooperatives business, the information factor is a critical matter that requires special attention.
Specifically, the level of effective quality of the information flow (reliability, relevance, timeliness) and of the indicators that are used for monitoring-controlling internal operations and for reporting to the supervisory body (Decoop)
In global terms, the information system of a Savings and Credit Cooperative, the information flows it manages and the indicators it reports, must constitute a solid effective support tool in the following processes:
g. Critical process; collection management, risk management
In the context of modernizing critical processes for results, there is risk and collection management, an issue on which we will not extend ourselves on paper but rather, in a participatory way, we will seek concrete answers to the following questions:
What are the reasons that make collection management a critical factor?
What are the most common weaknesses in collections management?
What are the reasons that make risk management a critical factor?
What are the most common weaknesses that risk management suffers from?
h. The Balanced Scorecard
It is an effective tool to plan, monitor and evaluate the overall and particular performance of the cooperative. Its implementation is not complicated according to what is commonly thought
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