July 6, 2024 was the International Day of Cooperatives, which celebrated the world’s most equitable and adaptable business model with the theme of “building a better future for all.” Sustainable, impactful, and meaningful work is at the intersection of cooperatives and career development, which, when aligned or comingled, integrate economic advancement, self-actualization, and lifelong learning. The cooperative model enables career development and vice versa.
Career development is a lifelong process of blending and managing learning, paid and unpaid work, volunteerism, and leisure time. It is a self-directed and community-supported process of learning new skills, acquiring new knowledge, and making the most of talent and potential. CERIC, a Canadian charity purposed with advancing career development through research, learning, and advocacy, has evidence-based resources to support this definition of career development.
Challenge Factory, in collaboration with CERIC, investigated how much career development is happening in Canada and who is doing it. For example, according to the study, “the national portrait of Canada’s career development sector reveals the importance of considering how much stronger career supports might be if more of the sector’s members with weak ties to the formal, professionalized field became frequent referral partners.”
Many Canadians informally help others with career decisions, but they need more guidance and resources. A national strategy on career development will enable formal and informal career conversations and advice. Lisa Taylor and the Challenge Factory team argue that “there is a constellation of other members who could be engaged” and cooperatives represent enterprises whose “weak ties to the formal, professionalized field” of career development might benefit from getting stronger.
The cooperative enterprise model is a type of socioeconomic organization that is governed and owned by its members who participate in the rewards and challenges of their activities. Unlike other business models that focus on profits for shareholders or owners, cooperatives seek to generate value for their members and the communities they serve.
This business model that is owned and controlled by its members, who share the benefits of the business according to their participation, operates in pretty much every sector and industry around the world. From agriculture to finance to health care, cooperatives employ more people than Fortune 500 companies (10% of the world’s population) and the world’s 300 largest cooperatives contribute more than $2.4 billion USD annually to global GDP (in British Columbia alone co-ops and credit unions employ 17,000 people and contribute $2.7 billion CDN to the province’s annual GDP). Cooperatives can also have different types of members, such as consumers, workers, producers, or users, which makes the model adaptable to many different sectors, industries, and economic contexts (just like how people are adaptable to different types of work across different communities around the world).
Here are some examples:
- Consumer cooperatives, which provide goods and services to their members at lower prices or higher quality, such as REI or The Co-op. Credit Unions, of which 30% of Canadians are members, are another example of consumer cooperatives.
- Worker-owned cooperatives, which give employees a stake in the ownership and management of the business, such as Mondragon or Equal Exchange.
- Producer cooperatives, which help small-scale producers pool their resources and access larger markets, such as Home Hardware or Ocean Spray.
- Platform cooperatives, which use digital platforms to connect and empower their members, such as Stocksy or Resonate.
Cooperatives are informed and governed by seven internationally agreed-upon cooperative principles. Let’s cross-reference these principles with research, experiences, and vibes to see how they align with theories and practices of career development.
Voluntary and open membership
Cooperatives are open to anyone who can use their services and is willing to accept the responsibilities of membership.
Voluntary and open membership means that everyone has the opportunity to build a career that means something (to themselves and the world) – human beings are always working, learning, and growing (which is why Adam Grant thinks we should only work six hours per day because we have so much work to do beyond our jobs!). It is not just something that we get paid for because work plays a vital role of serving our soul, creating value for our community, and even creating weird and wonderful things – products, services, ideas – that are uniquely human.
While they are not fully aligned with prominent anthropological thinking that humanity would be better served by a 15-hour work week, cooperatives are built for maximizing human effort and honouring human uniqueness, which aligns excellently with Thomas Krieshok, Michael Black, and Robyn McKay’s theory of “ongoing matching” of skills, interests, and values with the evolving world of work.
Democratic member control
Cooperatives are controlled by their members, who have equal voting rights and participate in decision-making processes.
Some of the most important decisions we make in our careers involve and impact others. Every year nearly a quarter of Canadians change jobs and over half of us consider changing where we work and who we work for (Americans are way, way more open to moving across the country for work). To be clear, not all these moves are decided democratically, but perhaps they should be.
Navigating career paths in the complex and changing world of work requires people to work with others, such as family members or friends, to make tough decisions in the face of challenges such as automation, skill gaps, and climate change. For example, during the pandemic I was struggling to align my values and skills with my career, so I took a democratic approach and acted on the wisdom of my friends, family, mentors, and teachers to change jobs as well as geographic locations.
Career development is an essential democratic partner, or at least advisor, in helping people make informed and meaningful choices and adapt to the evolving labour market.
Member economic participation
Members contribute equitably to the capital of the cooperative and share in its benefits according to their participation.
Career development is designed to maximize communities’ socioeconomic potential by aligning individual values, beliefs, and interests with market (or community) needs. It should also be self-directed – individuals are responsible for their careers, just like how cooperatives expect members to have “skin in the game” and contribute to the enterprise’s purpose and objectives.
While being supported by a democratic community of advisors and teachers, individuals need to be proactive and take charge of their own career development, as this will enhance their skills, adaptability, and success in a changing world.
Being proactive means taking initiative and action to shape one’s own career path and goals, rather than being passive or reactive to external circumstances. Research shows that proactive individuals are more likely to thrive in their work environments, develop career adaptability, and achieve higher levels of education and learning. Research also shows that communities are healthier and sustainable for the long term when they achieve full, well-paid employment because people with disposable income contribute more to their local communities (as opposed to buying the cheapest possible thing online). For example, according to LOCO, a 10% shift in British Columbia’s consumer spending towards independent businesses would create 14,150 jobs & keep $4.3 billion in the B.C. economy.
By being a proactive participant in their evolving careers, individuals can prepare themselves for the challenges and opportunities of the future as well as shape it by where they spend their salary.
Autonomy and independence
Cooperatives are self-governing organizations that set their own policies and strategies and cooperate with other entities on mutually beneficial terms.
The external talent cloud is here and it is elevating the autonomy and independence of workers amidst the precarity of the gig economy (and the economy in general). What this means for workers, organizations, and communities is that the most highly skilled of us in both technical and human capabilities are changing the rules of engagement for how shit gets done in the world of work.
Highly skilled workers (and highly in demand unskilled workers) will be able to dictate their terms and this should be considered in their career development). On the flip side, the majority of the 1978 workforce had full-time jobs; these days, less than half of the workforce have full-time employment – whether it is happenstance, planned happenstance, or possession of highly-valued skills, most of us are benefitting from or struggling through the gig economy and all of its precarities and opportunities.
I think that the best career development blends individual autonomy with community needs to create shared value. I also believe that cooperatives are uniquely positioned to usher in new models for career development because these enterprises are not just motivated to acquire the skills and talent to build their thing, but they are also motivated-by-design to do so for the benefit of their members in spite of what governments or stock markets might want them to do.
Education, training and information
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, employees and the public to enhance their skills and awareness of the cooperative principles and values.
People learn everywhere and all the time when we reflect on our experiences, which could be an internship, a stretch assignment or committee, or how we completed a task in the flow of work.
Career development, according to CERIC, is often “supported and shaped by educators, family, peers, managers, and the greater community.” This presents a challenge because individuals, educators, employers, families, and communities all have an influence on the career transitions and outcomes of people, but these well-meaning influencers do not always have the knowledge, skills, or resources to support career development effectively. For example, faculty members may not feel well equipped to prepare students for employment, parents may not know how to foster positive beliefs in their children, or managers may not provide enough learning opportunities and career guidance for their employees.
Cooperatives are designed to share best practices and facilitate networking across organizations and industries. They are built for lifelong learning that enables an adaptable workforce that can respond with agility to meet evolving needs of their members and community. By integrating career competencies into learning, coaching, and performance experiences (imagine if we were evaluated and rewarded by an organization for individual and collective investments in career development!), career development cooperators can help individuals achieve their career goals and contribute to the social and economic well-being of society.
Cooperation among co-operatives
Cooperatives work together locally, nationally and internationally to strengthen the cooperative movement and serve their members more effectively.
Prosocial, network-expanding behaviours enable career development (not to mention cooperation). Shipping containers have proved this theory to be fact.
Never has there been more free, awesome content about career development and cooperatives (and everything), so the first thing you should do is read, watch, listen to, and experience different things as part of your career.
And enterprises should enable such things because cross-functional relationships, diversified skillsets, and intercultural understanding benefits benefit everyone – employees, companies, communities – in the long run.
Concern for community
Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies and actions that respect the environment and social justice.
Career development should serve communities around the world. My amazing friend and colleague, Dr. Candy Ho, aligns career exploration and purpose with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Ho builds on these ideas in her CERIC perspective (she is Chair of the Board!)
Many Canadians don’t know about or use career development services, even though they can benefit a lot from them. Cooperatives intuitively see the alignment of career development with economic advancement, especially for communities that face so much uncertainty, precarity, and change amidst existing social, political, and economic models.
Career development concerns community as evidenced by its links to social and environmental causes, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include building and sustaining more cooperatives!
Conclusions
How might we align and comingle career development theories and practice with the cooperative enterprise model? Cooperatives contribute to sustainable development, peace, and resilience. Cooperatives are based on values and principles that put people and planet first, and they are working with the United Nations to achieve sustainable development goals, which includes several elements of career development.