Q&A with the Improve Group
Dan Goldstein
If you haven’t already heard, Collectivity is thrilled to be working alongside The Improve Group and providing support as they navigate the transition of their consulting business to a worker-owner co-op.
As a worker-owned co-op, IG staff are not only leaders of the business, but owners. Worker-owners will share in profits and decision making and elect and serve on the co-op’s Board of Directors. IG’s transition to a worker-owned co-op became official on August 10 and Collectivity (as a co-op ourselves!) celebrates this major milestone alongside IG staff, board, and co-op members.
In honor of October being co-op month, we asked Dan Goldstein, Senior Marketing Associate, Worker-Owner, and Co-op Board Member at the Improve Group, some questions about cooperatives and the Improve Group’s journey towards becoming one. You can read the interview below, and learn more about the Improve Group here.
Interview with Dan Goldstein
What initially intrigued you most about the cooperative model?
“From an organizational standpoint, The Improve Group has been evolving towards a shared-leadership model for many years. Our team is a driving catalyst for who we are and how we grow. When our founder, Leah Goldstein Moses, began planning her succession, she presented several ownership models to our team and gathered advice on which models felt like a fit. When the cooperative model came up, I was intrigued because shared ownership felt like a very natural next step in our journey.
On a personal level, I’m increasingly intrigued by the idea of becoming a part owner of the business I’ve devoted so much time and energy to. I have been a full-time IG team member for just over 10 years and served in several internships years before then. This is an organization I care deeply about and it’s incredibly rewarding to see the fruits of my, and my colleagues’, labor materialize in this way.”
What are you most looking forward to in your first year of operations as a co-op?
“Really leaning into and embracing what it means to be both a staff member and business owner. I am excited to see this from me and from my fellow IG worker-owners. Many of us have contributed to organizational decisions over the years, but now many of us will be wearing the hats of considering how the decisions we make and the directions we go impact our business. I think this will lead to deeper investment across our membership that may surface new innovations and growth. This will be a learning journey and I am looking forward to experiencing that with my team.”
What advice would you give to a business considering converting to a worker co-op?
“If you are considering this transition, it’s important to begin embracing shared ownership in the very early stages. Transparency and clear communications are also key. I mentioned earlier that Leah first included our full team when she was seeking advice about succession models that felt true to IG. Once we landed on the co-op model, we established an internal Transition Team of staff members at all levels that worked with external consultants over 2 years to consider how our new structure would operate, our by-laws, guiding documents, etc. That Transition Team took on a large leadership role in driving pieces of our transition forward. They also provided regular updates and training to our full staff throughout the process and gathered feedback when needed. This allowed our full team to not only be aware of the transition but contribute toward big decisions and learn how to operate as worker-owners along the way. We leaned into shared ownership from the beginning and relied on transparency and regular communications throughout our transition process and that led to most of our team members confidently deciding to become worker-owners when we made the change.”
Which co-op value or principle resonates most with you?
“Concern for Community—this applies to our community of staff and worker-owners, our clients and partners, and the communities that we work within. The Improve Group’s vision is that mission-driven organizations will effectively develop a more resilient, equitable, and thriving world. And our communities are at the center of everything we do. In deciding how our co-op will operate and how we structure of our membership, we considered how we were designing things for the sustainable development and inclusion of our community at every step.”
What will change now that you are a worker-owned co-operative?
“While we have done a lot of planning for how this transition affects IG’s internal operations, we are not changing how we work with clients or do evaluation. In planning this transition, we dug into the difference between management and ownership. Long-time Improve Group managers operate the day-to-day roles that Leah previously held. They report to our internal Board of Directors, which is made up of and elected by worker-owners. The board helps gather information and makes recommendations on large organizational decisions, which then go out to every worker-owner for a final vote.
Our work is guided by the same values and we remain on our path toward more equitable practices. The main difference that folks outside our organization might notice is that project team members are also business owners!”
