2015 Strategic Planning

Join the conversation, and help us shape our future!

Now that the new store has been open for almost two years, Honest Weight is undertaking a strategic planning process that will rely on input from our shareholders, member-owners, non-member shoppers, vendors, management, staff and other interested groups. We will create a shared vision of who we are as an organization and a business, what we wish to become, and how to get there over the coming years.

We'll be hosting 3 large community events across the Capital Region to bring people together for conversations that we hope will identify the perceptions and values we hold in common. We'll then use that information to help define ourselves into the future.

Please join us in this historic process - register for one of the two remaining events only, and tell a friend or neighbor who loves the Co-op, too. Let your voice be heard! You'll be able to spend time with Co-op friends, old and new, and if you're a member you will even earn member hours for attending. We're looking forward to seeing you there! (Please note you'll need to be there for the full 3 hours in order to participate)

• Event #1 - Completed
• Event #2 - Completed
• Event #3 - Saturday, May 30, 9am-12pm, St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church, 440 Whitehall Road, Albany
• Event #4 - Saturday, May 30, 2pm-5pm, St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church, 440 Whitehall Road, Albany

The Details:

These meetings will likely be different from most conferences or meetings you’ve experienced, and very different from anything we’ve done in the past. The 3-hour gathering is a tight sequence of group tasks, in which small groups are asked to work together to deliver a product: a “snapshot” of everyone’s key perceptions and values in regards to the Co-op. These small groups will be scribing their work on flipcharts, weighting their collective responses for significance and then take opportunity to see what everyone else is saying about these themes throughout the room. Everyone’s input counts!

We’re not coming together to explore differences of opinion. We’re not problem-solving or creating ‘solutions.’ No one will be asked to change their values or their minds. What we will be doing is generating input in response to specific questions related to HWFC’s position within the community, with a strong focus on the future. This will include exploring the external trends influencing the future of the Co-op, and what this slice of the Co-op community wishes to represent as a cooperative going into the future.

The outcomes of these gatherings will be channeled directly into a multi-stakeholder, strategic planning conference where planners will establish a strategic plan for HWFC based on community sentiments and values, shareholder and non-shareholder customer survey data, a market analysis and business data. The plan will then be presented to the Membership for final approval.