The Coop Doctors Are In... 1st Ever, Coop Consultancy Clinic in the Philippines

 

 

National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO Network) has established the Consultancy Team in service to its primary members.  The purpose is to help these cooperatives address their needs specifically in providing management solutions for credit cooperatives' management.  The difference with other consultancy services is that the Consultancy Team of NATCCO Network provides integrated approach to its members. 

 

Handouts all packed

When we say "Integrated Approach", the team looks at the different areas in management - Financial Management, Credit Management, Marketing Management and HR Management.  These areas are all significant parts of the management body.  If one part is ailing or ill, then the other parts are affected.  Thus, we need to look at the root cause of pain.  Sometimes it can be found in the bloodstream (credit operation efficiency) or sometimes it's in the physical well-being (human resources) of the cooperative.  There are several reasons why cooperative bodies were not being able to meet their goals and as a federation, we hope to provide accessible professional services to its cooperative members.  As a result of this passion - Serving Our Members, the Coop Consultancy Clinic comes into fruition.

The first ever Co-Op Consultancy Clinic in the Philippines will be held on October 23 to 24, 2014 at Fernandina 88 Suites Hotel, Cubao, Quezon City.  There are 23 primary cooperative members participating on the said event, coming from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.  The total expected number of participants is seventy (70) coming from the following Co-Ops:

• LABO PROGRESSIVE MULTIPURPOSE COOPERATIVE (MPC)
• PASSI CITY EMPLOYEES MPC
• KANGARA MPC
• BUKLURAN MPC
• ILOILO CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS AND EMPLOYEES MPC
• RED RIBBON MPC
• OLONGAPO MPC
• ILOILO EMPLOYEES MPC
• BUENAVISTA DEVELOPMENT COOPERATIVE
• BONTOC MPC
• BAGONG SILANG 2 MPC
• REGION 8 COMELEC EMPLOYEES MPC
• MOTHER RITA MPC
• NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES DEVELOPMENT COOP
• STA. CRUZ MPC - MAASIM
• ST. VINCENT FERRER PARISH MPC
• ASIAPRO
• CALSEDECO
• ABRA DIOCESAN TEACHERS AND EMPLOYEES MPC
• JOBS 4 ALL MPC
• HOLCIM MPC
• CORDOVA MPC
• LIGAS KOOPERATIBANG BAYAN SA PAGPAPA-UNLAD MPC

This event will serve as venue for cooperatives to discuss their issues and concerns and access professional advice from experts on their savings & credit operations, as mentioned earlier, on credit management, human resource management, marketing management and financial management.  This is a return service of the Cooperative Education and Training Fund (CETF) remitted by the cooperatives to NATCCO Network.  Training is not always the answer to experienced issues.  Some issues can be addressed with improvements in the processes or development of guidelines and policies.  Some interventions may be on the development of new products or through employees' competency development.

We need to diagnose further and through consultations on specific issues, consultants would be able to mentor and coach on how to implement recommendations in resolving identified issues & concerns.  Although NATCCO consultancy opens their door to cooperatives for consultations, the advantage of participating on this event would provide further learning on ASEAN Integration, Integrated Network, and Information Technology for cooperatives. This will also serve as a venue for learning best practices from the sharing of Success Stories of some large cooperatives - St. Martin of Tours Credit Development Cooperative (SMTCDC) and Tagum Cooperative.  Also, there are participating units within NATCCO Network that would serve as pharmacies: 
1) IT, 2)Education, Training, Consultancy Group (ETCG), and 3) Central Fund (Treasury & Credit).  The speaker for the ASEAN Integration is also an expert from AIM, Mr. Mark Chan. This would be one busy and fruitful day for the participating cooperatives. 

 

The NATCCO Network Consultancy Team is very excited for the upcoming event because they would be able to extend their hands and share their expertise not only to the participants but also to all the members of the participating cooperatives.  If we were able to help these cooperatives improve and provide quality services to Co-Op members, then we will be able to help the Filipinos as well.  It's our way of giving back to the society and serving our country.
 

Preparations for the Consultancy Coop Clinic

 

 

We Listen to Serve You Better!

High Turnover... What does it Say?

Many types of organizations, including Financial Cooperatives, are experiencing fast turnover due to several reasons.  The following are three (3) of the usual reasons why employees leave their employers and as an HR, you may have heard it during the exit interview:

Greener Pastures - When employees resigns and tell you that they are leaving due to greener pastures, what they mean is that they are transferring to a company who offers them higher salaries and better compensation packages.  If this is the case, don't start changing your salary structures or don't start adding benefits.  What you need to do is to first review if what you offer to your employees are still within the market value or still competitive on the same industries. 

Usually, the competitors of financial cooperatives are banks and micro-finance.  But in terms of employer, any other types of industry may be a competitor for specialized skills such as for the accountants and IT.  Accountants with experiences are very scarce in out country.  So what happens is that if you hired a new graduate, he/she will just spend a few months or years with you and then they get offered higher salary in another industry.

Another meaning for "Greener Pastures" may mean the career path or the promotable state within the organization.  Young bloods, usually those ages falling within the Generation Y and Z are ambitious, aggressive and hopes that they'll immediately reach the peak of their career as soon as possible.  If this would be the case, then you as an HR would have to look at the Career Path or plans for your employees.  Does the cooperative or organization offers opportunities for growth, travel, or studies for your employees?  Do you have adequate training plans for the development of your staff?  Do you groom leaders or you immediately losses the very good and skilled employees and what is left are those who would not support changes or are grounded? 

Photography by Rose Gob

Studies - Aligned with the career path is that employees leave because they have professional plans for themselves and they don't see that the organization can actually provide them a venue for said growth.  Many would say that they are resigning because they plan to continue with higher studies.  This could be a good indicator that you were able to hire an employee who finds satisfaction on continuous development.  The sad part though is that you don't have what it takes to keep these kind of employees.  Revisit your employees development program.  Do you have a very good performance management system that helps you monitor well the performance of your employees?  Do you have a very good compensation and benefit package that motivates the employees to keep on performing at their best? 

Leadership -  Many books say that an employee resigns because of failed leadership and not because of the organization.  It could be true because the leadership provides the direction of the organization.  But we cannot sum it all to the kind of leadership.  "Birds of the same feather flocks together" as the saying goes.  So if your cooperatives are consists of owls or eagles, you cannot expect a penguin would survive in that kind of culture.  What you can do is to check not only the leadership type that you have but also, check how you select people during recruitment.  Do you have the right criteria and are you able to assess well the type of employees that would be working for you?  Check what type of culture the cooperative has then match it with hires with the same values as that of the cooperative.

There are other creative excuses that you may have heard during an exit interviews.  Do share with our readers and let us analyze how it can be resolved.  If you have any questions, you may send me queries via e-mail or through the comment section of this blog.