I've just taken part in a quick Twitter poll from Co-operatives UK https://twitter.com/#!/CooperativesUK regarding who I would vote for if there were "Co-operative Oscars". One of the "nominees" was Whomadeyourpants, a worker co-op from Southampton. I did a bit of work with them at the start of their journey which made me reflect on the role of a Social Enterprise advisor.
It'll never work
Other Social Enterprise advisors had been told about the WMYP business idea and told the founder the classic "It will never work". They listened to the vision, the likely market gap and the clear social benefit potential in the idea and dismissed it. From the outset the founder was clear she wanted the business to be a worker co-operative and so luckily she was referred to me. I have to admit I am no expert on a) women's underwear, b) the fashion industry, c) developing employment for refugees. However, I do understand co-ops so I said "Yes, it COULD work if you put these things in place, and get a group of people together - because you can't be a co-operative of one". So the founder went away and did the market research, researched production techniques, worked out production space and equipment required, issues affecting refugee women and employment and we worked up a plan for how it would develop from a pre-start through start-up stage and then identified what resources were required. This business support was supported by the Co-operative Group in what was a precursor for their successful Co-operative Enterprise Hub. At any point she could have looked at the research or the considerable commitment required and decided "No, this won't work", she could have found that no-one else believed in the business, but she proved those other advisors wrong.
It did work
WMYP are now making a huge splash and although it is many years since I have worked with them, I know that finding the right sort of advisor who said "Yes, but if you sort the following issues out" may have made the difference as to whether this successful co-operative social enterprise was established.
What is the advisor role?
So, reflecting on this, what is the role of the Social Enterprise Advisor? To act like one of those self important "Dragons" from that comedic BBC TV show? (Top tip: real business isn't like that!) Is your job/role as a Social Enterprise to tell people how to run their business or to enable them to make the right decisions to run their business? A subtle but wholesale difference. Should you start from the point of scaring people away or taking on the mantle of encouraging people to explore, understand adapt and make the dreams happen? On the other hand if the client's business idea will never work do we have a duty to tell them? Clearly, but maybe it's a question of how we go about this. In cases where there is not business, my experience has led me to believe that an unqualified opinion (i.e. you don't explain why it won't work) is ignored and dismissed whereas making them confront themselves with the reality that the financial model won't stack up or that nobody will pay - so there are no customers - is more likely to make them pay attention. They make the decision not the advisor. Who says an advisor knows best anyway?
If you are an advisor, should you tell them "no" or should you empower them with the means with which to make an informed choice of "no" - or alternatively "yes, if I can just get the following resources or people in place". Do we decide or do we enable?
And all that from an innocent Twitter post about some fictional "Co-operative Oscars"....
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