In this episode of the Strategy Made Simple podcast Beth Cougler Blom explains how we can make better learning experiences by taking a learning design approach. She explains how her experience in learning design roles contribute to making better trainings and facilitating well with groups. We discuss how meeting ground rules and setting out the objectives for the learning experience. She also explains her experience in starting up her business and how her path led from helping with post-secondary learning experiences to helping social impact organizations. I think the experiences and meth ..read more

Lauren Lee is the social enterprise manager at Resource Assistance for Youth. The main social enterprise at RaY is a moving operation called RaY Works, where they help nonprofits move between office spaces, as well as helping people in residential support programs move between homes. Because RaY Works is a program within the larger nonprofit, there are various benefits to both the nonprofit and the social enterprise. RaY Works gets to take advantage of extensive administration support and support for their trainees, while RaY is able to more quickly and easily help people move that are in thei ..read more

Lucas Stewart has many titles. Presently he is the Executive Director of The WRENCH in Winnipeg. Previously he has been involved in the founding and development of a variety of social enterprises including Purpose Construction (Previously Manitoba Green Retrofit), and Senior Partner with Encompass Coop. His driving goal has been to help reunite families through providing good stable work while building sustainable social enterprises.   In this interview, we talk about his current work with The WRENCH, how they fit their impacts into their operations, and how they build their culture. We a ..read more

Robin Bryan was the General Manager of Compost Winnipeg at the time of recording (Jan 2022), and continues working with the team in a consulting and advisory role. Compost Winnipeg works to take food and other organic waste that would end up in the landfill and instead use it to make compost. Through this work, they have needed to work through some critical parts of the business including how they keep compost from freezing to truck beds in the middle of winter, and dealing with the growth of the business from just a couple people to a full team. --- You can continue the conversation by joinin ..read more

Jessica Floresco is the General Manager at Mother Earth Recycling (MER). Mother Earth Recycling does a variety of electronic and mattress recycling which reduces waste in the Winnipeg area. In addition, they are a work integration social enterprise, providing good jobs to people who have otherwise been excluded from the workforce, and MER gives their employees the skills and experience for them to build confidence and self direction. Beyond these social enterprise elements, Mother Earth Recycling is also an indigenous owned and led organization. They provide an excellent example for other orga ..read more

Hazel Corcoran is the Executive Director of the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation. The Federation acts as a bridge and advocate for the various worker cooperatives across Canada that form it's membership. They also manage some investment options for cooperatives so they can receive investment through RRSPs and TFSAs.  Hazel also describes her transition from a student attending a conference, to providing legal support, to becoming the executive director, along with some of the difficulties and turning points that came along the way. --- Join in on Work with Values, an interactive panel on ..read more

Nancy Neamtan has been working on developing community economic development and the social economy ecosystem in Quebec for decades. Throughout that body of experience, she has been able to work on the challenges that come with building up a sector. In addition, she was one of the founders and builders of the Chantier de l’économie sociale, a major network of networks for the social economy in Quebec. In this conversation with Nancy we discuss some of the challenges of building organizations in the social economy, such as how to scale organizations, finding impact investment, financing, and pat ..read more

Sandra Allen is a Member, Co-Owner, Board Member and People Team Lead for Shift Delivery Co-op. Shift Delivery is a last mile carrier based in Vancouver, Canada that uses e-assist trikes instead of motor vehicles for their deliveries. Sandra describes the value that Shift has in it's people, how they onboard new staff and help them prepare and transition into becoming members, and how Shift has been able to maintain their company culture. One intentional decision that contributes to their culture is that all members do the foundational work of triking and making deliveries. For more informatio ..read more

Chris Nichols is a Worker, Co-Founder, Director and Operations Coordinator for Wood Shop Workers' Cooperative. Wood Shop is focused on creating wood furniture out of reclaimed wood for customers in the Vancouver area. They are working towards creating a more circular economy through their work. They started by using reclaimed pallet wood to create their furniture, but now they take materials from places such as residential deconstruction sites. The point of a circular economy is that what would be considered waste is diverted from landfill, and instead is used to create new products. For more ..read more

David Thuss is the current Director at the London Brewing Cooperative, and one of the founding worker owners of the Co-op. He has experience in many of the areas of the brewing business, but now works in a supporting role for the other workers in the Co-op. London Brewing follows a triple bottom line approach to running a social enterprise, and also emphasises partnerships with other values aligned organizations including an organic food delivery company, and a Café. Through these partnerships, each organization is able to lean on their strengths and rely on their partners for everything else ..read more