About NCG
“National Co+op Grocers (NCG) is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. We represent 165 food co-ops operating 241 stores in 39 states with combined annual sales over $2.6 billion and serving over 1.3 million consumer-owners. NCG provides the capacity of a chain while maintaining the autonomy of each individual co-op. We help unify retail food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere.
NCG serves as a unified voice to further our shared values through advocacy on issues that are important to food co-op owners, shoppers and communities. Read about our progress on these important goals in our 2023 Food Co-op Impact Report.” — from the NCG website About Us page
Context
In the mid-2010s, the natural and organic food retail sector underwent a dramatic transformation. After decades of triple-bottom-line success (i.e., people, planet, and profits)—including sustained double-digit growth —co-ops across the country found themselves facing an increasingly volatile and uncertain environment. Attracted by greatly increased consumer demand for natural and organic foods, new players entered the space (e.g., conventional supermarket chains expanding their organic and natural offerings, big-box retailers and warehouse clubs, online retailers, and others). They leveraged massive scale, supply chain efficiencies, cutting-edge technologies, and aggressive pricing. Meanwhile, consumer expectations were shifting rapidly, and internal dynamics across the sector were growing more complex.
National Co+op Grocers (NCG) stood at the center of this storm as a hub organization in a distributed, interdependent network, functioning in multiple roles — service organization, strategic convener, catalyst, connector, and more. It was tasked with helping a diverse ecosystem adapt—not just to survive, but to thrive in an era of disruption. That’s the context in which it brought in Lawrence Ellis and Paths to Change Consulting.
Client Testimonial
“We didn’t need a conventional strategic planning consultant. We needed someone who could help us and our network navigate a landscape in flux. And that’s exactly what Lawrence offered.
From the beginning, his approach was grounded in complex systems and adaptive strategy. He helped us step back and recognize the limitations of linear planning models in our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) environment. His work was not a theoretical exercise—it was a transformative process that built the capacity of our entire ecosystem to adapt intelligently and intentionally.
Lawrence’s contributions included:
- Establishing governance and communication structures that supported maximum appropriate (vs. “minimal necessary”) stakeholder engagement, balancing the need for nimbleness with the imperative for inclusion.
- Conducting a thorough assessment and creating a visual map of the dynamic forces shaping our context—a literal landscape that helped us see what we were up against, what was emerging, and where we could act.
- Teaching us to apply a complex adaptive lens, helping us see the value in working with shifting dynamics rather than resisting them.
- Illuminating the power of multiple, parallel strategies, implemented by teams that could be formed, reformed, and evolved as conditions changed.
- Facilitating the prioritization of these strategies—identifying the “critical few” to focus on first—while keeping space for ongoing experimentation and learning.
- Guiding the launch of our first adaptive strategy teams, each one charged with navigating a specific facet of the landscape in service of our shared vision for “higher ground”—a future in which NCG and its member co-ops are stable, secure, and thriving.
- Helping us set up initial metrics and adaptive KPIs—not rigid scorecards, but learning tools that allowed us to track what was working, what needed to change, and where to go next.
What made Lawrence’s work especially powerful was that he didn’t just deliver insights—he helped us internalize new ways of perceiving, thinking and acting. Through readings, videos, dialogues, and deep facilitation, he supported a shift in mindset across our organization. Eventually, a critical mass of us had our “lightbulb moment,” realizing that our old approaches would no longer work—and that we had the tools to evolve.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. We faced major disruptions along the way, including the COVID-19 pandemic and continued market consolidation. But the adaptive strategy muscles we built through Lawrence’s work became a great asset. We developed the discipline, protocols, and cultural practices for continuous adaptation.
Fast forward eight years: NCG is thriving, and so are many of our member co-ops. Of course, that success is shared—our leadership, our partners, and our members all played critical roles. But Lawrence’s work was pivotal. He helped us become not only more adaptive, but more confident in our ability to shape our own future.
If you’re seeking a consultant who won’t just give you a plan, but will help you and your network become wiser, stronger, and more capable of navigating complexity—then I wholeheartedly recommend Lawrence Ellis as a trusted guide and expert advisor.”
— CE Pugh, CEO, National Co+op Grocers (NCG)