Need for change trumpeted at NICE: farm bill task force proposes actions to reserve farm-income downward spiral

Rural Cooperatives, Sept-Oct, 2001 by Dan Campbell

Ask only questions that are job related and will give insight into a candidate's ability to perform the job. It is best to have four or even five board members participate in the interview, and they should practice doing interviews before the real ones are held. Do not use the previous CEO to help interview. Also encourage the applicant to ask questions.

Your new leader should be able to inspire efforts of others through his leadership style, Bruynis said.

RELATED ARTICLE: Clear sense of vision & mission critical to co-ops facing mergers.

"Without a clear vision, mission, set of values and defined ways to measure success, a cooperative's communications efforts are an unnecessary investment," said Maury Miller, recently retired vice president of member services at CHS Cooperatives (Cenex Harvest States).

This philosophy helped guide the communications efforts of the co-op during the past 25 years as it grew and diversified through a series of mergers, Miller said., including a major unification of CENEX and Harvest States Cooperatives in 1998. That historic merger came together more quickly than many that had preceded it, in large part because of the excellent buy-in that existed among both organizations regarding their new mission.

CENEX and Land O'Lakes formed a joint venture in 1987 to market their farm supply products, including an agronomy operation of which each owned 50 percent. Just 10 years later, the joint profitability of the two cooperatives was more than $200 million, and the joint venture is widely considered as a model of success. Mergers such as this create "overwhelming communications challenges" needed to blend differing "corporate" cultures, Miller noted.

Consolidations, Miller said, are not so much exercises in economics as in human relations, which makes communications critical to the success of the effort. In a merger, some will have to give up things they may hold dearly. Compromise becomes the order of the day in order to build a stronger, unified organization. "That's not an easy thing to do when dealing with directors and managers who are highly driven and have strong views of what they want to do," Miller said.

Effective communications requires clear understanding of the co-op's:

1. Vision--what does the co-op want to be? In the case of CHS, the vision was to build "an integrated ag supply and grain-based foods system."

2. Mission--what is the co-op's purpose? For CHS, it was "improving the cooperative's and producers' profitability and value."

3. Values--What core values will guide the way in which the co-op does business? Integrity/honesty, professionalism, quality of goods and services and respect for all were the key values CHS chose.

4. Measurements of success--growth, financial and customer success were the performance yardstick CHS selected.

The bottom line for every decision the CHS board makes is, "Did we help our farmers succeed by this action?" Miller said, "If not, we didn't do so well. Helping producers and local co-ops succeed and serving local communities are why CHS exists, he said.