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A to Z Guidelines For Board Members of Agricultural Cooperatives

Please Read our General Disclaimer and Business Law Disclaimer.

Here are the A to Z guidelines I suggest you follow when serving your cooperative as a director.

Accurate: Seek accurate financial reporting according to the criteria of an independent, outside auditor.

Best: Hire the best manager you can.

Confidence: Express confidence in the cooperative when outside the board room.

Different: Recognize that serving on the cooperative board is different from being a patron of the cooperative.

Earn a margin: The cooperative must earn a margin on the package of services rendered to each member or it will not continue to exist.

Fun: Take time to celebrate victories. Spread the credit to all team members involved in making a difference.

Grudge: If you hold a grudge based on past co-op decisions, it will make attending meetings extremely stressful. Forgive and forget.

Hurry up!: In a hurry-up atmosphere, mistakes will be made. Why not take the time needed to do it right.

Integrity: Integrity is why you were elected to serve on the board. Do not leave your common sense at home on board meeting days.

Judge from this perspective: View the cooperative as though you own it and as though you have no farm. What would you change?

Kick the political habit: The basic purpose of the cooperative is financial in nature.

Length of life: No cooperative has to last forever. Be flexible about re-organization concepts such as up-sizing or down-sizing.

Meet new people: When attending industry meetings on behalf of the cooperative, you are there to meet new people and learn.

No dart board: You are not a dart board for every co-op member's complaint. If members can get special treatment by complaining to you, then they will do just that.

On time: Arrive at meetings on time. Start meetings on time. End meetings on time.

Patronage dividend: Conduct all transactions at market price levels. Then reflect earnings in your cooperative's patronage dividends.

Quality: If you are going to make decisions about your co-op, then you probably need to know much more about the quality of its products. This is different than the quality of the product made at your farm.

Run for the board: Do not run for the board if you fail to believe in the co-op=s basic mission.

Strategic planning: wins in time of low commodity prices. Does your board action pass this strategic test?

Time for family: Take the family pledge -my family has great needs for my time and I will not let the emotions (or telephone calls) of co-op business affect my relationship with my family. It=s just not worth it.

Unallocated: If you allocate overhead to every department, the money-making departments will get loaded with more than their fair share and the losers will get treated with kid gloves. Instead, rely on your common sense regarding overhead.

View the banker: as a valued advisor.

When is the last time: you acted like the very best board member you can imagine. Follow your intuition, speak you mind, be eager to hear the other side of the story and accept the truth where you find it.

Your partners: are the cooperative's customers.

Z-the end: Just as the alphabet comes to an end, so will your time on the board. After all the effort, will you be able to look back and say you made a difference? Will you be able to look back and say you had some fun?