2011 March/April Issue - Land O'Lakes Inc.

In addition to sponsoring the event,Land O’Lakes volunteers worked throughoutthe event answering phones and working informationbooths at the mall. ■Ag Services Election ChangesIn response to feedback from members, therehave been several governance changes for AgServices region elections in 2011-2012:• The region voting meeting, normally scheduledfor fall 2011, will instead be held at the 2012Annual Meeting. This change will shorten thenomination and election process from 16months to 12 months; eliminate overlap fromone election cycle to the next; and allow sufficienttime for candidate selection and campaigning.Additionally, it reduces the numberof governance meetings held throughout theyear, and does away with the delay from regionnominee election to official corporate election.• Due to the election changes noted above, ExecutiveCouncil and Corporate Board terms willnow both begin and end at the Land O’Lakes AnnualMeeting, rather than at the Fall Meetings.• The regional voting meetings will be held onFeb. 28, 2012. The official election of directorswill occur during the Annual Meeting businessmeeting on February 29. ■Supporting JapanDisaster ReliefLand O’Lakes will contribute up to $20,000to the American Red Cross and SalvationArmy in direct donations and an employee/member match program. The Land O’LakesFoundation has activated its Member CoopMatch Program to provide additionalfinancial contribution through April 30, 2011.Go to www.landolakesinc.com/membersto learn more.Leadership ConferenceFocuses on sharedgrowthBusiness Development Services bringsco-op leaders together to talk aboutbusiness growthRecognizing that Land O’Lakes and membercooperatives’ business growth go hand-in-hand,Land O’Lakes Business Development Services(BDS) hosted its first CEO/General ManagersLeadership Conference under the theme ofsharedgrowth. Leaders from 70 Land O’Lakesmember cooperatives attended the conferencein Nassau, Bahamas, in early 2011.“For our inaugural leadership conference,we wanted to feature growth, which cooperativeCEOs and GMs ranked as a priority whenwe last surveyed them,” said BDS Senior VicePresident Karen Grabow. “Our goal was toshare relevant insights and tools that theco-op leaders could apply to their businessesto strengthen their competitive advantage.”Conference attendees enjoyed traditional Bahamiancuisine and the expansive grounds of the Atlantis Resort.The conference featured a pair of guestspeakers who shared excellent outside-inperspectives. Dr. Allan Gray, director of Centerfor Food and Agricultural Business and MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Managementat Purdue University, shared a global outlookfor the agriculture industry. He highlighted,despite the many challenges, the numerousopportunities for growth in agriculture – includingan increased global demand, improvedproduction practices and new opportunities inthe form of renewable fuels.Ted Rouse, senior partner at Bain & Co.,expressed the value of companies definingtheir core customers, products, capabilitiesand cost advantages. Rouse shared examplesof companies that strayed from their core andfell on challenging times, and highlighted companiesthat narrowed their scope, focused ontheir core and achieved meaningful growth.The second session illustrated the importanceof customer experience. ForresterResearch Principal Analyst Megan Burnspresented the results of a recentBDS survey that rated the experienceof 2,700 producer-customers whopurchase from one of six differentLand O’Lakes member co-ops rangingin size and geography.“The findings revealed that customersare generally satisfied with theirinteractions,” Grabow said. “In fact, asa group, the six cooperatives rankedhigher than most industries measuredby Forrester Research in delivering apositive customer experience.”Despite the positive results, Grabowsaid the survey still provided clear insightsinto areas of service opportunity. Burnsagreed and added that there are many areasin which co-ops could improve their customerexperience and explained that, by doing so,they could create a more loyal customer base.Grabow said customer surveys are animportant tool for ensuring cooperativegrowth. “We in BDS continue to grow our surveycapability to help cooperatives understandtheir strengths and opportunities in meetingcustomers’ needs,” she said. “By adding thisoffering to our portfolio, we can help promotesuccess for both individual cooperatives andthe entire federated system.”Taking the survey results a step further,Shaun Smith, partner from Smith & Co.,turned the focus to how co-ops can improvethe customer experience. Smith offereda number of examples of companies thatprovide exceptional customer experience andthe benefits of doing so – such as creatinga dedicated customer base willing to pay apremium and refer others to their business. ■Land O’Lakes CEO Chris Policinski shares the stagewith Ted Rouse, senior partner at Bain & Co.www.landolakesinc.com MARCH/APRIL 2011 29