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Leadership in Governance: by Farmers for Farmers
| Leadership in Governance: by Farmers for Farmers |
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CLICK HERE to find out more about the CCA/Gay Lea Leadership in Governance program.
CLICK HERE to view a video about the Leadership in Governance program at Gay Lea.
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Gay Lea Foods Co-operative and the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) have been working in partnership to develop and implement a delegate and director training and development program. The primary aim of the Training and Development Program is to ensure that dairy co-operatives and other farmer-controlled agricultural businesses within the dairy sector have the skills, knowledge, attitude and capabilities amongst current delegate representatives and farmer-directors as well as aspiring delegates and directors to fully contribute to the delivery of business plans and strategies through excellence in corporate governance and member communications.
Gay Lea in partnership with CCA undertook a training needs analysis of the directors and delegates in May 2008. In addition, delegates and directors were asked to provide feedback on a proposed delegate and director development program. Based on this feedback and extensive consultation between Gay Lea and CCA, a comprehensive training and development program has been developed which meets the needs of current and future farmer-directors and delegates well as providing opportunities for developing leadership in rural communities across Canada.
Aims
The key aim of the Leadership in Governance Program is to ensure that dairy co-operatives, other farmer-controlled agricultural businesses within the dairy sector and the wider agricultural co-operative sector have the skills, knowledge, attitude and capabilities amongst current and aspiring delegate representatives and farmer-directors as well as aspiring delegates and directors to fully contribute to the delivery of business plans and strategies through excellence in corporate governance and member communications.
Objectives
Specific objectives of the Leadership in Governance Program are as follows:
- To develop and implement a challenging, multi-tiered training and development program which meets the training and development needs of current and prospective delegate representatives and directors.
- To encourage members to stand for office by providing an incentive to get involved and provide the mechanism by which members can take on higher degrees of responsibility through the delegate body and the board.
- To improve the confidence of all individual members in the management and governance capability of their elected representatives.
- To demonstrate the benefits of the co-operative model and values as well as participating within the delegate and board structures to members and non-members.
- To incorporate co-operative values in to traditional director training programmes and promoting the benefits of farmer co-operation in Canadian agriculture
Benefits
The benefits for the individual farmers participating on the program are that by its end they will have:
- all the skills and competence required to fulfill the role of board and delegate representatives and to assist them in any move towards the main board
- an excellent knowledge of the function of corporate governance and how it operates within the co-operative business structure
- a good knowledge of business finance and the tools and know-how to use financial information appropriately
- an exemplary knowledge of the national and international dairy sector and the role that farmer co-operation can fulfill within it
- a commitment to developing leadership skills and continuing personal and professional development within dairy co-operatives, agricultural co-operatives in general and rural communities
- excellent all-round communication and media skills
- a sound understanding of business management and development, and of the role that farmer-members have in supporting the business
- a good understanding of their own personal strengths and weaknesses and be able to continually develop themselves to meet their future needs
Click here to download the program overview and further details on the training modules
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