Many new ag ventures under formation today are the result of groups working together. There are several groups in the planning stages now to market grain or livestock related products. Two or more people are a group; a partnership among people seeking to achieve a common goal. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how groups work and the stages groups go through in reaching their goal.
To be successful, a group must establish a structure very early in the process. Key roles need to be filled to ensure the group is working towards its goal.
Who Needs to be at the Table?
Group Leader
This person has the vision or burning desire that is the driving force. He/she will be responsible for keeping the group on schedule, calling and conducting meetings, assigning tasks, following up and setting direction.
Secretary or Recorder
Someone needs to be appointed to take minutes of all meetings, handle correspondence and perform other duties.
Treasurer
Appoint someone to serve as treasurer. This is a potential new venture, so people involved need to act like it is one. Expenditures may be necessary and funds may need to be raised to finance the prefeasibility stage. An account of all financial matters should be kept.
Functional Committees
During all phases of prefeasibility through planning and start-up, issues will need to be dealt with in the functional areas of business – marketing/sales, accounting, finance, production, human resources, purchasing and general management. Appoint committee members to be team leaders for all of these areas. Their assignments are to address the many issues, questions and concerns that fall in their respective functional areas.
Others at the Table
Legal Advisor
This person should have industry knowledge and experience as well as corporation and/or cooperative experience. Experience should be in federal and state laws and regulations.
Financial Advisor
This person should have industry knowledge and experience as well as corporation and/or cooperative experience. He or she also should have experience with start-up businesses.
Major Stockholders and/or Major Investors
These would be investors other than producers or other committee members. They need to be at the table to make the “GO” or “NO GO” decisions in these exploratory stages.
Industry Consultant
This person needs to have industry knowledge and experience as well as corporation and/or cooperative experience. He/she should have a working knowledge and understanding of federal and state laws and regulations concerning the industry. And, this person must have experience in start-up operations.
Advisor
This needs to be a person who can provide overall assistance and guidance to the group, will help the group establish goals and will help it work through the five stages of a group. This person should enhance the decision making process through use of techniques such as brainstorming, affinitizing, data collection and analysis, and the problem solving cycle of the plan (do-check-act).
First Step
A starting point for the group, after getting organized, is to read and discuss “The Cycle of a Project” chapter in this manual. A list of key issues is included in the article. Of that list, the two questions to consider now, before proceeding any further, are:
- What is the need for the project?
- What is the potential membership base and volume of product for the project?