Thinking outside the box necessary for future leaders

The recommendations, which were published last week on International Rural Women’s Day, were compiled by the diversity committee convened by IFA president Joe Healy just over a year ago. The aim: to make changes in the organisation that will help it attract a more diverse candidate for election. And although the original mandate was women, it was highlighted through the work of the group that the organisation needs to attract all types of new people.

At the launch, Dr Sharon Greene evoked the big picture thinking of her grandfather Juan Green, the first NFA/IFA president whose vision it was to “build a truly independent organisation bringing together for the first time, farmers in all sectors and from all parts of the country”. This diversity, attracting all interests and all talents led to successful outcomes for farmers over the last 70 years.

More innovation

The IFA president Joe Healy in his address at the launch spoke to why diversity is important for the IFA. “First, diverse organisations are better equipped to tackle complex problems. These are difficult times for Irish agriculture, we need all farmers – male and female, young and old, from all sectors – to get involved and protect the long-term sustainability of the sector.

“Diverse teams are better able to innovate, solve problems and make predictions. So, it makes sense that a more diverse team is likely to be better able to understand the range of issues facing farmers in different farming enterprises and at different scales of operation – placing IFA in a better position to develop policies to serve all farmers.”

Representation

“The second reason why diversity matters, is because we want to be more effective in our representation of the people who we serve.

“We want the IFA teams to reflect the diversity in our membership. By better reflecting those that we serve, it increases the likelihood we can engage more effectively with our members. Allowing us to improve the way we communicate and strengthen the effectiveness of the organisation.

People have to put their hand up to get involved and to encourage them

It will help us better represent all our members, which in turn will help us develop better policies and negotiate outcomes for farm families.”

This committee’s work was complicated by the unique nature of the organisation in that it is a voluntary and democratic organisation with voluntary leadership. For this reason, many of the ways that other companies and organisations can achieve increased diversity are not applicable. People have to put their hand up to get involved and to encourage them to do this (with many other competing priorities), they need to believe that their participation is wanted and valued and that they will be heard and respected.

The organisation’s values

This is why embedding diversity into the strategy of the IFA and being led from the top will be imperative to success. The NFA’s primary purpose was to develop agriculture and advance the living standards of Irish farm families which remains the core mission of the IFA, but it was found that this may not be translating across effectively.

A large-scale survey was completed by the committee at the outset of its work and commentary amongst respondents suggested that the values of the organisation do not resonate with a generation of farmers.

This will build a positive, strong organisational, culture that can clearly differentiate the IFA in the mind of its members

A recommendation of the group was that mission, vision and value statements are developed for the organisation as a whole as they would help members remember why the organisation is important.

This will build a positive, strong organisational, culture that can clearly differentiate the IFA in the mind of its members. This can inspire and motivate people, and be a powerful resource to attract people. If farmers clearly understand why they should be involved, that their involvement is wanted and what the benefits are, they will become more involved.

Project team

The establishment of a diversity project team will be tasked to the National Officers Committee.

Its primary aim will be to eliminate the barriers identified in the survey which hinder entrance of women and men to the IFA at all levels in terms of recruitment, succession, retention and development.

A number of the candidates for the upcoming election were in attendance at the launch and would have clearly heard the concerns of the 100 people in attendance.

Challenged

A comment made from the floor was that this conversation had been had before, and challenged the leadership of the organisation to act quickly on the report and not let it be mothballed.

The importance of the diversity project team being properly resourced to ensure that it would be effective was also highlighted. The IFA responded that the project team would be chaired by a member of the National Officers Committee and supported by a staff member.

The scope of the project team will include the development of a talent bank of potential candidates and the expansion of the Future Leaders Programme, which according to the committee has a critical role to play to increase the leadership diversity within the Association. Maria Ryan, the current Mayo country secretary, who with a motto of “work smarter, not harder”, participated in this future leaders programme.

It was informative and insightful and made me think outside the box

Speaking of her experience, she said that she found it to be a well-delivered course with relevant topics covered from the home farm to the workings of IFA.

“It was informative and insightful and made me think outside the box. It explained the importance of the meetings and how an issue can be carried through to council, laying the foundations for policy makers.”

A barrier identified by younger potential officers was “recycling” within the organisation. Many are unwilling to challenge for positions if a long-serving member decides to run for a position on a committee. This presents a conundrum in that the organisation needs fresh ideas and/or a different perspective while ensuring that experience and talent are not lost.

To create an environment that supports and encourages succession within the leadership of the association, a number of rule changes were proposed:

Lack of confidence, self-consciousness and lack of training were also highlighted as barriers. It is proposed to introduce a number of training, mentoring and peer-to-peer support programmes as well as unconscious bias training to combat these barriers.

To increase awareness of the strong role women already play within the association and promote the opportunities available to women

Also acknowledged was that, although there may be a huge buy-in for diversity at the top of the organisation, to cascade it down through the organisation requires real investment and an effective communications strategy as “you can’t be what you don’t see”.

To increase awareness of the strong role women already play within the association and promote the opportunities available to women. It is proposed to host an annual networking event for women involved in the association or interested in getting involved, to encourage greater dialogue and support more women farmers to get involved.

The report can be found here.