Members’ Council meeting: On the way to clarity for members
01 April 2021
An informal meeting of the Members' Council was held on Thursday 25 March 2021. The main themes: digital environmental registration and certification, the new approach for Floriday and the new membership model.
(The photo was taken before corona.)
Step by step towards implementation of digital environmental registration and certification
The Management Board has asked the Members' Council for advice with regards to the interpretation of the mandatory nature of digital environmental registration and certification. Recently, it was decided not to enforce digital environmental registration for the time being. As such, the company would like to take more time for the implementation, due to the concerns that have arisen among some members. The Members' Council will now get to work to create a broadly supported recommendation. Previously, a small majority in the Members' Council was in favour of the advice. This proved to be representative of the broad discussion among members.
The Management Board has updated the Members' Council with the current state of affairs for a number of strategic projects, including the new approach for Floriday. The Members' Council is confident that we are going in the right direction with the new approach.
Lessons - Sustainability Leading Team
The evaluation of the Sustainability Leading Team was also discussed. The role of a Leading Team is to jointly create solutions for complex subjects, as defined in the basic principle: combining the knowledge of the members with the professionalism of the company. Starting from the end of 2018 up to the end of 2020 this team of growers and Royal FloraHolland employees has worked closely together on the preparation of the advice of the Members' Council with regards to the mandatory digital environmental registration and certification. For this reason, the members were consulted in several sessions about feasibility and desirability.
The evaluation has shown that the approach created by the Members' Council, the consultation of the members and the installation of the Leading Team, still does not function optimally. Given that this was the first Leading Team, this is not so strange to see. An important lesson for the future was that it should be clear to everyone involved what the assignment and questions are on which the Leading Team is acting, what the mandate is and when a Leading Team should cease to exist.
Taking decisions on membership
The Membership Leading Team has provided feedback on the consultation sessions that took place at the beginning of the year. Members discussed the most important basic principles for a new membership model. The main points raised were:
- the difference between member-suppliers and suppliers
- the friction between being a cooperative and being a neutral marketplace
- the wide range of different needs that different growers have
- the importance of being a cooperative
- the best way to handle the loyalty shown to the cooperative
- and finally, the best way we can make sure the bond between members and the cooperative is good.
The Leading Team has determined for various grower types, what the most important issues are in the membership. Now that this analysis has been completed, it is time to show the results. Based on the issues and the added value that Royal FloraHolland can offer, the Leading Team will enter into an extensive discussion with the entire Members' Council about how we can make sure that members stay bonded.
The next formal Members' Council meeting will be held on 22 April 2021.
