Getting the Most from Your Food Association Memberships
I often come across people who are members of associations, either individually or through their companies or other organizations, but they don’t always know how to get the most out of their association dollar. As an association veteran, I know that these powerful organizations can be one of your best assets. They can help you do your job better. They can help solve problems that individuals or companies cannot do alone. They can help elect politicians who understand your business challenges. They can help you find camaraderie with your peers. They can even help you find a job or other opportunity through the relationships you build. Hopefully, this article will help you get the most out of the associations you belong to or even persuade you to join a new one.
What Do Associations Do?
Associations exist for a variety of reasons, so it is important to know the scope of an organization’s mission before joining. For example, trade associations are devoted to improving the business conditions of multiple lines of business, such as an industry or components of an industry within a geographical area. They can lobby legislative bodies and participate in political campaigns. Examples of food industry trade associations are the Northwest Food Processors Association (NWFPA), a regionally focused group, and the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which focus on national issues. Membership is generally by company, so many individuals may benefit from just one membership.
Scientific associations in the food industry are mostly for educational and research purposes, although some are involved in testing, standards setting and other activities. These organizations are very restricted in the lobbying activities in which they may engage. Examples of scientific associations would be the Institute of Food Technologists or the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). These memberships are usually at the individual level.
What associations cannot do is participate in activities prohibited by antitrust laws. That means members cannot attempt to control or even suggest pricing, or conduct any activities that encourage more uniform pricing among competitors. Competitors can, under certain circumstances, agree jointly not to do business with targeted individuals or businesses, otherwise known as boycotting. There are a number of other activities that would raise antitrust concerns.
Issue Management in Action: The NWFPA Community Network Program
The PEST method (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) is a common business-environment analysis tool used for scanning. NWFPA used this analysis tool in 2012 to analyze the education and training needs of its membership in response to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and to develop a strategy to assist members in fulfilling those needs.
Factors involved in this environmental scan included:
Political – FSMA imposes new regulatory requirements for food safety programs that involve substantial changes to business operations and additional training of employees. These new requirements need to be absorbed by key employees, incorporated into existing systems and taught throughout the food processors’ operations. Confidence by the regulatory community that the food processing industry is embracing these new standards will depend, in part, on the investment the industry makes in learning and understanding them.
Economic – Customer requirements for food safety programs overlay regulatory requirements for purposes of satisfying specific market needs and are a condition of doing business. Inattention to these customer and regulatory requirements could mean loss of sales. In addition, fulfillment of education and training needs represents a significant new cost to a company in time and resources. Resource constraints and isolated plant locations make in-person training impractical or prohibitive under the current training market conditions where travel—sometimes extensive—is often necessary.
Social – In the northwest United States, food processing facilities are largely centered on certain areas—“neighborhoods”—within the states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Because the Northwest food processing community has a history of isolation from major markets in the country, a culture of cooperation and interdependence has grown up that makes members of this community readily accepting of joint initiatives toward problem solving. These neighborhoods and a willingness to work together create a unique opportunity to congregate sizable groups of food processing personnel for events with little cost or lost time due to travel.
Technological – While distance learning has become more readily available and is appropriate under certain circumstances, association members find greatest value in in-person training, where brainstorming and targeted problem solving are more effective.
In response to these factors, NWFPA arrived at its concept of Community Training Networks (CTNs).
CTNs aggregate members who operate in food processing-rich “neighborhoods,” defined as areas where attendees could travel to events in one day by car. These networks have the following advantages:
• The CTNs make it possible to bring trainers to areas where the companies operate rather than having to send workers elsewhere to receive training. This greatly reduces travel, which also reduces time away from the job and nearly eliminates travel costs.
• In addition, because food processors in the training network commit upfront to attendance at training events, there is a higher guarantee of a market and less risk to the association in financing events. The association has the flexibility to balance revenues across a larger number of training events and offer lower registration fees through more aggressive event budgeting. This revenue then gets reinvested back into the program to support it for the long term.
• Participants can tailor training content to the specific needs of the community and select the highest-quality trainers that suit their needs and schedule. By creating a training calendar tailored to the processing schedule and needs of the community and including a series of high-priority, high-quality trainings, companies in the area can budget in advance for their training needs. Because travel costs are greatly reduced, the training budget goes further.
• CTNs are useful to Northwest organizations located outside of the network because they bring in training otherwise offered only in other areas of the country. Attendees gain access to world-class instructors, consultants and food safety experts.
• Community network meetings also provide networking opportunities for peers to share training needs and troubleshooting strategies.
The first CTN began in the Boardman, OR, area in 2012 and now extends up and down the Columbia River Valley into Oregon and Washington. The Boardman community now has a full training calendar published annually. In 2014, a Salem, OR, network was formed that recently expanded to include the Willamette Valley corridor, and the first full training calendar was published last year.
This program benefits food processor members of the association in some expected ways, as well as some surprising ways:
• Politically, the Northwest industry sends a strong message to regulators and legislators of a food processing industry that is committed to strong food safety education and training. This helps maintain a relationship of trust with regulators so that, when problems do arise, there is a shared goal in solving them. When legislators propose new laws for food safety, association feedback is delivered through the lens of a strong food safety commitment.
• The economic advantage is straightforward in terms of education and training savings. In addition, involvement in the networks and a strong training program give the sales department additional tools in ensuring a corporate commitment to delivering a safe, wholesome product to customers. It also provides a venue for suppliers to the industry to bring product and service solutions to the community that they could not otherwise afford to bring to individual companies.
• Socially, the CTNs provide additional opportunities to form strong personal bonds through networking, sharing strategies and problem solving. They can also expand their reach into other joint efforts, such as local and state political strategies, economic development and developing additional training on worker safety, environmental management or energy-efficiency training. Many of these acquaintances go on to form business-to-business relationships that further the goals of the individual companies.
This example shows the importance of environmental scanning for NWFPA’s issue management in action. With strong member input and involvement, staff and leadership develop high-level, strategic viewpoints on industry challenges that individual companies often will not see on their own and usually would not have the resources to execute. It also illustrates the unexpected outcomes that can be leveraged against other important issues facing the association’s members.