Trailblazers

Leadership development programs key to
more women winning seats on co-op boards

By Kristine Rose

Editor’s note: This article is based on thesis research conducted by
Rose at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. For more
information on the research findings, she can be reached at
tcspa_Kristine@yahoo.com. She hopes to continue her work with
cooperatives in the areas of leadership and diversity.

any co-ops are looking for ways to increase the number of young people and women on their boards. While working for Land O’Lakes and as a graduate student in organizational leadership, I led a roundtable discussion on leadership at a conference for women in agriculture. When the women participants learned of my employment and interest in women in leadership roles, they asked me for advice regarding how they could become directors.

This piqued my curiosity. It seemed to me that if women co-op directors would share their knowledge and experiences, it might eliminate some of the mystery of how to become a director.

Six out of 236
To find some examples of women co-op directors, I looked to National Cooperative Bank’s list of Top 100 Cooperatives, focusing on the 11 that are located in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Of 236 directors serving those 11 cooperatives in 2001, just six were women.

I spoke to each of the six about their experiences of being nominated and elected, as well as serving their cooperative. Hopefully, their experiences will serve as a resource for other cooperatives seeking the best possible leaders, and as an inspiration for other women.

These six directors interviewed were: Embarking upon the leadership pathway
Each of these six female directors had previous involvement in organizations or programs such as Young Cooperators, Young Farmers and Ranchers and Farm Bureau, among others. This experience was key to their leadership development and election to the board, all agreed. Their involvement and attaining leadership roles in those organizations did not go unnoticed, as five of the six were encouraged by men to pursue a board nomination. These men included co-op directors, employees or members of the nominating committee.

Bolin’s experience confirms the value of involvement in a leadership development program, such as a Young Cooperators program. Her involvement in the program improved her visibility in the cooperative.

“The YC program is a good starting place because it gets you involved and it exposes you to things on a national level,” says Bolin, who got involved in the program in 1981. “It gets you beyond your community. As a result of our YC involvement, we knew about Swiss Valley cooperative, the co-op system and co-op issues.” Bolin and her husband, Dave, were both active in the YC program and its contests, winning Outstanding YC Couple honors one year.

As was the case with the other directors, Bolin found that this leadership experience opened the door to a chance to run for the board.

“Following that, a director who was going to be retiring approached us, wondering if one of us would be willing to run. Since we were 30 and 32 years old at the time, he thought we were maybe too young to actually get elected. But he said, ‘Let’s get your names out now and maybe this is something you could do in the future.’”

Bolin’s husband felt strongly that she had ability to lead. Indeed, all six directors interviewed said their husbands supported their running for the board. Her husband also thought her first run for the board would just be to build some name recognition for a future try. “We won’t get it this time, but then they’re aware that we’re interested in the co-op and maybe it’s something we can do down the road when we’re a little older,’ he said. So I put my name up for the nomination.”

Farm Bureau experience whets
appetite for run
Stacy’s nomination story differs in that she was the only one of the six who was approached by the nominating committee and asked to consider becoming a director candidate.

“I was not seeking the director position,” Stacy says. “ I had been more active in the Farm Bureau and was seeking an office there, but was unsuccessful.”

When the co-op nominating committee asked her to run, Stacy said she was honored, but was worried about her lack of governance knowledge.

The committee assured her she could pick up those skills quickly, and she was elected on her first try. After serving as board secretary for several years, Stacy was elected president of her district board in 1992 and went on to join the Land O’ Lakes corporate board in 1994.

Verhulst pursued the nomination independently, entering the election process because she felt the membership in her district was underrepresented.

Overcoming initial self-doubt
When initially encouraged to run for the board, each woman had concerns about her ability to serve as a director.

Although they were already recognized by others for their leadership in Young Cooperators or other organizations, they wondered if they had enough formal education, knew enough about governance or were smart enough to lead and serve their cooperative.

Cihak describes her personal challenges: “I think there are a lot of good women in agriculture, but we’re ingrained with [feelings that] ‘You don’t know enough.’ I always felt like I had to try harder, read more, be more prepared, always go that extra mile just to be even. I always felt I had to try hard just to be on baseline.”

Male director reaction
Some of the women encountered individual board members who seemed uncomfortable with a woman in the boardroom. But each director said that, overall, she felt accepted by her fellow directors.

“One thing I learned, as far as the co-op board, is they didn’t have a problem with me being a female. They accepted me,” says Bolin.

“Each director accepted me very well,” Stacy concurs. “I think I was accepted readily because I was known. You’re with your next-door neighbor, so to speak, your county people. You’re familiar with them from co-op annual meetings and the ag community you just know those people. So I was well received there.”

Meulemans said entering the boardroom was also comfortable for her. “I can honestly say I was always respected as a woman and a director.” She considers board work interesting and rewarding, saying she wishes that “everybody could be on the board at sometime in their life.”

Adds DeWall, “I felt very well accepted. Of course, I had been on the board before, so I was kind of acquainted with most directors.”

Most of her initial worries proved groundless, Stacy says. “I have had a wonderful experience, was well received and a lot better qualified than I gave myself credit for.”

Combined, their board service now totals 68 years (not counting director experiences outside co-op board rooms). As S.J. Freeman, author of Managing Lives: Corporate women and social change wrote: “By the time she has proved herself, a woman’s acceptance has slowly evolved.”

Further proving how well their male peers accepted them, five of the six women directors were elected to co-op executive committee positions.

Cihak’s feelings following her election to the executive committee are an indicator that one barrier to women’s participation might be an internal barrier: “The vice chair moved up to the chairman’s position on the dairy committee, and they needed to elect a new vice chair. My peers elected me to that position. I [then] realized they had confidence in me and trusted me.”

Conclusions
Director interviews with these six board members demonstrate that participation in Young Cooperator and Young Farmer programs played a key role in each woman director developing confidence in her leadership ability and increasing her visibility among other co-op members. This is one more reason why co-ops should continue their support of leadership development programs.

Another key to election was the encouragement the women received to pursue the directorship from men in their cooperatives. Since only one of the six directors was elected as a consequence of being nominated by a nominating committee, cooperatives should review nominating committee procedures and see if a means can be made to seek more diverse candidates.

Once in the boardroom, these six directors each spoke of being well received by their male peers. Not only did they speak of being accepted, their peers elected them to executive committee roles.


May/June Table of Contents