Leadership change in New Zealand agricultural co-operative boards

The New Zealand Kellogg Rural Leaders Programme develops emerging agribusiness leaders to help shape the future of New Zealand agribusiness and rural affairs. Lincoln University has been involved with this leaders programme since 1979 when it was launched with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, USA.Good quality leadership transition for New Zealand Agricultural Cooperatives\ud is characterised by the following\ud • Robust regular board discussion on future Board leadership\ud • Identifying skill training requirements within the Board\ud • Identifying potential leaders outside of the Board and providing\ud leadership training\ud • Using independent directors skills in the process\ud • Once a new chair is identified, having a transition plan in place\ud The risks to a well planned leadership transition program are:\ud • Allowing the transition to become a political one\ud • Having good governance disrupted through the non-planned\ud loss of key members of the Board\ud The New Zealand Agricultural Co-operatives surveyed all discuss\ud board leadership at least annually. However there is a significant\ud difference in the depth of the discussion as some co-operatives have\ud significant structures attached to the discussion while others have\ud very little formal structures