Reengaging Divisions and AAAC
Links with the Divisions are being rebuilt including regular teleconferences, an annual face-to face meeting, inclusion of the CEO in Divisional and AAC meetings, and generally a more service based approach.
We have built a strong relationship with AAAC and I thank Rob Patterson for his contribution not just to AAAC but to the AIAST. AAAC have particular concerns with regards their services and the current dual membership requirements which constrain the people wishing to become AAAC members. We will be working together on a number of options to resolve these issues over the coming year.
In a similar vein, we are looking at developing closer service relationships with other ag professional bodies, many of who are also struggling.
Membership
Our greatest challenge for years has been to grow our membership. In fact, regardless of what else we do, our future success depends mainly on this single factor.
There is good news and bad news. More people than we had hoped have not renewed their membership this year. In part this is for reasons of age etc. but it is also has unfortunately been due to inadequacies in our own membership lists and systems. We have put considerable effort into fixing these.
On the positive side we see a growth in new members, especially younger people, and especially from agribusiness.
We still struggle with the issue of providing a value proposition to the individual. We continue to hear “what is in it for me”, and cannot rely on a good old fashioned sense of doing something for the profession as being a reason to become and stay a member. The tough environment out there does not help.
The Board has decided to embark on some market research and will soon be surveying members and non members as to what they want from a professional body such as ours. When all else fails, find out what the customer wants!
We are also placing more emphasis on getting student members and then following them into the workforce.
At the end of the day, membership is something which Divisions and AAAC need to work on since they are closest to the workface. Some Divisions are doing just that in some novel ways and we look forward to working with them.
Financial Reporting and Governance
One of the issues facing the new Board and CEO was to establish an accurate membership positions, budgets, monitoring, and governance procedures. This has consumed more time than we would have hoped but has been as essential part of our recovery and in meeting the requirements of the Corporations and Taxation Acts. We now have in place new processes which are overseen by the new Finance and Audit and Executive Committees. I thank Martin Collett as Treasurer, Bill Lewis as Corporate Secretary and Di Melham as CEO for their contributions.
It has been a big year and I thank the Board for their input and support.
We have a top balance of expertise, experience and geographic representation. We had an excellent strategic planning session in November last year which highlighted several areas to address. Board teams are in the process of doing so, But we are all time poor, given that we have own jobs and businesses to run.
I thank you as members, especially those who have gone beyond their duty to serve the Institute in a very professional manner
We have achieved a lot over the past year and whilst we have cleared the initial hurdles, much more is required of us to build AIAST into what it needs to be – the independent peak body representing the profession and agricultural and natural resource managers, which understands and services the needs of its members.
It is a challenge we must meet simply because in the current environment, the needs are greater than they have ever been.
Geoff Thomas
National President
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