Have your people call my people

Talking to Dave Gombas of United earlier in the week, he indicated there has not yet been a meeting between suppliers/association leaders with members of the Food Safety Leadership Council. The purpose of the clutch, of course is to talk about the merits of the council's on-farm food safety standards. Gombas was hopeful for a meeting before the end of the month. There appears to be, in my view, a little trepidation from all parties over what to expect from the process. Is this a technical discussion only or will it delve into marketing issues? In any case, there should be no reason that the council and suppliers should not agree to meet at least one time. If nothing comes of it except the perfunctory "agree to disagree" spin, it would be better than if the meeting never happened.

How big should the steering committee of the Produce Traceability Initiative be? The question appears to be open for at least now, as some favor adding a few more members to fill out the supply chain, while others would prefer a committee size that is more manageable.

I'm afraid they may have already breached the ideal committee size. From the Web site Solutions that endure.

Seven is the Ideal

Seven is the ideal number of members for a group to problem solve, find creative solutions, build a strategic plan or grapple with complex challenges. If groups are formed for other purposes such as building consensus, representing diverse communities or governing, these concepts may not apply.

Too Large

As a group gets too large in the 9-12 region group dynamics deteriorate. Meetings get longer and each person has less time to contribute. This leads to many potential pitfalls; boring meetings, members not paying full attention, noisy meetings and ultimately lack of attendance. In large groups many participants will feel not enough “attention” is given to their opinions and input. Aggressive personalities will feel the need to assert themselves to get their share of limited time. Passive personalities will hold back and not contribute equally as the meeting becomes time constrained. Dissatisfaction of members with the group dynamics, output or effectiveness will lead to a downward spiral of diminished group performance.

Balance

The closer the group size is to seven the easier it will be to achieve the balance needed to create a highly effective group. Creative synergy is the goal. This happens when group members throw their ideas on the table and others are stimulated and react to that idea, spawning another idea or view. The goal is to create a positive feedback loop of contribution of each member so that the individual members feel energized about their contribution. When this cycle occurs each individual contribution is a building block to a bigger and better final product built by the entire group.

Another objective of the balanced group is making fewer mistakes. This happens because the diversity of opinion allows more facets of a problem and proposed solution to be seen and vetted. There is a high value in diversity of life experiences. Just when the group feels they have solved the problem or found the ideal solution, one lone member will catch the flaw that others missed in their excitement.

Characteristics of a Team

A balanced group size has all members actively participating and sharing their questions, observations and ideas. An effective group evolves when members see themselves as a team, and value the output of the group and identify with the group with pride.

One Reason it Matters

Problems are created when people insist on designing and empowering very large groups to solve problems. The confusion comes from the focus on having all interest groups or stakeholders represented which is a laudable goal. After a very large council, commission or committee is formed it becomes evident the “work” cannot get done efficiently. At that point a methodology has to be constructed to work around the dysfunctionality of the 25 member group.

TK: At least we can hope for 7-member subcommittees after the Jan. 9 meeting in Atlanta.