It’s back to basics and it appears they’ve been asking themselves those rudimentary yet vital question every business must ask itself – Why are we here?
It’s not enough to focus on driving volume by building milk pools and adding more and more consumer goods. That’s not why people turn up to work.
Fonterra has had a long look at itself and realised the word health is pivotal to its core – the health of its suppliers and customers and the health of the environment. Of course, it takes a healthy balance sheet to achieve these things. Any leader will tell you people don’t do the hard yards to add another palate of product to the pile. They do it to make a difference to someone or something, to make a person or a population healthier, perhaps, or to improve biodiversity.
By identifying its why, the big co-op is showing its farmers and New Zealand it is not just focused on milk powder. It’s focused on the lives of those it touches and the world they live in. That might sound a bit sappy but it is that emotional connection that keeps people loyal – to the co-operative and to the food it produces.
Last year’s shocking result and the decade-long ebb in its social licence have brought Fonterra to this moment. So far it seems to have the backing of its farmer-owners. Time will tell if the rest of NZ and the global buying public find it a story they can believe in as well.
Bryan Gibson
