THE CLA AND YOUR MEMBERSHIP
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s one year ends and the CLA gears up for the next, my preoccupation is: how do we know if we are doing a good job? That’s been harder to gauge for the last two years while we have been stuck at home with very limited face-to-face contact with members, which is the best way to find out what you think. And it’s always di cult to compare ourselves with other rural and farming organisations, we all guard our performance feedback jealously. That’s why it’s enormously gratifying that the CLA won an award recently for our support to members during the pandemic. Judged by and against our peers among membership bodies, we did an excellent job. It was a proud moment. We can survey our members, of course, and I want to say huge thanks to everyone who completed our 2021 survey. I know those calls are a pest, but they generate rich information from a cross-section of members. The results were reassuring – well over 80% of members surveyed consistently rated us highly on our value for money; the quality of our advice; our lobbying to infl uence government policy; and the insightfulness of the content we provide. Asked what they value most about membership, the top things were information, expert advice and giving them a voice. There were of course plenty of pointers on things we can do better, and we look at those equally – if not more – closely. One interesting insight was what those surveyed felt made the CLA unique: from looking after landowners’
interests and having access to people in power, to giving bespoke advice, and the strength and breadth of what we offer for the fees charged. Articulating what makes the CLA distinctive is a challenge, given the range of what we do. We had a go at encapsulating it in our new purpose and vision three years ago, emphasising the multi-dimensional value of CLA members’ activity for the rural economy, environment and communities, and that CLA members are directly engaged in responding to the biggest national and global challenges of our time. That this resonates with people is often confirmed to me. It came up frequently when talking to members who applied to become CLA board members. Candidates for jobs at the CLA say they are strongly motivated to work on these areas. For me, a distinctive pleasure of working with CLA members is your interest in the big picture and appetite to get to grips with di cult, but vital, long-term issues. Another key message from the survey was that it is time to move on from the pandemic and refocus energies on the transformational shifts that are underway in farming and environmental policy. ‘Getting back to normal’ isn’t how I see it: none of us have emerged from the pandemic unscathed and unchanged. But there is an invigorating feeling of energy, modernisation and renewal at the CLA, as we blend the innovations of the last two years with the best of what we did before to offer you excellent services. I look forward to working with you all in 2022.
Moving forward 2022 is an opportunity for members and the CLA to carve a new path of energy, modernisation and renewal, writes CLA Director General Sarah Hendry CLA ANNUAL 2022
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