“Thank you for your work with IARW over these past several months. I especially would like to say what a great response we had from our board members. Your guidance has been wonderful for all of our members not to mention our staff, and we look forward to working on the next set of strategic plans.”
Situation
The International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses, with nearly 500 members, is a trade association that represents the professional interests and concerns of Cold Storage Practitioners. The Association’s success is built around the promotion of best practices for the temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics industry.
IARW retained Potomac Core to conduct a member impact survey, an instrument that identifies member “Up-At-Night” issues and also determines the impact the association is having on those issues. With almost 17 percent of the members responding, the “Up-At-Night” issues identified included new growth, market positioning and development, food safety compliance and cost pressures; operational planning and strategy; and human capital management including employee recruitment and retention.
Engagement Overview
IARW wanted to update its strategic plan and align and position the organization around member business and professional outcomes. In order to facilitate an effective strategic planning process, the organization sought to:
- Understand IARW‘s current impact
- Identify member “Up-At-Night” issues
- Determine opportunities to increase the organization’s impact on behalf of its members
Outcome
The impact survey research facilitated engaging discussion at the fall 2014 board of directors meeting. Board members selected priorities which launched the IARW strategic plan update. Click here for the Member “Up-At-Night” Issues in Cold Facts Magazine and the new Strategic Plan.
