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Best Practices in Organizing Work
May 14, 2025
The Importance of a Vision
A vision is a mental picture of a preferred future state, a description of what your farm or business will be like some years from now.
It is more than a dream or set of hopes; it is a commitment.
The vision provides the context for designing and managing the changes that will be necessary to reach goals. It provides guiding direction for developing strategy, searching out key opportunities, and making resource allocation decisions. Visions are rooted in reality but focused on the future.
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Questions for creating your vision:
- If our farm could be what we want in ten years, what would it be?
- What new activities will our business be pursuing?
- What business will you be in? What would our ideal customer look like?
- What customer needs will our business satisfy?
- What will be the new roles and responsibilities of family members and employees involved in the business?
- What will we be especially good at?
- What will make our business unique?
- What do we envision for our family?
November 13, 2024
Keeping Good Employees
Good employees are the foundation of your business.
When you lose a good employee, it hurts. It makes sense and is proven by research that employees who are committed and enthusiastic about their work are more productive, more profitable, and less likely to leave.
On the other hand, good employees who leave your business also leave a hole in your team. This hole can lead to lower production, work quality, or both. Or maybe the production and quality remain high, but your team is stressed trying to get the work done without enough people. Even hiring new employees is more work, as you need time to find and train new hires. It’s tough.
How can you keep the good employees you already have?
July 9, 2024
How to Be a Better Boss
November 7, 2023
5 Traits of a Great Team
According to Patrick Lencioni, there are 5 critical dysfunctions that cause teams to fail. The five dysfunctions are:
- Absence of trust.
- Fear of conflict.
- Lack of commitment.
- Avoidance of team accountability.
- Inattention to team objectives.
In this conversation, we'll explore these five dysfunctions and look at what you can do to fix them.
September 12, 2023
Emotional Intelligence for Leaders
Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) is the ability to understand and manage your emotions. People with a high EQ know what they're feeling, what their emotions mean, and how these emotions affect themselves and others. For leaders, having emotional intelligence is essential for success.
There are five key elements to it:
- Self-awareness.
- Self-regulation.
- Motivation.
- Empathy.
- Social skills.
The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a leader.
July 11, 2023
Conflict Management
CONFLICT - Where does it come from, and how to overcome it?
14:13 What is the root cause of all conflict?
14:57 What are other causes of Conflict?
26:35 What triggers conflict?
31:40 How do we resolve conflict when it hasn’t gone well previously?
Tools to Handle Conflict
42:22 Dispute Resolution and Forced Bargaining – It is not a desirable solution.
44:15 Connections – The single most effective tool.
47:43 Structural Changes – How the business is structured and operates
54:38 Personal Development
57:38 Summary - How to have GOOD Conflict
November 22, 2022
Scaling Up - What is Limiting Your Success?
Family businesses require constant reinvestment. But reinvestment goes far beyond just dollars and cents. Deliberate planning is one key to success. It creates motivation to sustain the business when the inevitable personal differences and business challenges arise. Good planning and consistent execution release powerful energy used to fulfill the dream of sustaining and growing a healthy family business.
September, 27, 2023
Transition Planning
July 19, 2022
How to Run Effective Upper Management Meetings
Quarterly meetings connect the big-picture strategic thinking to the tactical day-to-day operations. We talk about how to make them efficient and successful.
May 3, 2022
Employee Reviews
Employee reviews work best when you take the time to prepare what you will cover. Tips on how to conduct effective employee reviews.
Feb. 2022
People Skills
Dec 28, 2021
18:39 - What is an effective meeting? It doesn't have to take a long time.
23:29 - Why have a quarterly meeting?
27:39 - Who runs the meetings? What gets on the agenda?
32:00 - Having structure and a timeline speeds it up.
34:44 - Honing Listening Skills
41:41 - How do we respectfully address a family member that has negative comments about the farm?
46:00 - The ability to understand different personalities is eye-opening. Once you understand others personalities, you can flex more.
48:15 - True Example of family in conflict: How much should dad be compensated when transitioning out of the farm?
52:45 - Tailor your approach so that others can hear you.
56:10 - What do you do when others become emotional?
59:57 - Meetings that are not effective are a sign that something needs to change.
1:00:55 - How do you go about finding the right consultant?
1:02:45 - A consultant needs to work for the farm, not one person on the farm.
1:03:30 - Does everyone on the farm need to agree on a consultant before hiring them?
1:05:18 - Employee Communication
1:05:48 - How do you bridge highly skilled tactical employees to big-picture thinking leaders?
Stay Interviews
Want to engage and retain your employees? Consider conducting “stay interviews.” This process allows you to consult with your current employees to identify the reasons they want to continue working for YOU. Stay interviews increase employee engagement, development, and empowerment.
March 31, 2021
Family & Management
Does family dynamics make growing and passing on your business seem insurmountable? You're not alone. Family dynamics can make it difficult. But you can get to a spot where everyone gets along and works together. Liz shares tips and answers questions on the PDPW Daily Signal Show.
March 2, 2021
Giving & Receiving Feedback
How do you handle feedback? A strong leader listens even if they don’t fully agree. Listening builds trust. When trust is high everyone is open and honest with each other, and everything is easier. Listen to this video-cast and learn to improve your feedback skills. The result? Your business will run smoother, your stress will be lower and your employees happy.
Feb. 10, 2021
Managing Effective Teams
Managing your team takes skill. Learn what areas to focus on and how to improve in this PDPW DairySignal presentation.
January 12, 2021