Who is your team? At first glance, you may think this team is comprised of those who punch your time clock. However, the principles outlined below have applications for family, transition planning, and working with your vendors and bankers.<\/p>\n
This topic was covered in detail in\u00a0my August blog<\/a>, but it bears mentioning again. Before you create a high-level\u00a0team you first need to understand yourself. You need to understand how you naturally operate, communicate, deal with conflict, make decisions, your personality, and values.<\/strong> If you are unaware of these components of yourself it will be very hard to see and appreciate them in your team. Taking an honest look in the mirror can be difficult, but personality profiles are a great place to start.<\/p>\n We use\u00a0Strengths Finder\u00ae<\/a>, TKI Conflict Modes, and\u00a0Extended DISC<\/a>. These provide a basic set of tools and common language for working with each other.<\/p>\n\n\t Once the team has the blueprint they can see where they fit in and how they will be judged on performance<\/strong>. As part of our\u00a0Executive Farmer Network<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0peer group process, we interview employees. We often hear wildly different versions of what seems to be important (values) and what direction the farm is heading (vision). This step is vital and it isn’t something that a CEO does in 30 minutes. Rather it is a process that brings together various stakeholders in the operation to flesh it out. Then complete the process by ensuring everyone on the farm knows where they fit within the vision.<\/p>\n\t Constantly communicate, listen, get feedback, and celebrate milestones with your team. This can be on an operational basis with daily activities, but also individual job performance.<\/p>\n Your team needs context so make it a habit of communicating the “why” behind your major decisions. If your team sees the big picture they will help you fill in the gaps of what needs to be done<\/strong> and the purpose in their minds will be clear. While this sounds very simple it is powerful.<\/p>\n Be genuine, honest, and have integrity.<\/p>\n They like to work with people who are honest with themselves. If you want to employees to be honest and open about their successes and failures, you, as farm leader, need to set the example. You don’t expect your employees to be perfect and they KNOW you aren’t perfect so why act like it?\u00a0 Let your team know it is OK to admit a mistake to you. If you make a mistake that others on the team could learn from, come clean and use it as a teaching moment.<\/p>\n\t Being open means you are open to change, differing points of view, and ways of doing things. It also means you are coachable. People who are rigid and have a “my way or the highway” mentality end up isolating themselves and hindering teamwork. Be open to using collaboration to solve problems when necessary.<\/p>\n Sometimes the best ideas for solving a problem come from the bottom up not the top down so team members should be encouraged to problem-solve.<\/p>\n These principles can have a dramatic impact on the success of your farm, family business harmony, and even your stress.<\/p>\n\t\t Your employees are one of your most valuable resources. Learn the principles and values that are crucial in creating a high-achieving, effective team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,21],"tags":[8,11],"yoast_head":"\n2. Values and Vision<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n
Fleshing out values and vision for the farm allows everyone from the CEO, family, managers, even part-time employees to have an overall roadmap.<\/h6>\n
3. Communicate Often<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A favorite of some farms is a daily tally of acres harvested and other metrics so the team can see the progress and know they are helping one another toward the goal.<\/h6>\n\n\t
4. Tell them the “WHY” behind the major decisions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
5. Be Genuine<\/strong><\/h3>\n
People like to work with those they can trust.<\/h6>\n
6. Be open to Ideas ~ Encourage Thinking<\/strong><\/h3>\n
If the CEO is always dictating the solutions to every problem, the team will never learn to think on their own.<\/h6>\n
Think about your current team. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Is it everything you would like it to be?<\/h3>\n
Do all six components work together like a well-oiled machine or is something missing?<\/h6>\n
Wondering how others manage their teams?<\/h3>\n\t\t
Our peer groups might be what you’re looking for<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLearn More\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"