Rank your employees from basic skills to MVPs, then focus on how to help them level up. Written for Farm Futures and originally published at https://www.farmprogress.com/commentary/how-assess-your-teams-performance on 6/27/2022. Gone are the days when employees were cheap and easy to come by.  Labor, including working with family, is always one of the top three concerns in our transition planning meetings.  It's hard to move ahead and transition the farm without a plan of both family and outside family labor.  Owners' time is precious, and we've found certain employee activities drain that time.  Stack those time drains together, and leadership ends up...

Partnerships are a great idea. You pool together talents and money to go farther than each party could by themselves. Written for MILK Magazine/DairyHerd and originally published at https://www.dairyherd.com/news/business/what-makes-partnership-successful on 5/23/2022. Some partnerships are large endeavors, and others are smaller. But no matter their size, some flourish, and others don't. So here are the basic principles to have a flourishing partnership.  Principle #1 - Run it like a business  Run multiple "what if" scenarios of sales, expenses, debt levels, and startup costs. Assume that not everything will go smooth and build in a fudge factor. This will cover the unknowns...

There is more than one way to handle conflict Written for Farm Futures and originally published in their May/June 2022 print issue. The Father and son sat across from each other, building tension. The topic was compensation within their family farm as part of their transition plan. This meeting occurred almost a decade ago, so the exact details around the disagreement are foggy. Back to the story. Father leaned forward in his chair and declared that the issue of compensation during his retirement needed to be resolved, and it was "time to get it all out on the table and...

Hold quarterly team meetings to keep goals moving forward and communication flowing. Written for PROGRESSIVE DAIRY and originally published in the March 2022 issue. Are you sometimes left wondering if your employees understand the farm's priorities and goals?   Do your employees ever feel they get conflicting messages and wonder, "What does the boss want?" You are not alone; communication is always a challenge. When we survey farms, we find that improving communication is almost always one of the top three priorities. The truth is, people power your business. The more engaged and inspired your employees are, the more productivity and...

An overlooked tactic in lowering employee turnover Originally published at Dairyherd.com on 1/11/2022 here Onboarding: An Overlooked Tactic in Lowering Employee Turnover | Dairy Herd It takes a lot of work to find and hire great employees. Hiring employees often takes you away from your normal work. So once an employee is hired, it's tempting to just jump right back into your work again. But it's best to pause and remember that one-third of new employees will leave within the first six months. That is sobering. Why so many? The answer is tied to how you integrate them into your...

Let your team improve how the farm operates by hashing out what works - and what needs work. Originally published at https://www.farmprogress.com/commentary/benefits-farm-debrief-0 on 1/11/22. Many farms want to scale up their operations, and they need people to do the work. Ideally, you want great teams of employees. Great teams can problem solve and manage themselves. It's probably your dream of having motivated and knowledgeable employees who look for solutions and hold each other accountable. Thus, freeing up your time to focus on growing the farm.   You invest a lot of time and money building your team, hiring, training, and...

How to keep your best employees engaged and happy. Originally published at www.farmprogress.com/commentary/easy-guide-employee-reviews on 11.19.2022.  Have you had the frustration of being blindsided by a great employee leaving? They have been on board for a year or so, and it appeared everything was going great. They showed up on time, did the work, and didn't create problems. Yet here you are again; a great employee is leaving and you have a slot to fill. Labor has always been tight, but finding and keeping top farm talent has reached a crisis point over the last couple of years. Finding good team...