Dr. Val FarmerDr.Val
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Rural Mental Health & Family Relationships

Building A Winning Team For Farming Success

April 1, 2002

The foundation of a successful farming operation isn’t soil or cows; it is the management of human resources. Teamwork is a key to success. Teamwork starts at the top, first with the farming couple and then with the farming partners. Then employees can fit into an already functioning team atmosphere. Here are some tips on how to build a winning team.

Hiring. Hire well and the training and supervision will fall into place. Hiring wrong will cost you in terms of accidents and injuries, costly repairs, lost time, employee turnover, high stress levels, and employee morale. Screen out people who are dishonest, rigid, addicted, lazy, hot tempered or self-centered. They will be hard on morale for you and your employees.

Seek employees before you need them. Use your network of friends and your current employees to identify future prospects.

Build a reputation as a good place to work. People will seek you out. Develop pride in the operation and your employees through community relations, public recognition and good management. Let your reputation for being on top of all economic situations be a draw for employees who are looking for job stability or a good place to work.

Training and supervision. Provide training to make employees good at their jobs. If you are not a people person, hand off the job to someone else. Training takes time and patience. Ignoring is a form of feedback. When you give interest, instruction and feedback you’ll get a more involved and motivated employee.

Don’t assume they are self-directed, focused, motivated or know what you already know. Employees want to know where they stand, to be appreciated and recognized for good work and be made aware and redirected when they are not meeting expectations.

Find out their side of the story before jumping to conclusions. Don’t attack or turn it into a personality issue. Be consistent. Employees prefer a consistent approach rather than an up and down style based on mood.

Discuss your concerns as they arise. It is easier to correct a problem than to hire and train.

If mistakes are made, don’t react with emotion. The only time you need to react immediately is if safety is an issue. Don’t reprimand an employee publicly. Describe the mistake factually and then invite the employee to explain why it happened. Ask, "How can we solve it?" and usually their answer will be close to the mark. Commit the employee to a course of action.

Don’t attack or make it into a personality issue before you know what is going on. Be consistent and even-handed with all employees. Separate out work and personal roles. Only give work criticism while you are in your work role. Take employee complaints against other employees seriously. Don’t ignore a problem because a particular employee is a good worker. The workplace needs to be safe and free from intimidation.

Respectful communications. Have regular, well organized meetings with employees. Let them see the big picture. Share goals and solicit their ideas, suggestions and input. Ask for brief reports on their areas of responsibility. Create an atmosphere where the "best" idea wins.

Don’t ask for validation for your ideas and then ignore or criticize them when they don’t agree. Ask for their ideas only when you really want them. Listen and hear each other out. You can disagree without being disagreeable. Don’t walk away without answering. Don’t override a decision without explanation.

Treat them how they like to be treated. If you behave well, the people working for you will behave well. Incivility works its way down, not from the bottom up. Have fun, humor, courtesy and consideration in the workplace.

Delegation and growth. Show trust in employees by delegating authority and responsibility. Make sure the employee understands the overall significance of his job to the operation. Motivation increases when every employee has challenges, freedom to use their abilities, opportunities to exercise judgment and to be creative.

Design jobs to encourage employees to use a variety of skills. Design jobs so an employee performs a total job. For example, a job such as repairs is more motivating if the responsibility includes determining what parts are needed, buying parts, disassembling, replacing parts, reassembling and then testing to be sure everything is in order.

Employees appreciate the trust that is placed in them to do their jobs. Find a way to delegate to new areas of responsibility and provide opportunities for additional growth through training and new experiences.

Appreciation. Employees need to be recognized for their achievements. They need to know their particular contribution is appreciated and has a made a difference to the success of the operation. Make unexpected gestures of appreciation.

Find ways to reward employees as a team through incentives and bonuses for overall farm performance as well as individual effort. Take time to celebrate successes with them and plan events where public recognition is given.

Build a winning team and they will come. If you do this well, you’ll have a lot of motivated, talented people working together for a common goal. Your chances for success will increase and your farming operation will be an enjoyable place to live and work.

Many thanks to Bernie Erven at the Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, and to Dale Feinauer, professor of management and human resources at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, for their ideas on managing farm employees.