The BIZ-THINK Series
Applying business-school theory to on-farm practice:
1. Getting strategic about business thinking — Don Barclay/Ivey
2. Why you need to understand personality — Kris Savage/Syngenta
3. Using financial analysis to drive decisions — Mary Heisz/Ivey
4. Motivating people so everyone wins — Lyn Purdy/Ivey
Earning commitment from the employees on your farm doesn’t happen overnight. With family members on the payroll and a limited pool of potential employees, asserting your role as leader requires dedication, patience and a healthy dose of strategic decision-making.
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Three common techniques are used to motivate staff: fear, compensation and belief. Fear and compensation can have a negative impact on employee morale, however, and can present a very slippery slope for you as an employer.
Staff motivated by fear tend to be compliant when the boss is around, but feel little motivation to complete the job without constant supervision.
Those motivated by compensation are risky too. When pay determines commitment, this can lead to a “nothing is ever enough” mentality. At this year’s session of Syngenta Grower University, for instance, one grower talked about giving an employee hockey tickets. Instead of appreciating the gesture, the employee complained about the location of the seats.
On most farms, the third motivational option is best. Belief generates the ultimate commitment. When employees get behind the mission and vision of the operation, they are far more likely to feel a sense of commitment in working together towards a common goal.
Fostering this type of motivation requires a strong dedication to effective leadership, especially in the preliminary stages, but these efforts will pay off as you build loyalty and commitment from your employees. Here are some tips for gaining commitment from your team.
Prepare, prepare, prepare!
The first step to building commitment from your employees is to work out a solid plan. Identify the issues on your farm, consider their implications and begin to outline goals for your business. What issues would you like to solve? What aspirations do you have for your business?
Goals will guide your day-to-day operations and give your employees a clear objective.
While your concerns and desires are very important, so are those of your staff. Consider a day in the life of one of your employees and ask yourself, what would I care most about if I were in their shoes? Take some time to explore the different options for meeting both your goals and theirs while preparing yourself with a clear direction for
what you want to achieve and how that plan affects your staff.
Get everyone involved
Creating goals for your farm won’t be useful if you keep them to yourself. Get employees involved in setting these goals and show them the importance of their role in meeting them. Keep in mind that something as small as acknowledging their contribution can go a long way toward building common ground.
Gaining commitment is more about asking than telling. You will find your staff much more receptive to your ideas if you’ve considered theirs. Ask them how they feel and use it as a platform to build
on your own thoughts. This is where thorough preparation begins to pay off. It will be much easier to seamlessly integrate your ideas if you’ve already considered the situation from all angles.
Getting everyone involved can also be a great method of problem solving. Employ the joint problem-solving approach by actively listening and communicating to explore the issue and decide on an action plan together, instead of simply telling your employees how to proceed. This method is hard on the problem while remaining soft on those involved. Coming to a solution together maximizes employees’ ownership over the situation, and ownership breeds commitment.
Ask the right questions
Instead of automatically giving the right answer, try to ask the right questions. Resist the urge to steer people in a certain direction and give them a chance to work the problem out for themselves, helping them to learn and grow in their role. Open-ended questions such as “why?” and “what if?” can be very conducive to problem solving, while giving those involved a sense of ownership over the issue.
Don’t be afraid to ask others for advice — this is a great way to open the lines of communication with your staff. Their perspective can shed light on concerns you may not be aware of and generate ideas you might not have considered.
Craft your message
When expressing your views, don’t use argumentative language. Lean towards the positive. For example, instead of interjecting by saying “but,” try “yes… and.” While certain situations can be very frustrating, refrain from “you” statements. This approach focuses on how you are impacted by an issue without putting your employees on the defensive.
Building a mutual understanding with your employees is a powerful tool. Remember to acknowledge their feelings and paraphrase their points to show you take an active interest in their success.
Say yes as much as you can, without making concessions. Creating allies in your staff generates a team environment, which will provide the focus and determination needed to reach your goals.
Leading people can be quite a challenge, but no matter the current state of commitment and morale on your farm, all it takes is one decision on your part to set change in motion. By motivating your employees through goal setting, asking questions, and crafting your message before delivery, you provide your staff with the tools they need to succeed. And when they succeed, so do you. CG
Lyn Purdy is an associate professor of organizational behaviour at Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. She teaches various courses in leadership as part of the Syngenta Grower University programs, designed to help Canada’s top producers run their operations with increased confidence and profitability by adopting the most effective business management skills and techniques.
