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Management

Increasing costs related to farming are making your decisions more important and sometimes more difficult as well.
Guide Business, Management

Farm fit

Maybe the phrase “Standardized Financial Benchmarks for Canadian Farm Financial Statements” doesn’t instantly get your blood pumping. But read on. Could this be the tool that lets you control your future?

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Like many others, Larry Martin is convinced that Canada’s agriculture is evolving far faster than anyone driving a few miles of country sideroad could guess. The scenery hasn’t changed. At least, it hasn’t been transformed. It’s still a patchwork of crisp farmsteads and open fields, and of barns and bins. But those who live here […] Read more
Beating the odds: Gurpreet Singh, Murray Froebe and Tapinder Singh found a way to connect that helps the farm and them too.
Guide Business, Management

New hires

On Canada’s farms, the cost of all the work that can’t be done because there are no workers to do it is spinning out of control

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Farmers around Carman, Man., know the small convenience store in the town called the Lite Stop Foods. They know they’ll find what they want there — a few groceries, the local newspaper, a snack to tide them over. It also happens to be where Murray Froebe found two very good employees for his farm. Froebe […] Read more
Workers who aren’t the right fit for their job aren’t happy, and seldom stick around.
Guide Business, Management

‘I didn’t sign up for this!’

The new AgriHR Toolkit from the national ag human resources council can help in heading off conflict before it happens

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Many of us have heard it from a disgruntled employee or possibly a family member. Maybe, at some point in our lives, we have even said it ourselves. “I didn’t sign up for this!” Workers who aren’t the right fit for their job aren’t happy, and they seldom stick around. In fact, 80 per cent […] Read more
Deciding the culture you want for your business and then creating is a difficult process.
Guide Business, Management

Creating the outward-looking business

AME management: Do you know the type of culture you want for your business?

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Last month’s column addressed outward-looking versus inward-looking businesses. The idea sensitized me to watch other organizations (and to check myself!) to find evidence of one or the other. Often, the evidence is mixed. Three examples A hotel where we have hosted CTEAM for several years had the same three young guys providing support for the […] Read more
Mom and Dad, what should you be looking for when the kids come home? Are you willing to let them make mistakes?
Guide Business, Management

Up to the job

You’re home for the summer. Now, how are you going to show Mom and Dad that you’re a safe bet for taking over the farm?

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It’s a phrase that means just what it says. Leadership succession is real, and it’s catching on. If your succession plan only looks at how the financial picture will unfold down the road, that’s not enough. Increasingly, it’s clear that it has to deal with who can handle what responsibilities too. Are your kids up […] Read more
Businesses can avoid becoming hamstrung by finding out what customers want instead of focusing on selling what they have.
Guide Business, Management

Outward-looking business

AME Management: It takes discipline, but an outward focus pays off in more business

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Have you ever been disappointed that people who work for you don’t take initiative to do what you want done? You don’t feel comfortable getting away for a week because things won’t get done the way they are supposed to? You and the generation ahead of or behind you have ongoing tension that stands in […] Read more
What action do you take when some people in your organization are underperforming, and those who can are leaving?
Guide Business, Management

Leader development versus the quick fix

Management without leadership is like tightening a nut with no wrench on the bolt head

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Every once in awhile I have a casual conversation that goes like this: “Leadership is nice (guess what comes next), but I have real problems right now, and I have to do something; I don’t have time for leader development, I’m busy.” In my view, we are all busy, but this sentiment is the verbal […] Read more
Are you confident with the direction you're getting from advisors as you inch closer towards a farm transition?
Guide Business, Management

On offer

Two new transition services show how the advisory sector is evolving. How do your advisors compare?

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When the words “transition process” come up, they often provoke a sigh or maybe even a shudder. Nor should anyone pretend that transitioning your farm business will be anything but a lengthy process, or that it won’t involve difficult conversations and decisions. But as always, if you’re equipped with the right tools and methods, the […] Read more
A successful partnership is one that shares in the achievements of whatever the individuals are jointly involved in.
Guide Business, Management

Leader effectiveness meets the leader

Good leadership points you in the direction of building a successful business

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I want to share what I’m noticing in small business these days in terms of leadership, and what I say to those who ask about leader effectiveness. First, I also want to say that I do not share client stories even with the names redacted. Agriculture is just too small, and my work with leaders[...]
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AgCanadaTV

AGCanadaTV: In Case You Missed It – Your National Ag News Recap for the week ending June 14, 2019.

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