“Productivity is about the ratio of inputs to outputs/outcomes,” she told a workshop at the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE).
“Doing better with people is one of the largely untapped areas of productivity on farms.
“Dealing with people is often seen as the soft stuff compared with the hard issues of growing pasture, animal health, and milk production but although it may be construed as soft it is worthwhile and people productivity goes straight to the bottom line.”
Baker said employees who felt engaged in the farming business were more likely to learn, work harder, and stay. Bosses needed to look through the eyes of their employees and ask themselves some questions, such as whether their staff were earning enough money to have a life. Were they included, cared for, trusted, and did they feel that what they did made a difference to the farming business?
“And are they learning as they work? This is really important because if staff are not improving they are not getting better at their job and they don’t feel good about themselves. Everyone needs to continually grow.
“Criticism can kill the spirit. We are very good at criticism. Everyone has an emotional bank account. If you make too many withdrawals from your employee’s bank account, you get a very grumpy employee. If you make lots of deposits then you are building up goodwill and a person who wants to come to work each morning.”
She said staff also needed to feel they were working towards a legacy.
“They need to be able to answer every day why are they are there; Why am I working in Southland, on this dairy farm, for this person? It’s not just about making money. They have to feel they are part of an enterprise that they are making a difference to, that they are working on a world-class farm.
“The killer question is always, Would you work for you?”
She said, in reality, all employees in New Zealand were volunteers.
“We don’t need to, in this country, work to eat, to stay alive. We choose to work and your employees have chosen to work on your farm but they can leave whenever they want to.
“They are volunteers but we tend to treat them like conscripts.
“We have to use words like privilege and respect – it is a privilege to have you working here, I really appreciate what you’re doing, and I’m really glad that you are here.”
She said young people may have come from a home and school environment where they had never felt they had belonged or been respected.
“You have to give them a sense of belonging. At every opportunity build up that emotional bank account so they are eager to come back the next day.
“Everyone likes being good at something. We want to be great employers and staff want to be great staff so we have to give them the opportunity to be that.
“Don’t give them feedback after a task but feed forward. They can’t go back in time and fix something that has happened. Instead talk about the next time they do that task what you would like them to do better. You want to change their future behaviour, you can’t change their past behaviour.”
