Hosted by the Dairy Women’s Network delivered in partnership with Dairy NZ
Les and I recently attended the People Expo in Pahiatua put on by the Dairy Women’s Network in partnership with Dairy NZ.
We were fortunate to hear from three key speakers who each shared their prospectives on what they believe we can do to help create teamwork and a great workplace environment.
Experienced Economist, Shamubeel Eaqub, spoke about ‘People and the Dairy Sector’ and began by saying “What happens in the world is out of our control; what happens in our own business is in our control.”
The Dairy Sector is an important part of our Country’s Industry, employs 7-8% of all jobs in New Zealand and contributes to local communities.
Shamubeel shared his insights around the importance of investing in ourselves and the culture and leadership of our business, both in good times and not so good times. As business owners, we can control what we can deliver; we can control the magic.
He said without leadership and culture, we cannot keep people. If we have this in place, all the other building blocks will work.
Farm owner, Sue Fish, shared her knowledge and experience with ‘Together we succeed’.
Sue and her husband, David, have been running their dairy business for 34 years and farm in the Waikato on three farms with 1300 cows.
Their team consists of 13 people from eight different countries and cultures, languages and skills.
Sue shared their interview process they use when recruiting a member to their team.
She said, “your mission statement should be front and centre.” It is important to know what your WHY is before you build a team and to ask yourself, WHAT is the purpose of employing people on your farm; what do you want to achieve.
She explained that communication and how you deliver it is the key success in your team.
Leading by example and providing feedback and support daily is important. It does not take much to say, “thank you” or “please”.
Our third speaker for the day was Chris Parsons, who spoke about ‘Leadership and Teamwork.’
Chris is currently the Chief Commercial Officer of MyFarm Investments and is the co-owner of a sheep and beef farming operation with his brother.
Chris first learned about the brilliance of ‘the team’ during his seven years in logistics in the NZ Army and it was during his SAS training that he discovered that failures can be gifts.
He spent many years in the NZ Defence Force serving in missions in Timore and Afghanistan, for which he was decorated three times.
During his time as Commanding Officer leading a team in Afghanistan in 2004, Chris found the importance of having aligned purposes and that leadership is the X factor and is a team sport.
Chris shared his three principles of leadership; understand people, service and accountability and build teams. He followed this with three principles for thriving teams; purpose, belonging and autonomy.
He said it is about connecting, not just communicating and belief is the greatest thing a leader can give.