Toss the seed corn hat; it’s time to wear the CEO hat

As herds grow, sometimes the manager of a dairy farm finds himself or herself managing people instead of cows, a change not always anticipated. Now, instead of relying on a lifetime of experience — it’s a whole new ball game. Jorge Estrada of Leadership and Coaching International, Inc., discussed how dairy farm managers can “wear the CEO hat” during the Midwest Dairy Expo held last week in St. Cloud, Minn.

One of the main jobs that Estrada says is part of a CEO’s job description is to assemble, inspire, and develop a winning workforce team. Inspiring a workforce may not sound like an easy task (it didn’t to us either, especially as we are facing subzero temperatures here in Wisconsin tonight) and Estrada says you can’t expect to have 100 percent of your workforce fully engaged in their work all the time — it’s just too lofty of a goal. One key to engaging your workforce more fully is explaining the little things such as, “how accuracy in measuring feed helps reach a larger good,” Estrada says. He continues that informing employees that “the decisions they are making are impacting the bottom line and how that decision has a dollar sign attached to it.” One way we’ve heard of accomplishing this is by offering pay incentives for high-quality work such as low somatic cell counts or low calf mortality.

Estrada says to make communication a priority. “You’re communicating when you don’t think you are,” he says. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of all communication is how you say it, not what you say. Also, don’t forget to reward and celebrate your employee’s work. Estrada cited a recent poll of employees in various industries; that survey said that 65 percent say that they have not been recognized for their work in the past year, and 75 percent say that lack of appreciation was a decisive reason in departing their last position.