Many farms want to scale up operations, and they need people to do the work. Ideally, you want great teams of employees. Great teams can problem solve and manage themselves, thus freeing up your time to focus on growing the farm. 

You will invest a lot of time and money building your team - hiring, training, and retaining employees. You don't want any of them repeating the same mistakes year after year. Employee feedback is essential for training and retaining great employees. But are you ready to hear it?

There are a couple ways to start these 'feedback' conversations. Having one-on-one employee reviews is one way. We went into details on best practices for these employee reviews in the November issue. Another way is to have a meeting with everyone about a specific topic.

Call it a group review, a debrief, or whatever you want. But it's a great way to both get and give feedback to everyone involved at the same time. It does NOT replace a one-on-one employee review. However, with a group review/debrief, you have a sit-down meeting with your ENTIRE TEAM and discuss the pros and cons of only one part of your operation.

After any significant season or event (planting, spraying, harvest, etc.), call a meeting of all employees. When establishing the meeting, ask them to think about two questions:

"What worked?" and "What needs improvement?" Then, bring everyone together, sit down in a comfortable place, and have a whiteboard handy which everyone can see. (Part of the different learning styles that we have discussed.)

During this group review:

Whatever you do, don't ignore the input! Asking for the team’s input, then ignoring concerns and solutions, is demoralizing.

As an owner or manager, resist the urge to share your thoughts until you have fully explored their thoughts. Waiting will get them talking and coming up with possible solutions. There is a good possibility they'll even voice your ideas before you do, which is a win-win situation because if it is their idea, they will work harder at it. Ultimately, you will be the one deciding how to move forward, what to change, and what not to change.

A few tips:

This process might not be an overnight success. It takes time for employees to realize you want their feedback. But over time, these meetings will become better, and the solutions will be better also as everyone is looking for ways to improve from year to year.

Who wouldn't want a team that gives you more time to focus on growing your farm coupled with less stress?

Schaefer is an executive management coach and succession planner for farms and agribusinesses. Contact him at [email protected].

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.