Dairy Coach

It’s finally that time of year again… trade show season. It seems that once everyone realized how slow the month of March is, every company and organization began scheduling their meetings and conferences to fill in all the open dates. Now, it turns out that March is actually one of the busiest times of the year.

As you probably already know, you’re bound to hear a lot of experts share advice and information on how to make your cows more productive and your business more profitable. Some speakers will be engaging and fun to listen to, others… not so much. But regardless of how well the presenters deliver their message, hopefully you’ll learn something you can take home and apply to your dairy.

Chances are, after many of these session, you’ll probably be thinking… “well, that’s just common sense… I already knew that.” And you know what? You’re right. Most of what works is common sense. The kicker is… there’s a huge difference between knowing something and actually doing it.

But of all the advice and information you’ll hear at these conferences, there’s one message that works better than any scientific or technical protocol out there. The problem is that you probably won’t hear anyone talking about it. What is it? It’s simple, and it’s free.

Care. That’s it… just care. If you do just one thing…genuinely and authentically show that you care.

Now before you dismiss this as a bunch of soft, feel-good bullshit, please allow me to clarify. First, I’m not suggesting you buy into all the emotions and excuses people use to pull at your heartstrings to get you to give in to their requests. That’s not caring… that’s being weak. And besides, it’s hard to manage and lead people when they’re walking all over you.

But instead, think about this… When last time someone made you feel like a ‘number’?

You know how some salesmen drive into the yard, and right away you can tell that all they care about is selling you something so they can get a commission? Sure, that’s part of doing business.  But the sales process doesn’t have to feel cold and pushy. Have you ever liked buying from those types of salesmen? Yeah, probably not. Chances are, you probably could’ve used what they were selling. It’s just that you want to buy from people who truly care about you and your company’s success.

You see, as much as production agriculture is about animals, natural resources, and margins, it’s a people business. Sure, you need to know something about raising cattle, growing corn, and playing commodity markets. But if you’re in this business for the long-haul, you especially need to know how to build and lead a team of people who want to help you succeed. And the best way to do that is to show your people that you care about them and the work that they do.

The 2012 trade show season has just begun. Hopefully you’re able to attend a lot of valuable sessions and learn how to make your dairy more profitable and your job a little easier. And as you’re going from one vendor’s booth to another, hopefully you’ll remember one more important lesson… People like to work with people who care.

Imagine living in a world where there are no consequences. What do you think that would be like?

At first, that sounds kind of intriguing, doesn’t it? You could eat whatever you want… calories wouldn’t count. You could drive as fast as you want… you wouldn’t get tickets, just warnings. You could stay up and party as late as you want… hangovers wouldn’t exist. Hey… you wouldn’t even have to work or pay your bills… someone would just give you free money. (Okay, don’t get me started on the last one!)

In theory, the notion of a consequence-free world sounds great. But in reality, that’s probably not a place that you’d actually want to live. In fact, every time we turn on the evening news, we get a glimpse of what it’s like in places where laws, rules, and consequences are ignored and trampled on.

I think most of us would agree that consequences help maintain balance and control in the world. Fortunately, most people are good and tend to follow rules and obey laws because it’s the right thing to do. The truth is that rules and laws don’t exist because of the ‘good people‘ who follow them. But rather, they’re written to hold all the ‘bad people‘ accountable for when they choose to ignore them. In other words, houses don’t have locks and security systems because of the people who respect other people’s property… locks exist because of all the people who don’t!

And just as important as consequences are to hold us responsible for what we say and do, they also serve another critical role. Consequences help us learn from our mistakes and teach us to make better decisions in the future.

Whether you’re training a new pet, raising kids to be well-behaved, or leading a team of productive employees, the relationship between ’cause and effect’ is absolutely critical for getting more of the behaviors you want and less of the ones you don’t.

As a manager, you probably already know that it’s your job to communicate how much you’re going to expect and how little you’re willing to accept from your team. But even more important than that, you need to follow through on a consistent basis.

Unfortunately, many managers don’t utilize the ’cause and effect relationship’ to their advantage. A lot of managers neglect to reward their employees with ‘positive consequences’ for doing things well, while they often shy away from the discomfort of enforcing the ‘negative consequences’ that come from not doing things properly.

Every day, you’re in a position to teach your team how to be successful while working at your dairy. Each time you fail to connect actions with outcomes, you miss the opportunity to show your team how to create more value for you and for them.

Do yourself and your employees a favor, teach them what works and what doesn’t. Show your team the value of consequences.

With one month into the New Year, how well are you doing with your 2012 ‘To-Do List’ that you made back in January? Have you even started?!

Of all the bad habits we can get caught up in, procrastination has to be one of the worst. Well actually, smoking crack is probably a lot worse than avoiding the dentist and that pile of work on your desk. But assuming you’re not flirting with a drug addiction, your ‘procrastination problem’ is most likely holding you back from accomplishing a lot of important things that you know you should be doing.

Maybe it’s something at work. Maybe it’s a project at home. Or maybe it includes going to the gym instead of the buffet. Whatever it is that you know you should have already started, if you choose to keep putting it off, it doesn’t get done and nothing’s going to change.

But let’s face it… you already knew that, right? So why do you continue to drag your feet? What’s stopping you from doing what you want and need to do?

Are you physically or mentally lazy? Maybe some days you are.

Or, are you so comfortable with your current success that you’ve grown content and complacent? It turns out that’s actually pretty common.

Are you ‘too busy’ doing all the other tasks that you like to do, that you just don’t have time to do all the things you don’t want to do? Yeah, you’re in good company.

Or, are you afraid of starting something because then you’ll feel pressured to actually finish it? It seems that ‘not starting’ is a lot safer than actually ‘doing something’ and possibly failing.

Regardless of what you’re avoiding and why you’re avoiding it, it’s not going away and it won’t get done on its own. Ultimately, it’s not about having time, it’s about making time.

But again, you already know all of this. So, what are you waiting for?   DO THE WORK!

You’ve heard the saying “the captain goes down with the ship”, right? But with all of the safety standards and regulations that exist today, did you ever think that this concept would actually apply to a situation in your lifetime? Until recently, I never thought it would. But all of that changed when the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordiaran ashore and capsized a few weeks ago. As of today, 17 people have died, 16 more are missing, and the cruise liner’s captain, Francesco Schettino, remains under house arrest.

Now, I’m not going to suggest that the ship’s captain should have perished in this tragic, careless accident. But… it turns out that he fled his ship while his passengers and crew were still being rescued. According to maritime law, the captain isn’t required to literally go down with the ship. However, it is expected that the captain will be the last one off the ship after making sure everyone on board is moved to safety.

Ultimately, the captain has been entrusted with the lives of every person on his ship, and the symbolism of ‘going down with the ship’ communicates the monumental weight that the captain’s decisions and actions carry.

So how does all of this relate to you and your dairy? As the ‘captain of your ship’, you too, are expected to serve and protect your ‘passengers and crew’. So how well are you doing that?

You see, most employees look to their bosses for direction, clarity, discipline, and support. They expect that their leader is going to do what leaders do… have a plan, make sound decisions, follow through, and hold people accountable for achieving their objectives.

Just like the people on the Carnival cruise trusted the captain to do ‘the right thing’, your team counts on you to do the same.

And no, your people probably aren’t going to come right out and ask you to lead them. They expect that because you’re already their leader and you hold an elevated position, you just will. In fact, from the very beginning, most of us simply give leaders the benefit of the doubt. We usually don’t question or doubt a leader’s ability, commitment, or willingness to lead. Instead, we listen. We follow. We watch. And then… we judge.

Not only do we judge a leader’s decisions, but more importantly, we judge the way a leader puts these decisions into action to get results. In the end, we judge leaders by the way their actions match their words. And when leaders actually do what they say, we trust them.

Your crew expects you to lead them. They’re not going to ask, and they shouldn’t have to. After all, you are their captain.

After going 15-1 in the regular season, the Packers looked like a tough team to beat. Sure, their defense was ranked at the bottom of the league, but their offense was one of the best. So… like almost everyone else in Packer Nation, I expected Green Bay to make it back to the Super Bowl to defend their title. But instead, the New York Giants outplayed Green Bay and ended their season.

However, for a lot of fans, it’s not officially over until we voice our opinions and become Monday morning quarterbacks. We spend the day-after rehashing the game, the team, and the coaching. Although I’m already over the loss, I’ll admit that the post-game “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” conversations are somewhat cathartic.

And now that the season’s over, the conversation shifts to which players need to be replaced and what positions need to be acquired in the off-season. Essentially, we focus on our favorite football team’s personnel and identify all the strengths and weaknesses at each position.

So how does that apply to your company’s team? How often do you conduct a personnel analysis on your own team? Would you consider most of the positions on your team to be pretty solid?

Here’s a quick way to answer that last question. Think of all the people on your team and the positions that they hold. If you were able to double your business tomorrow, how many of your current employees would you want to clone to fill the new positions? (It’s hypothetical… so yes, you have the ability to clone people!)

As you probably guessed, you just identified your A-Team. But what about everybody else? What are you going to do with all the people who don’t make the first team? Are you thinking about moving them to a different shift or position? Sure, that might provide them with a little more supervision or different responsibilities, but these employees still need to do the work.

So what would happen if you had to clone these employees? How many non-performers can your dairy afford to keep on the team? Most managers would agree, your business can’t afford to carry many, if not any, weak performers.

Unfortunately, the reality is that you’re probably limited by a busy schedule and a shortage of quality applicants to do much about your weak positions. But what happens to your dairy and its performance if you don’t spend enough time building your team and improving its performance every year? No, your season won’t come to an abrupt end. But, you will probably end up losing… time, money, patience, sleep, and enthusiasm for the business.

Regardless of your company’s size, the reason you have employees is to help you do all your work and improve your bottom line. From now on, find the time to develop to your employees. Focus on building your A-team.

Back in 1993, NBA All-Star Charles Barkley found himself in the middle of a national debate because of what he said in a shoe commercial for Nike. It was a simple message, “I am not a role model”.

Not a stranger to controversy, ‘Sir Charles’ defended his statement. Essentially, the point of his argument was that his job was to be good at playing basketball while a parent’s job is to be a role model for their kids and raise them well.

Now, had Barkley said “I should not be considered a role model”, chances are there would’ve been less of a debate. But let’s face it, perception is reality. If kids aspire to be famous athletes, musicians, or TV stars, they’ll look up to the people who already are.

Regardless of whether we agree or disagree with Barkley’s “role model” statement, I think most of us would agree that kids are extremely observant and easily influenced by the beliefs and behaviors of the people around them.

So what about your employees? Do you think your employees are influenced by the actions of you, their manager? Unfortunately, it seems that many employees usually don’t copy the sense of responsibility and attention to detail that most owners demonstrate. But that doesn’t mean that employees aren’t paying attention to what you’re doing.

Like a politician on the campaign trail, as a leader in your company, you are ‘always on’. Whether it’s fair or not, your employees are paying close attention to everything you say and do. Sure it’s cliché, but you really do “lead by example”. And that doesn’t just apply to rolling up your sleeves to show that you’re willing to get your hands dirty.

Ultimately, leading by example refers to how you handle each interaction you have with your employees.  So, how consistent are your actions from one person/situation to the next?  If they’re not, do you realize that you losing credibility and jeopardizing trust?  Even if you have a ‘good reason’ for what you do, your employees’ perception becomes their reality.

Let’s face it, many of your employees probably won’t appreciate how much you do or comprehend how your decisions help keep the place running every day. After all, managing doesn’t always look like ‘work’ to the people with dirty boots. Most likely, your employees view managing as ‘easy things’ like walking around, working on the computer, and talking to people. Now, if all you’re doing is wandering around, playing on the computer, and bullshitting with everyone, your employees might be right!

But at the same time, it’s your company and you’re the boss. You don’t owe your employees an explanation for what you do. But, as your team’s leader, you’re still accountable to them. You see, regardless of a person’s age or title, most of us want someone we can believe in… someone we can count on to show us the way.

Your team is no different. Every day, your people are looking for a leader to follow. So, what do you think? Is that person you?

There’s something about New Year’s resolutions that I just don’t like. And no, it’s not the actual resolutions. I think it’s the fact that so many of us (myself included) wait until some arbitrary date to finally do what we know we should already be doing.

The reality is that you don’t need to wait until Monday to do your best work, or Saturday to create a masterpiece. Every morning marks a new opportunity to get up and ‘seize the day’. We all get the same 24 hours, 365 times a year. What you decide to do with them is up to you.

Unfortunately somewhere along the way, a lot of us started to let clocks and calendars dictate how we live and work. We bought into the idea that certain days of the week/year are better for giving our best efforts. And maybe that’s a good thing. After all, if it weren’t for birthdays, New Year’s, and other holidays, we might never get around to doing or saying what we need to!

Although most of our resolutions barely make it to February, we still feel obligated to make them every January 1st. But what if you finally quit making these empty promises to yourself? Instead, what if you decided to make just one disciplined change in your daily routine and actually intended to live it every day?

What do you need to do differently in 2012? Can’t think of anything? How about joining me by committing yourself to spend more time “working on the business, and not just in the business”? Instead of just working hard at doing the same tasks over and over until every day starts to look the same, invest in yourself and the value you bring to your team.

As fortunate as we’ve all been to remain busy during these tough times, it turns out that busy can actually be a bad thing. You see, when you’re really busy doing all the ‘work’ and not focusing on improving it, you’re like the lumberjack who’s too busy chopping wood to stop and sharpen his axe.

“But”, you say, “If I don’t do these jobs, then who will?” You know what, you’re right. A year from now, Jan. 3, 2013… you will be. And if you don’t eventually change that, every January, year after year, you’ll be in the same place as you are today.

A couple weeks ago I finished the new biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. And although I buy all my music from iTunes and listen to it on my iPod, I’m afraid I’d definitely be the ‘PC guy’ in the ‘Mac versus PC’ commercials. Nonetheless, I marvel at all of the incredible products that Steve Jobs’ team has created over the years and look forward to what they come up with next.

Now, I won’t try to write a book review or give away the ending, but I will tell you this… I found Steve Jobs’ life story to be quite surprising. As wealthy and successful as he was, Jobs was a complex person who loved simplicity. He was obsessed with creating beautifully designed and perfectly engineered products that people want. For Steve Jobs, it seems that the journey was the reward. Year after year, he was more concerned with the journey of creating products that would “change the world”, than the reward of financial success that came with each new invention.

And sure, when your net worth hits $200 million by the time you’re twenty-five, it’s probably a lot easier to enjoy the journey when you’ve already got the reward. But Jobs didn’t inherit his $200 million in his twenties… he created it. His extreme good fortune was the result of combining extreme intelligence, vision, passion, persuasion, and execution.

And even though Steve Jobs completed his professional journey on top, his road was just as long and bumpy as that of most highly accomplished people. While Jobs suffered many financial and emotional losses along the way, most of us only see the good times he enjoyed in the past few years and have no idea what kind of adversities he endured to get to the part of the story that most of us are familiar with.

Ultimately, it’s easy for us to look at Steve Jobs and Apple and see a brilliant businessman and a forward-thinking tech company. But that’s not the whole story. That only recognizes the reward at the end, not the journey that led up to it.

 So what do you think matters more… the journey or the reward?

Let’s face it. As long as we all have bills to pay and people to take care of, the financial reward has to matter to some degree. But at the same time, many of us have already seen that financial success isn’t the only reward. When you do what you love, the enjoyment of the journey often helps sustain your efforts.

Of course, every one of us has a unique journey that leads us to our own reward. And as different as we all are, the truth is that most of us discover the reward looks less like money and more like the fulfillment, satisfaction, peace, and purpose that we encounter along the way.

Chances are every one of us knows people who think they’re always right. It’s pretty tough dealing with them, isn’t it? At some point, it’s just easier to give in or give up.

Of course, thinking that you’re always right and actually being right are two completely different things. And if you’re a parent who has teenagers, this scenario probably describes a day in your life right now!

Fortunately, the older we get, the more self-aware we become and it’s easier to accept when we’re wrong. Nonetheless, hopefully you’re right more often than you’re not.

Now, if you’re honest and willing to admit that you think you’re never wrong, what do you think the real problem is? And no, it’s not that you’re surrounded by a bunch of idiots!  Although you could probably make a long list of all the ‘real’ problems that come with thinking you’re always right, the REAL problem is that you don’t give yourself the opportunity to stop and start over.

You see, we’re all pretty similar. Like everyone else, you’re going to make some bad decisions. But sometimes, out of sheer stubbornness, it’s easy to defend a poor one and follow it down the path of many more. Essentially you try to convince yourself that your previous decisions were right all along. Similar to telling a lie, one bad decision leads to another one.

Whether it’s out of ignorance or foolish pride, you’re compelled to defend your position and justify your decisions to yourself and those around you. And what’s the best way to do that? Repeat them! In Vegas they call it ‘throwing good money after bad’. And as most experienced gamblers will tell you… at some point, you have to cut your losses.

Ultimately, most of your current and future decisions are built upon your previous ones. If you’re unable or unwilling to admit that your earlier decisions were wrong, you risk making a long string of costly mistakes that could have easily been avoided.

The reality is that no one is right all the time. Be honest with yourself and admit what everyone else already knows. It’ll be okay… you’ve been wrong before.

There’s a Spanish saying that goes… “Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo”. It essentially means “The devil knows more because he’s old, not because he’s the devil.” In other words… with age comes wisdom.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? Regardless of what you do, each time you do it, you learn what works and what doesn’t. In theory, past experiences should make you better. Of course, that assumes that you’re observant and want to improve.

So why do a lot of people with years of ‘experience’ tend to perform as if they’re still beginners!? Do they lack observation skills? Or… do they lack the motivation to change and make improvements?

Although all of us want to get paid more for what we do, not everybody strives to make their contribution more valuable. They get complacent and end up stuck in the same gear day after day, year after year.

So what about you?

Sure, you work hard. You even work long hours. But… are you getting any better?

Compared to last year at this time, how much better are you performing your job? Are you paying attention to what works and what doesn’t? More importantly, do you do anything about it?

It’s amazing how talented pro athletes are at such a young age, isn’t it? And yes, pro sports is completely different from most people’s careers. While many of us are just starting to hit our stride in our thirties and forties, most professional athletes are already retired from their sport by then.

Regardless of their age, pro athletes are laser-focused on their goals and typically reach the pinnacle of their career early in life. Of course, their window of opportunity is extremely short. If they want to be successful, they have to focus on nutrition and physical conditioning, learn their assignments for every play, and perform well on game day. Ultimately, if pro athletes don’t continue to improve, their career will soon be over.

Although the clock is always ticking, fortunately, your window of opportunity is still larger than ever. Each new day presents another chance to see what works and what doesn’t. You can choose to either get comfortable, or continue to learn and improve. In the end, the experience you have depends on you.