Importance of Apologies on Farms

I've invited a friend of mine from the Canadian & USA AgHR network (this network now includes Australia & New Zealand), Gregorio Billikopf who works at  University of California, Davis. to write this blog. Gregorio is an Internationally respected writer on Staff Relations & management of staff on farms. I really admire his work & this article on Apologies is a very good example of his expertise & sensitivity. Thank you Gregorio.

Gregorio Billikopf

Farm employers and others often ask me for help as a mediator. Most of us who studied agriculture never realized that we would end up spending so much time dealing with people rather than plants and animals. Today I want to share a few thoughts about apologies.

  We must first recognize our error before we can make things right. While never easy, it is even harder when such recognition requires a public acknowledgement—an apology—to those we have injured.

 It is not surprising that most of the apologies we hear are quasi-apologies at best, if not outright justifications and blame misdirected at the injured parties. We often hear such false expressions of regret such as “If you’re hurt, I’m sorry!” “I’m sorry, already!” And, “I am sorry, but ...”

 A true apology requires a great deal of humility and includes a sincere expression of regret, changed behavior and, when possible, restitution.

Some people attempt to make things right by changing behavior without openly recognizing mistakes. This partial effort at making things right is seldom enough.

 Even more difficult than public recognition of our mistake, is a willingness to hear, directly from the injured party, precisely how much pain we have caused. It is natural to wish we could shield ourselves from the discomfort of vicariously re-living these moments—and instead try and compensate in other ways.

   Nor can we decide that it is now time to be fully forgiven. This impatience again shows our lack of humility. Furthermore, we are making it harder for the person we have injured to heal—and ironically, extend the period of resentment they may have toward us.

 

Another ineffective apology is the empty expression of regret. That is, apologies which are not accompanied by a change in behavior. For example, in cases of domestic violence (physical, verbal or emotional) it is not uncommon for the aggressor to be contrite after beating his wife. By the next day, he may have begun to minimize the damage, start to blame her, and not long thereafter begin striking her again. Domestic violence is a very serious matter that requires professional help. As powerful as an apology can be, when an individual rescinds it by word or deed, it would have been better if no regrets had been offered.

 

All these shortcuts to a true apology are like building on a poor foundation. If we notice that the concrete foundation for the structure we are building is faulty, we can close our eyes and continue work at our own peril. As painful as it may seem, the sooner we recognize our mistake, make the necessary expenditures to break up and remove the concrete foundation, and start over, the better off we will be. Depending on how far into a project we are, this can be quite painful and expensive.

 

Part of the process of acknowledging we need to make alterations is to announce the change in behavior—in the form of a goal—which will help us improve our interpersonal approach. For example, if we have been extremely critical in the past, we can let people we offended know that we will try to get rid of that bad habit.

 The topic of forgiveness is just as complex. A person who cannot forgive and holds on to his pain suffers much more than the offending party. When we have forgiven we do not continually remind others of the offense. Some comments and deeds are so hurtful, however, that substantial time may have to transpire before we can be free of the associated pain.

 

Gregorio
University of California

gebillikopf@ucdavis.edu
  
Conflict Management & Interpersonal Mediation:
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7conflict/ (English)
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/agro-laboral/7conflicto/ (español)

Agricultural Labor Management & Worker Productivity:
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/ (English)
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/agro-laboral/ (español)

We Must Look After Our Good Staff on Dairy Farms

We must look after our good staff on Dairy Farms. 

How do we prevent the increasing “churn” of employed staff?  Turnover (or tenure) of staff employed on NZ dairy farms is expensive. There is a general feeling that the “churn” of dairy farm staff is getting faster. 

The NZ dairy industry doesn’t compare well with other employment sectors. The greatest “Churn” appears to be amongst the young or in the first year that people are in the job.

“Annual churn out of the industry is estimated at 15% for 2010/11 with a cost of $64 million to the industry in lost investment.

 Tenure of staff within their job is approximately 1.6 years on average, leading to an estimated turnover in the order of 60% of staff annually within each farm business. This equates to 11,400 jobs being vacated and filled annually.” Geoff Taylor DairyNZ.

From an OneFarm survey (Tipples & Greenhalgh) of 480 AgITO trainees (2011):

Average time spent working in current position 1.6 years (median 1 year)

40% of respondents had been in their current position for less than 1 year

Average time respondents have spent working in the dairy industry 3.8 years (median 3 years) Range 1 month-25 years

The Californian dairy industry has data over time reported by Gregorio Billikopf from the University of California that indicates an improvement.

The Californian dairy industry has data on Dairy Turnover

There are some excellent online resources that could help dairy farm employers do a better job of keeping good staff.

         I was most impressed with a webinar called “Getting to We” presented by Dr Bob Erven from Ohio State University. Bob is part of an AgHR network which includes Ag professionals from USA, Canada, Australia, NZ & Chile. This is an interesting concept that farm employers should adopt. It means changing the culture of the farm business.

 “How do employees make the transition from thinking of it as ‘your’ business to thinking of it as ‘our’ business?” Dr Bob Erven.

There are 7 changes needed to change the farm work culture to “We”

1.  Commitment from Top Management

2. A supporting organizational culture

3. Employees compatible with the “We” culture

4.  A change process of Unfreeze>Change> Refreeze

5.   Delegation & Empowerment

6.  Communication

7.  Rewards

Listen to Bob Erven's Webinar It's a must do!

(be patient it takes a little time to get started)
  OneFarm (The Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management in New Zealand) has produced a very good webinar presented by Justine Kidd. Justine spoke about keeping the right staff. This webinar (with downloadable presentation notes) looks at improving staff retention. 

 NZ Dairy Womens Network

 How can Farmers Retain the Right Staff    A must see webinar!

It is estimated that losing & replacing a farm staff member costs you approximately 1.5X the annual salary of the person you lose. These costs include advertising, interviewing, lost productivity & training the new staff member. “Churn” is very expensive and is a threat to animal welfare & environmental compliance.

Spot the Cumbrian Farmers from the UK visiting NZ

The Questions get harder

I was really pleased to attend a Dairyman Field day at Gary and Val Wright of Longbeach Dairies in Canterbury and see an attempt by the Headlands Consultancy group to include HR Metrics and environmental measures in their competition as well as profitability.  

 Headlands Consultancy

I’m left feeling very uncomfortable about what’s happening within the NZ dairy industry regarding staff turnover or “Churn”. 

Young people are our most valuable resources on a dairy farm. What are we doing to them? Is it the systems on the farms or the lack of skilled HR management of people? 

What are your thoughts?