Communication is key to employee productivity
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 03/17/2011 7:57 AM
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ROCHESTER, Minn.— A labor management consultant says everyone naturally wants to do well in their jobs, so getting farm employees to perform at their best is a matter of providing proper motivation.
Felix Soriano, president and founder of APN Consulting, LLC, in Pennsylvania knows motivated employees improve a farm's bottom line by showing up to work, staying in their job longer, being more productive and causing less accidents.
Speaking at the recent Minnesota Milk Producers Association's Dairy Management Workshop in Rochester, he advised farmers to remove roadblocks keeping their employees from their natural motivation. He has found farm employees are often frustrated because they're not sure exactly what's expected of them, they don't receive enough constructive feedback or they're not exactly sure who is their boss.
"That's a very common issue to have, especially on family farms," said Soriano.
Great managers make a consistent effort to communicate with employees. Soriano recommends talking and listening with each team member at least once per week.
"Stop by for a five to ten minute conversation," he said.
Communication is key, whether you have English or Spanish-speaking employees.Soriano said managers would be surprised the impact it would have on their Hispanic workers if they try to learn one Spanish word each day.Likewise, Hispanic employees can be encouraged to learn one English word each day.
Translation programs or apps that change English to Spanish typically aren't accurate, said Soriano, a native of Argentina.To communicate with non-English speaking employees, it's best to periodically tap into local resources such as a high school Spanish teacher or a translator to effectively communicate.
By getting to know employees on a personal level, a manager will know what motivates them.
Help employees be successful by detailing what tasks they should do, how and when they should do them and why they should complete them in a certain way. If employees understand the reason behind a procedure, they're more likely to consistently follow it.Documents on how to properly complete standard operating procedures should be made for every dairy, for every chore, he said.
He recommends using as many communication tools as possible to share goals or updates on the herd or equipment. Some people track data in a notebook or write it on a dry erase board.
"I love boards. I want to see them everywhere at the dairy," Soriano said.
When he asks a farm employee what one thing they'd like to improve about their supervisor, 99 percent of the time the employee says they want more feedback about their job performance. Boards can be a tool to share that information. Possibleperformance indicators could be how many cows are milked per hour or somatic cell count. Post information weekly by shift to encourage healthy competition between employees, then make sure to talk with them about it to remind them of goals and create an opportunity for them to give feedback, he said.
Once or twice a year, give individual performance evaluations. In those meetings, allow employees to talk about what they think they're doing well.
It's important to address poor performers right away. If employees see poor performance is tolerated, it's likely to take away motivation from high performers.
Performance problems typically stem from three sources: the employee's natural strengths don't match the job and that will need to be addressed, they may be missing knowledge or skills and will need to be re-trained or they've lost their will to perform and need to have roadblocks to their motivation removed.
Reward high performers with opportunities for cross training, let them participate in farm decisions, give them a chance to go to conferences or develop bonus programs.
Some employees feel rewarded from simple, verbal praise —you just need to tell them they did a great job and give a reason why you're saying that. Monetary bonuses work well for many people, but shouldn't get employees to meet basic job functions. It should only be used to motivate employees to improve from a "good" to a "great" performance.