Beef production businesses and ranch managers have been anticipating and preparing for the fall busy season including weaning, selling calves, vaccinations, fall calving, etc., for weeks. Now it is time for managers to be doers. Right? Well, yes and no.
Yes because, with everything ready to go, you can now lead by example – use your pace-setting leadership style. No, however, because you still are the leader. If you devote all or too much of your time to doing, the productivity of others on your team will suffer. So what roles are needed now – during the fall busy season – from you as the leader?
First, you are still the leader and must continue to provide direction by reinforcing the vision and the expectations and plans that have been made. There will also be numerous times when those plans must be changed – call audibles. You must then make certain everyone understands the new plan – provide clarity – “chalk the field.”
In your role as the leader to maximize the productivity of each individual and the team, you must successfully execute the following roles.
Training
I am certain you have completed all the training in preparation for this busy period. Unfortunately, there often is no perfect substitute for the real thing. Also, fall occurs only once a year, and those who have completed the task before may still need retraining, especially if technology or procedures have been changed or updated.
For training, it is easy to skip key steps. Use the “prepare, tell, show, do” review training sequence and only skip steps when you are absolutely certain the step is not needed. The review step is crucial and is not limited to a final summary. It includes circling back to answer questions and concerns the employee has. It is important to tell them that you will be circling back so they do not think you are “checking up.” Rather you are helping them succeed. In your review, you can use these three questions:
- Do you have any questions or anything that is not clear?
- What is going well?
- What could be going better?
Positive feedback, encouragement and support
You and your team are entering the fall busy season with great enthusiasm. You must maintain that enthusiasm. It will naturally wane as the season proceeds. It can also be sapped by setbacks from inclement weather, machinery breakdowns, unexpected poor results and long hours.
Your first line of attack to maintain enthusiasm and productivity is positive feedback. Remember we humans, unlike machines, cattle and horses, can think, speak and feel. Employees desperately seek and respond positively to quality feedback, recognition and rewards. Believe me, employees respond positively even when they do not show a positive response.
To be most effective, positive feedback must be specific. Rather than just saying “You are doing a good job,’’ use Ken Blanchard’s “catch your employees doing something right” to be specific: “Great job Jack, I noticed you were especially careful as you maneuvered around those telephone poles.”
Why is encouragement so important? “Encouragement is needed to raise confidence so one dares to do what is difficult.” This quote from Values.com emphasizes the importance of encouragement to you and your employees’ confidence, focus and performance, especially in busy times.
Effective and heartfelt encouragement will go a long way to maintaining high levels of enthusiasm. Look for appropriate places to express encouragement:
- “I know we can do this.”
- “I have confidence in you.”
- “I know this will turn out well.”
- “You can do it.”
You can show your support and caring for your team without using valuable time. As you interact with your team, show interest in everyone as a human being – “manage by walking around.” Even during busy periods, life is not just about work. Ask about their families and friends. Comment about things you have heard or seen. Maybe one of your employees has children on the local sports teams, a friend who won an award or the family participated in a volunteer effort. You may also gain information that can be used to provide a better schedule, so employees do not miss important family events.
Supervision
During busy periods, you are still your employees’ supervisor. That means you need to handle all the roles of a supervisor. Hopefully, the routine pieces – payments, vacations, etc. – have been handled. You still need to focus on clarity and performance. Clarity – “chalking the field” – is even more important in critical periods as any lost time – missteps, “scenic routes,” etc. – is even more costly.
You prepare and modify your plans to obtain the desired result. You should be doing the same thing with employees. The key to the in-season modifications is redirection feedback. You should be continually making suggestions for improvement and success.
Think about sports managers and coaches from youth sports to professional leagues. During practice and the game, they are continually speaking with individuals and groups of players to improve individual and team performance. They are providing redirection feedback to increase the likelihood of winning the game. Your continual redirection feedback is similarly designed to get maximum performance. The coach does not stop making suggestions because the season has started.
Think of redirection feedback as fine-tuning to ensure that you and your employees are operating at maximum performance.
The bottom line
It is amazingly easy for the leader to slight their supervisor role during busy times. Although tempting and even personally rewarding, the outcome will be best if you, the leader, prioritize people over doing!
