Why great farm teams perform better
Topics
3 min read
Looking for a new team member? A well-planned recruitment process can help you find the right fit for your farm and set your team up for success.
Finding and keeping good people is one of the biggest challenges facing many farm businesses. Understanding what today's employees are looking for can help you attract great candidates, build a positive team culture, and retain valuable team members for longer.
Why strong teams matter
Farming is about people working together to deliver business results. The better the team works together the more likely the business results will be great. This is because there are various benefits linked to improved teamwork, proven by science: Work Life by Atlassian .
Great teams have a clear purpose and a strong team culture where people are committed to, and enthusiastic about, their jobs and the business. This is often called employee engagement. Engaged employees believe their contribution makes a difference and therefore they:
- Will invest extra time and effort in making the business a success.
- Are more productive.
- Are less likely to have accidents.
- Are more likely to stay with their employer.
Every year DairyNZ surveys employees about their job satisfaction and intentions for the coming year. Consistently we see the primary reasons people leave their jobs, and sometimes the sector, are poor workplace culture and/or bad experiences with their boss or a team member.
Retaining great staff helps build stronger teams, more productive farms and a better dairy sector.
Every year approximately 5000 people leave the dairy sector. It has a similar turnover rate to other primary sectors however it is higher than New Zealand’s best-performing sectors.
Research suggests the total cost of staff turnover is anywhere from 33% to 100%+ of an employee’s salary when considerations such as recruitment costs, employer time in recruiting and training which could have been spent elsewhere, decreased efficiency, and mistakes.
Increasing retention rates in individual businesses and the sector will increase enjoyment, efficiency and productivity for farming businesses.
Creating a positive team culture
The leader of the business always has the biggest influence in creating a strong team culture. This starts with recruiting the right people and continues with the leadership and culture in the business. In high performing businesses great teams and employee engagement are not left to chance. Managers and employers prioritise effort and time to build their teams.
Key qualities and considerations we see in great teams include:
- Good leadership -understanding your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Taking small positive steps can make a huge difference to your teams' engagement.
- Rigorous recruitment, with a careful consideration of the job needs and how that job interacts with others.
- Regular communication and knowing what drives your team.
- The ability to have good work-life balance for all team members.
- Investment in training and development.
- Involving the team in business decisions that affect their work so they have a sense of autonomy and the ability to improve the work they do.
- Common goals – team members know what the business is trying to achieve and how their work contributes to it.
- An understanding of each other and the work that is being done.
Support your team's development
Strong teams start with people understanding what's expected of them and how they can grow. The Dairy Farm Career Pathways guide helps you create clear role expectations, support development conversations and identify opportunities for progression. It also gives employers and employees a consistent framework and language for discussing roles, skills and career pathways across the dairy sector.
Get your team involved in the day-to-day management and in problem-solving where you can – this creates buy-in and commitment.
Who else can help? |
|
| Dairy Training | Dairy Training website |
| Dairy Training courses | |
| NextGen Dairy Farmers Programme | |
| Federated Farmers | Federated Farmers website) |
| Employment and Other Guides | |
| Farming salaries (members only) | |
| Agri Women's Development Trust | Agri-Women's Development Trust website) |
| Agri-Women's Development Trust programmes | |
| Primary ITO | Primary ITO website |
| Primary ITO Programmes | |
| Dairy Women's Network | Dairy Women's Network website |
| Dairy Women's Network Events | |
| Dairy Women's Network Resources |
Additional resources
Career planning with employees
/people/building-a-great-team/career-planning-with-employees/
Build capability in your farm team
/people/building-a-great-team/build-capability-in-your-farm-team/
Job Competitiveness Calculator
Tools & Apps
Business
Insights into finding and keeping good people
/people/finding-and-employing-good-people/insights-into-finding-and-keeping-good-people/
Workplace360
Tools & Apps
People
People leadership and motivating the next generation | Ep. 72
Podcast
Audio
24:04 min
Dairy Farm Career Pathways
Resources
Employee resources
The Dairy Farm Career Pathway descriptions create clear and consistent role expectations for employers and future career pathways for employees on New Zealand dairy farms, as well as providing a common framework and language that helps align industry activities.
