The Rural Voice, 1998-04, Page 66When things go wrong, examine
yourself first, she advised. And
remember, she said, as a leader your
words hold great power to build or to
break.
As it expanded, her company took
the time to define its mission — the
goal of the company. It set down a
set of 11 values, such as teamwork
and taking leadership it wanted the
company to adopt. A leader should
also set the direction of where the
company is headed and decide how
and when you'll get there and how
each person in the company will
contribute to the goal.
In hiring, she said, Swine
Graphics tries to get to know the
people being hired. "Past work
behavior predicts the future," she
said. They try to see if the person
will be interested in the job offered.
They want to see if the person will fit
the style of the company. "It takes a
certain kind of person to work in our
participatory style," she said, noting
some people are used to following
orders, not making decisions for,
themselves.
Hire people with character and a
desire to work, she advised.
Trust is an essential part of work,
she said. "If you don't trust your
workers and they don't trust you,
work can be hell. Trust is a
combination of character and
competence." Be real. Express
personal feelings, thoughts and
concerns. Admit mistakes but don't
repeat them. Make free promises, but
keep them. Tell it like it is — don't
hedge the truth no matter how tough
the situation. Do what you say, say
what you do. Honour the absent by
not gossiping or breaching their
confidences.
"A good part of our people
problems come about by absent or
poor communications," she said in
touching on her third tip. On your
own part, listen to make sure you
understand, giving full attention to
the person who is talking. Listen
deeply for the message, both the
words and the feelings, both verbal
and non-verbal. Keep focus on the
individual's story, not yours and be
open to the ideas of others. •
When trying to communicate, use
62 THE RURAL VOICE
Advice
Loretta Leman: 10 tips for building
trust and productivity with
employees.'
simple, specific, straight -forward
terms and check for accurate
understanding and interpretation of
what you said.
Practice getting more comfortable
with emotional be.havior, both your
own and others'. Unexpressed
feelings can come out later in uglier
ways.
Encourage accurate responses.
Ask: what will you do? what's next?
who does what? If someone
complains, ask them to go away and
come back with the answers to our
questions: what is the problem? what
are the possible causes? what are all
possible solutions? what do you
recommend?
On an organizational level, write
things down such as routine policies
and procedures. Swine Graphics
developed checklists and forms for
things like processing piglets. "We
understood we had to standardize the
routine things," she said. "It's
important to develop simple tools."
Wherever two people get together
there will be conflict, she said.
Common pitfalls with managers
include ignoring the conflicts by
procrastinating, minimizing or hiding
them, hoping in time they will
improve or go away or
acknowledging them but failing to
identify the root causes or applying
ineffective solutions. A good
manager should promptly address a
known conflict, use a process and
have a tool. Swine Graphics uses a
six step method asking: What are the
issues/problems? What are the
feelings? What are the needs? What
are the possible solutions? What is
the win/win solution? Is it working?
Managers should delegate,
allowing them to double or triple
their productivity. But delegate the
routine necessary tasks and the things
others can do. Don't delegate the
crises, policy making, the vision and
direction -creating parts of the job.
Evaluate job performance as a
way to give people a chance to
improve and change. Do it to help,
not hinder, to give direction and to
communicate. Let people know what
is expected.
Praise a job well done both
privately and publicly, verbally and
tangibly, individually and as a team.
Improve systems and processes.
Quality experts estimate that waste
and rework can amount to 25-40 per
cent of business costs. Work with
faulty systems demotivates emp-
loyees. Get everyone involved in
identifying and improving poor
systems.
Teach: people will grow as much
as you allow them to. Know the skills
needed in your operation and send
people out to get them or teach them
yourselves. At Swine Graphics they
teach pig skills and people skills.
Manage change. Change is normal
and inevitable and resistance to it is
normal and predictable. Focus on
those who will change, with help.
Others will either adapt readily or
eventually leave. Making changes
involves a process of denial, anger,
bargaining, depression followed by
acceptance.
She posed 10 questions to help
prepare yourself and others for
change: who needs to change? why
do we need to change? what will we
gain by changing? what will it look
like after we change? how serious are
we about changing? how will this
change affect me? what will I have to
do? what help and training will I get?
how quickly am I expected to
change? when will we be finished?0