K-State Research and Extension

“A Meaningful Gesture”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

If you haven’t already either (a) given out a year-end bonus or (b) decided that the year-end bonus is a frustrating complete waste of time, here’s something for you to consider.

If you have an overwhelming compulsion to say some kind of heart-felt “Thank you” to your team this year, the three key points to remember are (1) that the intended “Thank you” is perceived by the person receiving the reward, (2) it is something extra and not simply an extension of normal compensation, and (3) there is no risk of the bonus, or lack thereof, becoming a dis-incentive later.

Many organizations have supplied bonuses in the form of a gift card to a local or online retailer. There is certainly value in supplying your employees an opportunity to purchase some useful item that they will enjoy, how likely is it that the item will emotionally be connected to the organization? Another drawback to this approach is the risk that the bonus will be viewed like cash, an extension of normal compensation, and nothing exceptional, not a special “Thank you” from management.

One alternative is a gift card to a nice local restaurant. This can be a very meaningful way that employees can enjoy quality time with family or friends, in a restaurant that might be too expensive to be a regular “hang-out”, making the evening something special and somewhat of an event. The “special-ness” of the event increases the likelihood that the employee will connect the event to the appreciation expressed by you and the organization’s leadership team.

The more “special” the experience, the more likely (1) the employee will perceive the “Thank you”, and (2) there won’t be an annual expectation for extra compensation, meaning that (3) there won’t be hurt feelings if the bonus doesn’t arrive next year.

“Mentoring 101”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Sometimes, with the mantle of management comes unanticipated but essential duties. One of these is especially for managers who are supervising younger subordinates.

One reality of leadership, so subtle that it is often lost on both manager and employee, is that, as leaders, we are always teaching something, intentionally or unintentionally, for better or for worse.

The supervisor who makes an intentional effort to “catch” employees doing something right is not only motivating the team, but is also coincidentally “teaching” the team that leadership doesn’t only entail giving orders and enforcing discipline, but also engendering enthusiasm and camaraderie among the team.

In conjunction with this continual, coincidental teaching, comes the obligation of the team leader to mentor younger teammates. Mentoring is not to be taken lightly. Mentoring means giving of yourself, with little hope to see a return on your investment. But it is important nonetheless. The future of your organization resides in the quality of your future leaders; none of us will live forever, and we should plan to work ourselves out of our job. By the end of your career, your hope should be that you’ve intentionally and effectively prepared a young mentee to step into your shoes, and your chair.

No one can do this job for you; only an effective leader can teach leadership. Leaders do lead by example, but they also must communicate clearly, intentionally, and effectively. In the absence of a clear message communicated by the team leader, the team will create their own message—be it right or wrong. This is true in day-to-day operation of the organization, but also in the process of mentoring young, future leaders. The intentional mentor will continually look for teachable moments to pass along leadership lessons to the mentee.

There’s a reason someone once said “It’s lonely at the top.” Leadership will be costly, and taxing. The incidental leader will focus only on the daily, quarterly, or annual production goals and the challenges that erupt along the way. But the complete leader, who sees not only the immediate goals and challenges but also sees clearly the future of the organization including future hurdles and challenges and opportunities, will eagerly seek out young future leaders and take on the mantle of mentorship. This is accepted not because it’s some technique that was gleaned from a management guide, but because they can clearly see that proper training of future team leaders is just as essential for operational success as meeting immediate production targets.

Seek out your future leaders! Every good organization holds its future in its own hands in the form of its future leaders, to be raised up from within.

“Support Your Local Ag Teacher”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

At a conference for ag leaders recently the topic of human resources was addressed and discussed. I’ve been involved in, and have instigated, many of these types of discussions, and there is usually no shortage of opinions on the topic. Unfortunately, most ag businessmen have a very good handle on what the problem is—a shortage of good people—but few have tangible, feasible solutions.

At this particular meeting, however, an idea was suggested that made a great deal of sense. Our future ag business leaders are, today, sitting in class in high school, trying to decide what they’re going to do with their life. What if we gave them the answer?

One of the attendees at the conference went on at length about the vibrancy of his local high school vo-ag program in general, and the advisor in particular. But he went on to lament that many communities are not in the same situation, and that, due to a decline in funding and a rise in community apathy, the ability of many local vo-ag instructors to attract students to ag careers has waned.

Like any business, teaching and mentoring programs will take on the personality of those leading the program. In sports, an intense head coach will foment intensity from the entire coaching staff; practices will be taut and energetic; players will give 110% at practice or they will be invited to spend their free time elsewhere. Likewise, if the vo-ag instructor has an outflowing of passion for (a) agriculture and (b) the successful futures of their students, that passion will be felt and absorbed by their seeking and willing students.

It’s up to the local ag community to communicate with local ag teachers what the career opportunities are in modern agriculture. Kids need and want direction; young people sometimes don’t know what they don’t know. We have the knowledge of our own businesses to pass on to ag students what we want, need, and are willing to pay for, in terms of quality future employees.

As Mark Twain once quipped, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody ever seems to do anything about it.” Well, we have a growing shortage of good, young people coming into agriculture, but we can do something about it: Support Your Local Ag Teacher.

“Flex Time”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Recently, I had an interesting conversation with a friend and former student who now is a line manager for a large agricultural enterprise. He told me they had a critical opening because they had lost a good shift manager to a competing industry where he was certain the employee would earn less money, but have more time off, work shorter days, and work a shorter week.

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story, and becomes more normal every year. As the economy works its way back into the black ink, job opportunities improve and increase, making for some very tempting situations for good employees.

Here is the age-old challenge for employers in any industry: your good, conscientious, hard-working, dedicated employees are going to have options; your less reliable, marginal team members probably don’t. The good ones leave and the bad ones stay.

If your salary and compensation package is “in the ball park” with the rest of the industry and competing industries, keeping good employees won’t be about the money. And if they say it’s about the money, it’s not. Workplace satisfaction and quality of life can’t be bought for another couple of bucks an hour. It will be about something else entirely.

The reason my friend lost a good worker is for more time with his family. If the worker had been the sole bread-winner in a household with children, leaving for a pay cut might not have been an option at all. But if Mom had a decent paying job, even if it’s only part-time, the family might not feel pressed for disposable income, but definitely will feel pressed for family time. In order to both have time with his family and be flexible to work around his wife’s work schedule, time was worth more than money. Wow, what a concept.

If you want to get ahead of the game and keep good employees around, there are 2 admonitions here: (1) you’ve got to start getting creative with scheduling, and (2) you’ve got to be proactive. If the employee is loyal to your team and really doesn’t want to leave but feels pulled, he’ll likely give you a chance to tweak your system. The problem is that this will be an uncomfortable experiment for all involved and will likely experience some hiccups. Start experimenting now. As The Great Jack Welch said, “Change before you have to.”

This isn’t easy stuff; nobody said management was easy. It’s lonely at the top. And times have changed from just two decades ago when another 25 cents an hour would steal a good employee from the neighbor and buy their loyalty for another couple years. Chances are your lowest paid employee has a car, cable television, microwave oven, warm clothes and good shoes on the kids. A few bucks won’t change their life.

You can play this game and win. But the rules have changed. Take the time to learn what the playing field looks like today, spend time with your people to know what their needs are outside of your operation, and bend your own rules to make them fit the new reality we live and operate in.

“The Classics Never Go Out of Style!”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Beef Quality Assurance is now nearly 40 years old and still going strong and is stronger than ever. The BQA program started out with the intent of educating all U.S. beef producers on what to do, and not to do, to ensure that 100% of U.S. beef was safe and wholesome for consumers.

In some developing countries, any form of meat is a luxury item that few can afford to eat on a regular, daily, basis, and because of insufficient infrastructure for transport, processing, and refrigeration of fresh meat, food safety is also a luxury. Foodborne illness is commonplace in these countries.

But in the U.S. and other developed nations, food safety is table stakes. All the marketing in the world about flavor or nutritional value or convenience falls completely on deaf ears if the assumption that the product will be safe, 100% of the time, is violated. Zero tolerance. Western consumers have zero tolerance for food risk, mainly because we as the production community have provided them with that level of assurance over the past few decades.

We have one of the safest food supplies in the entire world, because the entire food production community has taken food safety seriously. In the 1950’s, foodborne illness was common, and yet today it is so rare that it is newsworthy whenever or wherever it happens at the industrial level, regardless of whether it arises from meat, eggs, milk, or vegetables.

The modern industrial food production process is fascinating and incredibly complex. The level of technology employed simply in keeping foods safe for consumers would be mind-boggling to a consumer from the 1950’s, or even to a modern consumer in the developing world who do not have access to this precious gift.

Most beef producers of today understand the need to keep beef safe. But it is important that we keep training each other, learning from one another’s mistakes and successes. Decades ago BQA started out by making sure needles weren’t left in the muscle of cattle; we moved injection site from the valuable top round to the lower value neck muscle area; we moved product use, whenever possible, from intramuscular to sub-cutaneous administration; residue avoidance became a priority so we emphasized adherence to label instructions and withdrawal times; and most recently, we’ve included training on reducing the stress level of cattle at all stages of production leading up to harvest.

Food safety will never go out of style; its job one for everyone in the business of feeding the world. Never stop learning, and never stop teaching one another in order to maintain consumer trust.

“Coach ‘Em Up, Coach!”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

With the growing trend, almost a ground swell, in concern by beef producers for training in animal welfare and general husbandry, there is both an opportunity and a challenge for managers and for extension personnel.

There’s nothing more “invigorating” than standing in front of 50 lifetime career ranchers, each one with more experience handling livestock than me, and telling them, “We can do better.” But that is sometimes exactly what we need to do.

It’s been said, “The good old days never were.” We all, at some age that seems to correlate with achy, creaky joints in the morning, become nostalgic about the way things used to be. But the reality is that if we could go back and honestly examine how we did things, we’d be disappointed at best, and at worst, appalled.

The quality of available livestock handling facilities is greater than it ever has been in our lifetime. But the reason for that very same evolutionary or even revolutionary improvement in technology and facilities is that our collective industry attitude in favor of low stress cattle handling has never been stronger.

Cattle handlers have always cared for the animals in their charge, but we are all prisoners of our experience, our perspective, and our culture. By coming to a meeting, and listening to and critically examining new ideas, and welcoming and embracing the possibility that some changes are both good and necessary, we can effectively unshackle ourselves from our past experience and move into the new world of better.

Now go challenge your family, neighbors, and industry colleagues to get better, because we can only become as good as the weakest link in the industry will allow.

“Team Starts with Attitude”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

A good team is kind of like art: hard to describe but you know it when you see it. And more critically, we know a poor team when we see it even more clearly.

Some people are naturally team players, and some simply are NOT. Sociologists might argue whether this is because of their genetic makeup or because of their social background, but that part is academic. It’s up to the manager to (a) read this potential and then (b) decide whether or not the remaining virtues outweigh the lack of team attitude.

If we decide the person brings sufficient valuable tools to the team but lacks a team-focused attitude, we can go into the relationship with a plan and a desired outcome. If, however, the person’s selfish attitude isn’t compensated for by outstanding talent, it’s time to cut bait. It’s been said, “We’d rather have an empty chair than just a warm body.” A single team member with a bad attitude will cause the manager more headaches and “grass fires” to put out than any single other challenge in the workplace.

The savvy—and ambitious—manager, who knowingly takes on a selfish but talented employee, needs to have intentional interventions in place to incrementally work with the employee on their attitude, help them to shed selfish habits and responses, and to slowly come to embrace and live out the team culture. Some people simply don’t know they’re a pariah, and they’re very coachable; they may simply never have been a part of a collaborative team and have never had effective, hands-on leadership. However, if progress isn’t made in these areas, be ready to end the relationship for the benefit of the organization and team productivity and morale.

In the long run, having a unified, cohesive, mutually supportive, and productive team is more important than any short-term infusion of talent or expertise, because the gains will be equally short-lived and may be detrimental to the productivity of the entire organization. If the long-term health of the team is in jeopardy, it may be time to remove the unhealthy element in question, or else not bring it to the party in the first place.

“Cattle Handling During the Summer”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

During extreme weather conditions, both winter and summer, the rules need to change. Obviously, during or after a blizzard or ice storm, cattle handling considerations need to change, for the sake of the animals as well as the people.

However, these rules should also change during extreme heat conditions. Cattle comfort translates to cattle performance. Cattle don’t have the capability to lie: if cattle are showing signs of distress, they are likely not comfortable and not performing well.

Physical activity causes the internal temperature of cattle to increase. So if cattle are processed during the heat of the day, cattle will have difficulty cooling themselves afterwards.

This leads to the question of when to process these cattle during hot, summer, conditions. Many producers will move processing activities to the very early morning hours if excessive heat is expected during the daylight hours. However, if cattle are not provided with several hours of cool morning temperatures after being returned to their home pen or pasture, their internal temperature may not return to normal prior to environmental conditions causing further heat stress.

Also, if environmental heat conditions during the day are excessive, and evening temperature and humidity does not fall sufficiently to allow cattle to cool their internal temperature, processing should probably be delayed until environmental conditions allow cattle to cool themselves both prior to and following processing. If the procedures are not an emergency, let it wait for cooler conditions.

“Sometimes, You Need A Crisis”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Some organizations have a team of individuals who seem to share a common brain. They have a common sense of purpose, equal degree of motivation and enthusiasm, and are all pulling in the same direction.

The rest of us live in the real world.

We may even work in a highly productive, supportive, collegial environment, but many times each individual on the team has a slightly (or greatly) different agenda than what might be most beneficial to the good of the organization.

This all seems to change when there is a very real crisis which either (a) threatens the viability of the organization, and the security of the individuals, or (b) can easily be identified by all individuals as an opportunity for the organization to excel, leading to success and reward for each individual on the team.

That is when all parties involved, almost instinctively, begin to pull in the same direction. People we previously might have thought were disengaged begin asking very salient and probing, and productive, questions, and contribute volumes to understanding and development of solutions. An individual who might have previously had a reputation as an outsider or a contrarian begin to support the team emotionally and contribute to others’ successful efforts.

The crisis can be a negative thing, such as a down economy which requires organizational belt-tightening. But conversely, the crisis may be an opportunity, such as dramatically increased demand for products or services, which requires greater output and efficiency by each team member.

During good, or at least normal, times, we each chase after our own selfish, although productive and meaningful, agendas, somewhat (if not completely) oblivious to the goals and challenges of our colleagues. How sweet it is by comparison when some unforeseen crisis brings us together, all pulling in the same direction. That is the truest definition of team.

“What Do You Celebrate?”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Part of what makes up a family or a community is their celebrations.

As a critical part in demonstrating and living out the “culture of caring”, we reach out to a friend or colleague who is experiencing loss or pain in their personal life. But another important aspect to showing that we care is by lifting them up in celebration when they are experiencing a victory, in both their work life and their personal life.

Personal victories may include a wedding, the birth of a child, success of children in school or career, an adult child’s wedding, or the birth of a grandchild. The more we express our genuine, shared, joy for our colleagues’ victories outside of the workplace, the more that colleague will feel that the workplace is really just an extension of their non-work relationships.

It is important that exceptional colleagues should be celebrated in the workplace. This can take place through some type of formal recognition, either in private or with great public ceremony, or simply private acknowledgement of accomplishments or milestones. Most organizations have some form of structured recognition for certain accomplishments, such as the 5-year pin, or the employee of the month, both of which have merit. But the creative leader will find more ways to identify less obvious demonstrations of leadership.

At a recent training meeting attended by members of numerous competing companies, a committee selected an exceptional candidate from nominations which had previously and secretly been submitted by each attendee’s supervisor. A maintenance worker from one of the companies was publicly recognized in front of his peers as an exceptional employee and given an engraved and valuable handmade knife. Walking to the front to accept the award, the man was nearly speechless, but uttered, “I’ve never won anything in my life!”

Every person who approaches their job with integrity and commitment wants to feel valuable to the organization. Nothing communicates this value more resoundingly than public recognition of their contribution.