Feeling at home in the farm team.

Feeling at home in any team enables you to show up authentically and makes it easier to give 100% of your energy to the tasks at hand.

Reflect back to a time when you started a new job or started playing in a new sporting team when you don’t know anyone or anything about them. It always takes some time to navigate the dynamics of the existing environment and feel like part of the team, and it is no different coming into a farming business.

Just like on the footy field or the netball court, members of the farm team are all there working towards a common goal – ensuring that the business is reaching its potential and supporting the family/families both emotionally and financially.

Giving the newbie the time and space to find their feet and figure out what role they want to play is just as important as the newbie learning the ropes and figuring out what they enjoy and are good at.

Something I wish I had the confidence to do when coming into our farming business was to ask questions – ask my in-laws how they did things, ask the accountant about the best way to manage the books, ask other members of the farming community how they operate their business. I didn’t ask in fear of looking stupid, thinking that everyone expected me to just know how to do the things I was being asked to do.

Asking more questions would have given be a better understanding of what role I was expected to play in our team, but also give me a better footing to focus on the tasks I wanted to do. Asking questions would have also given other members of our team the opportunity to describe things differently and helped me to better understand so we can continue to work towards the common goal. Ensuring that everyone has a clear role and follow through with what they say they are going to do helps the wheels keep turning.

But it isn’t just those that live under the farmhouse roof that make up the farm team. Finding good contractors and advisors is just as important as having a well-oiled family machine. It certainly will make your life easier if you work with people you can rely on. But it is just as important to have the confidence to cut ties and seek help elsewhere if things aren’t working for you and your business.

I am happy to say that we have built a great team of consultants and advisors to help us on our farming journey. I have lost count on the number of times I have cried on the phone to these people (particularly our accountant…) because I am frustrated at myself for not understanding the issue at hand. But they have all been more than willing to help which made it easier to recruit them to be part of our team.

Running a business is a journey, not a destination, so it is important to make sure you feel part of the team and have good team mates to be on the journey with!