Top farmers know how to manage stress

01-08-2008 | Not Specified

Having the ability to absorb stress is one of the 20 attributes of top performing farmers, says Andy Macfarlane.

At the recent ASB Agribusiness conference in Wellington, the Ashburton farm advisor and president of the NZ Institute of Primary Industry Management ran through a list of skills for success possessed by the top 10% of the industry.

When you are working hard,
working long hours and juggling lots of balls, the ability to absorb stress is a critical factor. It is a worry the number of people in New Zealand, especially people in their early twenties, who are being treated for depression, he says.

A sense of humour is absolutely critical, because it revolves around stress management, a balanced lifestyle and an ability to relax. Quite frankly I don't know too many sad people who are successful, he says.

Coping with stress is one of what he calls soft skills. These also included having no preconceived ideas and excellent observational skills-not just in livestock but in business opportunities.

Vision was another necessary skill, as is the ability to prepare, absorb and sift information. "We all know people who have vision but can't quite get to the next line."

The most successful farmers are risk takers but good at managing that risk.

They have strong communication skills and are focused on their goals and not distracted by red herrings.

Collaboration was also important. They understood the power of working together collaboratively. That is where equity partnerships have had a key role in NZ agriculture in the past few years.

Passion is also vital to top performance.

Top performers are succession driven, and think about who will replace them. It is a duty for all of us to think about how to drive succession, he says.

Last but not least, a great partner is an attribute of a top performer. Virtually all the successful farming families I deal with have a great husband and wife partnership.

He listed a few hard skills, the first of which was hard work.

"I don't believe there is any such thing as a free lunch. I hear a lot of talk about working on the business not in it, but there is a bit of both needed."

Top performers are multi-taskers but they can prioritise, which means they are also top time management people.

They also have a great ability to sort important from urgent.

Good technical skills are another attribute.

"At the end of the day you can do all the financial planning and have all the vision you like but if you can't put it on the ground in terms of feeding it and growing it or have someone working with you closely to do it, then it doesn't come to anything."

Having done that, the ability to control costs, and last of all, generate cash is important.

"Without cash we eventually run out of steam," he says

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