Minding Ag's Business

Leadership the Army Way

Both in the military and in family businesses, you won't necessarily find born leaders. Most people acquire leadership skills through training, practice or at least copying a role model. Given that so many of you worry about motivating the best from your workforce, it's worth recounting how Army methods might help improve performance.

West Pointers know the drill well. Lt. General (Ret.) Jack Sterling, a former deputy commander for US Army Training and Doctrine, tells audiences that by the time the U.S. entered World War I, many units of our Western allies had been decimated and European commanders wanted fresh American troops to refill their ranks. General Pershing refused to put American soldiers under foreign command, but he was suddenly faced with a harsh reality: The U.S. Army cycled through about three officers before they could find one competent in leading men into battle.

That revelation prompted the Army to begin cultivating leaders throughout its officer training programs, says Sterling. By the Vietnam era, a war veteran assigned to West Point began to make the case that leading a volunteer army required a whole new style. Command and control might have worked during a military draft, but volunteer troops needed motivation based on inspiration.

Lt. Col. Boyd "Mac" Harris (Sterling's tactical officer at West Point) wrote the classic Army manual on leadership. Boyd's shorthand motto, "Be, Know, Do" encouraged officers to exhibit the kind of character and integrity that gives leaders courage to do the right thing, no matter the circumstances (BE); continually master interpersonal, technical and tactical knowledge--including what motivates your followers (KNOW); and act decisively to benefit and influence your team (DO).

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

At the heart of Harris's message was that disciplined, cohesive teams are built by positive motivation, trust and mutual respect. He believed "honorable character is the moral fiber . .. something the troops sense . . . the most important part of leadership." That's also a message that farmers--even more than corporate CEOs pressured to make quarterly profits--can integrate into their operating procedures.

Kip Tom, CEO at Tom Farms Leesburg, Indiana, has no military background, but he agrees leadership has less to do with DNA than it does with attitude. Integrity is a pillar of his relationships.

In a recent online newsletter for Ag Progress, a Garden City, Kansas, farm family business consulting service headed by DTN's Family Business Adviser Lance Woodbury, Tom outlines the core values that have served him during 42 years farming. Since joining his parents' farming operation after high school, he has grown the operation from 525 acres to nearly 20,000 acres. On a strategic level, he's directed emphasis away from commodity crops and been among the first in the industry to adapt new technologies. Tom Farms now employs 25 people including three of his five grown children and his sister. The farm is also one of the major seed corn producers for Monsanto.

Here's how Tom articulates his business culture to his family and team members:

SHOW HUMILITY AND RESPECT

“You may disagree with somebody, but we need to show deep respect for employees, our neighbors, our community and the industry.”

ENGAGE EMPLOYEES
“We want to have good employee engagement and treat them like they’re family. If they’ve got some issues at home that they need to take care of, we all chip in together to try to fill that gap when that person’s gone. We want them to know we care.”

BUILD FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
“Make sure you have the right kind of relationship between family members. If your employees don’t see any closeness between family members, they may question your desire to keep the operation going.”

IMPROVE YOURSELF
“Self-improvement is critical to us. Whether you’re family or staff, we spend money on education and we make sure people understand that we expect improvement from them. If someone walks in the door, and five years later they’re doing the same job or have only their original skill set, they haven’t grown. They need to build themselves along the way.”

INNOVATE
“Innovation in agriculture is overlooked so often because too many people are doing things the way we’ve always done it. That’s not acceptable if we’re going to keep feeding a growing global population. Innovation is critical to us and our industry, whether it’s adapting to new data science technologies, agronomic practices, or business models.”

TREAT THE FARM AS A BUSINESS
“We believe this is a business. This isn’t a lifestyle. I may have a deep passion in my heart, but I know this is a business and we’re going to do it the right way."

Each farm family exhibits its own core values, something that's worth passing on to the next generation and worth keeping as a record. If you need some fortitude in building your own "Be, Know, Do" leadership model, just Google the words. I found 953 million matches, including free Army manuals, blogs and YouTube videos. They're a good do-it-yourself tutorial on becoming the leader you're meant to be.

Follow me on Twitter@MarciaZTaylor

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Comments

To comment, please Log In or Join our Community .

Wally frey
5/30/2015 | 7:26 AM CDT
and also, the job will get done if we don't care who gets the credit