Life has never felt more ambiguous. If there ever was a time to know what your team members are thinking, it is now. Some people might actually enjoy a hermit-legislated lifestyle.

Today’s dairy farm cannot be run by one person. To be successful in any industry, teams must be established to keep operations running smoothly. However, teams are a major investment.

What I hear from dairy producers and their managers right now is how hard it is to find good people in this job market. It is very easy to get caught up on what’s lacking or missing in the workplace and let the day-to-day operations take over.

Think of a recent time when someone – employee, colleague, partner, family member, friend – was not listening when you had something important to say. Now think about how you felt, and describe your feelings in one word.

A team is a group of people with different skills who perform different tasks and work together toward a common goal. All dairy workers, regardless of their roles in the farm, are team members. However, just being part of a team is not the same as working as a team player. You must be intentional about adopting the mindset of a team player; these are some of a team player’s characteristics.

Do you ever feel like when you cross one thing off your to-do list, two more things get added? There’s no doubt responsibilities on the farm and at home can pile up quickly. And when faced with challenging times, it’s easy to lose perspective. Making decisions can be a struggle.

It is common to observe great variation in dairy personnel turnover and performance among dairy operations. That variation can often be traced to training.