The previous articles defined coaching, the economic value and fundamentals of building commitment in ourselves as leaders and in our businesses. In addition, we looked at selecting a professional coach to work with your development as a leader and how to ensure you get the support you need. This last article is going to be a sharing of my perspective on the similarities and differences I’ve experienced in coaching leaders from different industries.

“My dad always said, ‘If you have a good man, pay him well and he will make you money,’” says George Mueller, a shared partner and one of the founders of Willow Bend Farm in Clifton Springs, New York. Like many children, Mueller wasn’t all that impressed by his father’s advice. Over the years, however, he has come to understand the wisdom.

Does your farm team have the ability to apologize and accept mistakes? I was saddened to hear a young farmer confide in me that in all his years, he has never once heard an apology from the farm manager, his father.

Students across the country are receiving their midterm report cards. When was the last time you received a grade for your performance? In a webinar hosted by the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, Dr. David Kohl, professor emeritus, Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, provided a format farm businesses can use to measure their financial and management performance.

Dairy nutritionists and veterinarians play integral roles in nearly every facet of dairy cow and farm success. As such, these trusted advisers are vital partners in your dairy’s success. Communication between all parties – consultants, employees, dairy owners and managers – is critical to optimize cow productivity and performance. Yet everyone has a story about a friend, neighbor or relative’s dairy where communication doesn’t occur in a timely or desirable fashion.

In recent years, we have seen a heightened emphasis on worker safety on U.S. dairy farms. Dairy operations in the U.S. continue to have high worker injury and fatality rates as compared to general industry, as well as other agriculture production operations.

Throughout his career, Dr. David Kohl, professor emeritus, Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, has worked with agricultural enterprises from all over the country. In a webinar, hosted by the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW), Kohl outlined the 10 practices that top-performing CEO dairy producers follow.