Building Ag Culture Pt 2

Building Ag Culture Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. As labor becomes harder and harder for growers to find, why not invest the time to develop a culture at your business that attracts and retains workers?

That's part of the message from former Hard Rock International executive Jim Knight at the Potato Expo in Orlando, Florida where he says retention is key ...

KNIGHT ... "Yeah, it'll be the hardest thing you ever do, so it's easy for me to stand up on stage and say, ooh you need to do all this cool, differentiated service stuff, and your culture can rock, and blah blah blah, but finding and holding on to great people is getting much, much harder."

Knight says if they don't have the skill you need, you might have to teach them ...

KNIGHT ... "Part of it is because, I think, the behaviors that are all taught and I mentioned that everything is 'learned behavior'. You learn everything from school, religion, lack of religion, your parents, the playground. By the time you come to me as an employee you are the way you are. If you don't have a natural disposition to want to be around other people, you don't have the juice running through your veins, it's going to be a problem for me. So, what happens is, they're getting harder and harder to find because they're not being taught."

In the end, Knight says, it's really worth it ...

KNIGHT ... "What I will tell some organizations, if you really don't have to have any experience at all and this is going to be your first job, and as a hard laborer it probably is their first job, why not spend the time and energy not just being their first job, but their right job.

You might have to teach them some of these social, people skills that they're not getting anywhere else. And then you know what you get with that? Loyalty, and they'll stick around with you a lot longer."

Knight says his 'Culture that Rocks' mentality is key in developing, maintaining or transforming workplace cultures to achieve exceptional and sustainable results.

Previous ReportBuilding Ag Culture Pt 1
Next ReportSimplot Settlement Pt 1