I am very excited that the charity I founded has received National Careers Institute funding to prototype and pilot a model for best practice workforce development.
I am putting a lot of pressure on me and the people I am surrounding myself with to ensure we deliver a successful model that is replicable and scalable by any industry.
Working in agriculture for the last 20 years I have seen so much money wasted.
I have also seen people and organisations delivering pockets of brilliance . How impressive is this People in Agriculture which is a partnership between a number of agricultural sectors leveraging the brilliance of the people at Dairy Australia who created People in Dairy
In the first instance – surely we could all work miracles if we bought the pockets of brilliance together so we could learn from each other because this is what people committed to best outcomes for the people they serve do.
Whilst I have seen some brilliance at Dairy Australia I have seen a lot of things that don’t make any sense to me at all. My area of expertise is designing and delivering programs that empower young people to take action on issues that matter to them.
I created Picasso Cows for Dairy Australia. That meant I have worked with their Marketing and Communications teams because that’s were the budget for school engagement sits.
Can agriculture fix its images and perceptions issues through marketing and communication?
I am 100% confident that it cant.
The only way we ( farmers and the businesses that support us) can attract and keep employees is by being the places that people are proud to work for.
This requires the capacity and capability to self reflect on our businesses. Simple things like how does my business present to the public. One example rubbish and piles of old machinery lying around are not a good look.
I spent 25 years working in the world of retail. We got taught this stuff. Who is helping people in agriculture self reflect.
When we get ourselves right THEN and only then can we let the people in marketing and communications do their thing with confidence
Organisations like Dairy Australia can lead by example and show us how its done.
Lets start by taking the pressure off the Marketing and Communications team – they cant fix things that are out of their control
