1. Introduction

• Facing a tough question – Is there a difference between what you need to do be doing and what you like to do?
• What is the difference between managing a dairy farm and running a dairy farm?
• Can you ever avoid the tyranny of the urgent?
• Are you managing or being controlled and frustrated by events and people you feel cannot be changed?
• These questions emphasize the importance of tackling the question: What is a dairy farm manager’s real job description?

2. Functions of management

• Planning the business
• Organizing people, equipment and facilities.
• Staffing to keep all positions filled with people trained to do their jobs.
• Leading people on a day-to-day basis.
• Monitoring performance and taking corrective action as necessary.
• Each function is essential for success.
• Any one of the five can cause critical problems.

3. Another approach to the real job description – a manager’s critical roles

• Plan maker
• Information user
• Opportunity seeker
• Risk taker
• People helper
• Organization builder
• Enthusiastic learner

Plan Maker

• Paraphrasing General Dwight Eisenhower - Plans don’t win battles but never go into battle without a plan.
• Planning has great value even when it results in plans never fully implemented.
• In the absence of planning, managers are responding to events rather than anticipating them. For example, having a plan to deal with a key employee’s leaving should he or she resign is preferable to dealing with a crisis caused by a resignation.
• Planning includes SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. Managers need to know their internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats to the business.
• Writing a mission statement helps answer the question – Why are we in business?
• Managers driven by a few carefully selected goals and strategies are more likely to succeed than those always in search of shortcuts or someone to blame for their shortcomings.
• The continuously changing economic, technological, financial, market, legal and competitive environment requires continuous attention to planning.
• Postponing planning is akin to the sailor leaving port with no map, no destination and no navigation instruments.

5. Information user

• It is your job to use information from within the business and from many outside sources.
• Better information for decision making starts at home. A computerized record keeping system that routinely provides summary information about the business is a must.
• Do not pretend that you can make good decisions with bad information.
• Rich sources of information: Extension, consultants, agribusinesses with whom you do business, conferences, a network of manager friends across the country, members of a business advisory committee, the Internet, the popular press, research reports, and national and international travel.

6. Opportunity seeker

• Your job includes seeing opportunities that others miss.
• Opportunity seekers are creative, imaginative and willing to be wrong. They are comfortable being in the minority. They seek niches to exploit. They value flexibility.
• Change provides opportunity, so welcome it and embrace it.
• Do not expect others to find opportunities for you. One person’s opportunity is another person’s failure.

7. Risk taker

• Dairy farming was, is and always will be risky. No manager can know the future with certainty.
• Reduce the uncertainty of your decisions through more and better information.
• Accept that some things, e.g., weather and calamities, are unknowable.
• Focus on how you take risks and how to use available risk management tools.
• Make brave decisions based on careful analysis and available information not stupid decisions based on hunches and wild guesses about the future.

8. People helper

• Make helping people critical to your success.
• Help family members fit into the business when there are opportunities for them.
• Say “No.” to family members when the business does not provide them opportunities.
• Help your employees by believing: “Our strength is the quality of our people.” “People are our most important asset.”
• Make certain on a day-to-day basis that employees know these statements are more than words.
• Make a commitment to helping employees advance their careers and family lives.

9. Organization builder

• Accept the responsibility to build an organization attuned to your business mission and goals.
• Build pride in your farm. Help family and employees see that it is a privilege to be part of the organization.
• Organize work, people, facilities and equipment in the operation to avoid confusion, inefficiency and frustration.
• Use organizational principles to deal with organizational challenges common to all businesses: work specialization, chain of command, authority, responsibility, delegation, centralization versus decentralization and communication.

10. Enthusiastic learner

• You are not ready to manage a 2005 dairy farm. You must continue to learn to be ready for 2005
• Having an excellent 2002 business in 2005 will mean you were too busy solving current problems and did not devote enough time to getting ready for the future.
• Learn more, understand more and apply more of what you are learning.
• Mediocre managers often fall prey to bloated egos and know-it-all attitudes. They regularly blame others for the changes they face rather than learning how to deal with the changes.
• Make learning fun, challenging, satisfying and confidence building.

11. Conclusion

• Have we discussed a job description you welcome or a job you must reluctantly accept because it is being forced on you?
• Regardless of your answer, the future of your business starts with you!