by Mary/María “Bess” Lewis, M.A.T., Bilingual Management Development Specialist / Especialista Bilingüe para el Desarrollo Administrativo
Ima Ramirez is a supervisor for the Cornell Research Dairy Farm. He has worked in the dairy business for over 18 years and has been a supervisor for 8 of those years. Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development interviewed Mr. Ramirez to glean from his experience. The full interview will be part of the Agricultural Supervisory Leadership course in Spanish once it releases online this fall 2023. Here is a part of that interview:
“In my experience, working 18 years in dairy, I have learned that if there is not a good relationship between the owner and the employees or between the employee and the supervisor then I am sure that many people will feel abandoned. Many people are working hard, but they believe that no one will come and check on them, care for them, or see what they are doing. A boss, a supervisor needs to check on them. Above all, a manager, a boss, an owner, if they want a good business, then they need to work on their relationships with others.”
Countless studies have demonstrated that when employees have a strong relationship with their employer, they are more likely to be happy, loyal, and productive. This is actually true of any relationship. Is a farmer more likely to buy their inputs from someone who comes on farm periodically throughout the year, checks in regularly by phone and sends updates via email consistently versus the once-a-year salesman who zips in and zooms out, too busy to ask any questions about the farm? A good salesman invests into his customers. Likewise, a good business owner invests into his people by building trust through establishing relationships with his workforce. We all know that when it comes to business, trust is everything. And strangely, even though it seems like building relationships demands time away from the daily tasks, studies have shown that having good working relationships will actually allow freedom. This is because supervisors who have made the relationship investment early on with their employees will spend less time, energy and money dealing with conflicts. No longer does a supervisor have to go around just ‘putting out fires’, but now a manager has the time to be proactive about future problems and can feel free to look for opportunities for the farm and its workforce.
So how do we find time to build relationships in our workplace when we have so much to do and so little hours of the day? Stay tuned to part 3 in this series of 4 for the answer to that question with Insight from Ima…
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By Mary Bess Lewis, Cornell University. Permission granted to repost, quote, and reprint with author attribution.
The post Insight from Ima (Part 2 of 4) appeared in The Ag Workforce Journal
