Reaping Lessons from the Farm
Posted: September 15, 2015 Filed under: Leadership 1 Comment
Photo by Mark Baker
I often hear colleagues express frustration with their work life. Too many meetings. Lack of clarity on problems (and solutions). Limited resources. Being too busy. I, too, feel the strain at the end of the day or week.
On occasion, I think back to my childhood and the time spent with my father and grandfather discussing their farming heritage, working on various farms, or even working in the garden. It seems like that was such a simpler, basic and natural lifestyle. There was always plenty of work to be done. The chores could be endless, fluctuated a lot and weren’t always predictable (weather, animals, equipment breakdowns, etc.). It was hard and didn’t always deliver the anticiapted financial reward. However, there was a natural rhythm to farming, and a spirit of perseverance and hopefulness.
Upon further reflection, I can see parallels between farming and leadership that weren’t initially obvious:
- There is a natural system at play with a variety of inputs, some of which we control and some that we don’t.
- There are certain basic conditions that need to be present.
- The timeframe is not one of immediate cause and effect.
- The outcome isn’t always as expected or desired.
- Quick fixes aren’t necessarily possible or effective.
- Rewards are likely less tangible and longer term than what meets the eye.
Let’s break it down to see the lessons we can take from farming.
|
Lesson |
Farming |
Leadership |
|
There is a lot of preparation. |
Soil, equipment and facilities all need to be maintained. |
What skills, education and resources are required? Do they fit the need? |
|
Some things you can control, some you cannot. |
Seed, timing, weather and luck all play a role in a successful crop. |
Be clear on what you can influence and not. What do others see as necessary that you do not? |
|
Learning comes from success and failure. |
Observing and monitoring and keeping track of what is occurring along the way informs any changes for the next year. Ripping out the crop and starting over isn’t really a practical option. |
Anything halfway done probably looks like a failure. Knee-jerk reactions akin to ripping out the crop mid-season aren’t likely to be successful. Be observant of the conditions for success. Do more of that, and less of what isn’t successful. |
|
You can’t do everything. |
A farmer carefully chooses what crops, how much land, how much investment is made and is sustainable. |
Be disciplined in what you chose to do or introduce to your organization. What really matters? |
|
Things inevitably will go wrong. |
Things will break and won’t always turn out as expected. Have faith, learn and improve for the next time. |
Understand what might go wrong in the big picture. What are practical contingencies? |
|
Success may mean more than profits. |
The majority of farmers aren’t rich, yet are successful, happy and are the cornerstones of community. |
Over time, what does success really mean? Defaulting to money is likely not the dominant answer. |
These well-know farming sayings are also applicable to business and leadership:
“Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.” —Samuel Butler
“One generation plants the trees in whose shade another generation rests.” —Chinese proverb
Design Matters
Posted: September 8, 2015 Filed under: Innovation, Technology Leave a comment
For a dozen years or more, I have used Associated Bank’s ATM machines. After selecting “English,” the screen says “retrieving preferences.” What a strange message. I don’t recall ever setting preferences, and if I did, wouldn’t language have been a preference rather than a separate selection? And If I hadn’t set preferences in the past, it certainly wasn’t intuitive how to set them now.
This bothered me. It was inefficient that I always had to answer the same questions. Every. Single. Time. What language? What account? Receipt or no receipt?
Lo and behold, my wife enlightened me just a few weeks ago. Apparently, you have to select “next screen” and after pushing a few more buttons, you’ll find a place to set preferences. I finally set my preferences, only a decade or so too late! Some may disagree, but I don’t think I’m that oblivious that I couldn’t have figured it out at some point. The only logical explanation is that it is poor design.
If a reasonably intelligent, high volume user is struggling, there’s got to be a better way. Couldn’t the machine learn customer preferences? My behavior makes it really easy—I always answer the questions the same way. What about a simple prompt that asks if you would like to set preferences, and then gives the choices of “yes,” “no,” or “don’t ask again?” Could it ask if I would like to save this transaction as a favorite or default?
I wonder if anyone has ever checked what percentage of ATM users have set preferences. I’m guessing it’s very small, putting me in the majority who repeatedly go through the same questions each time that don’t add any value to the transaction. It’s not like ATMs have changed much over time—they do the same basic withdrawals, deposits, transfers and balance inquiries they’ve always done.
Understanding the customer experience and how to design an interface that is simple, understandable, and without extraneous required inputs doesn’t have to be that hard. Saving your customers years of frustration is worth it.
Providing Quick Meaning to Data
Posted: September 4, 2015 Filed under: Innovation | Tags: Edward Tufte, Gareth Cook, infographics Leave a comment
According to The New Yorker, Abe Lincoln liked infographics*, putting me in good company. I was exposed to Edward Tufte (an American statistician and expert in informational graphics) and his series of books more than a dozen years ago. His representations of data, and the stories that came from their effective display, were elegant and powerful. My fascination continues today.
I recently purchased The Best American Infographics 2014, a self-explanatory compilation by Gareth Cook. It is a beautiful collection of examples and the insights they reveal. It will join other my other treasures that include:
- Minard’s Sources
- Russian Space Exploration—”Cyclogram” Time-Chart of the Salyut 6 Mission (Important difference—mine isn’t the original priced here!)
Despite all of our technology advances, it still takes a creative mind to determine how to craft a story from the data. Or, perhaps it’s the reverse: representing the data differently creates learning and then knowledge. It’s all in how you ask questions of the data and interpret the answers. Regardless, I can’t get enough.
*From Mashable: “Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education.”
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