Developing people

Even when you’ve got your full farm team up and running, you need to support your employees to keep learning and developing new skills. You will benefit from the high-quality work that comes with continued training – your employees will grow professionally and will be more likely to stay with you for longer.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the process of constantly learning and developing new skills to perform a job well (or to eventually move into a different or more advanced role). A good CPD programme makes sure a person’s professional qualifications, practical skills and knowledge are kept up to date and expanded as they progress.

CPD is a structured, practical approach to learning, where any new skills or experience gained in the course of a job are tracked and documented. Developing your people’s skills and knowledge helps your business maintain a competitive advantage and become an Employer of Choice. It can also help you retain key staff.

There are all sorts of training available in the farming industry. You can use sites like Dairy Pro and Pig Pro to find more information on available courses, training events, clubs, discussion groups and other resources. 

Do

Download our Continuing Professional Development record

Coaching and mentoring

What is coaching?

Coaching is a set of skills that includes listening, acknowledging, questioning and providing corrective feedback. It keeps people on track.

Coaching:

• Clarifies where you are now and where you want to be
• Develops thinking, self-belief, confidence, understanding, ownership, empowerment, motivation, clarity and focus
• Leads to action, accountability and execution

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a skill that provides perspective to the employee when they have exhausted their current level of knowledge, experience and thinking. It comes from a partnership of two people (mentor and mentee) working in a similar field or sharing similar experiences.

Mentoring is:

• A powerful personal development tool, used to empower, support and encourage people to manage their own learning
• Based on mutual trust, respect and confidentiality

You can use coaching and mentoring to create a culture of learning where the learner finds the solution. Both methods allow you to step back from solving the problems of others and approaching each interaction as an opportunity to grow people.

Nine ways to develop coaching and mentoring skills

• Identify what skills you need to learn to become an effective coach or mentor
• Work alongside an existing coach/mentor who suits your style and personality
• Meet with the agreed partner to establish your vision of where you want to be
• Clarify what you want to achieve and what outcomes you expect
• Work through a programme of regular one-to-one coaching and mentoring
• Ensure that your chosen partner continues to provide the right structure and resources for you
• Develop a specific action plan to which you or others can hold you accountable
• Take time to identify training programmes and workshops that develop identified skills and/or create awareness of knowledge gaps, for example, self-leadership, motivation, coaching/mentoring principles and coaching/mentoring skills
• Practice and make sure you get feedback from your coach

Differences between coach and mentor:

• A mentor shares their knowledge, skills and/or experience to help another to develop and grow
• A coach provides guidance to someone on their goals and helps them reach their full potential

How to establish a mentoring relationship

The benefits of using coaching questions before, during or after a task

Do

Our mentoring preparation template

Leadership and management

Some of your employees will be interested in moving into management and leadership roles at some point. You can support them in their professional goals by staying up to date with development programmes aimed at more senior roles in agriculture.

Becoming a leader for the first time?

Leaders in all walks of life are challenged and stretched. You, or your employees, might be stepping into a leadership role for the first time. Watch our Talking Leaders webinar to hear a range of inspirational leaders talk about their leadership journeys, and get tips for your own.

What does an effective farm leader look like?

You can read more about all aspects of leadership in agriculture on our main AgriLeader pages

Listen to our AgriLeader podcasts:

What kind of leader are you?

Training and development

Leadership and management for all

Using a skills matrix

A skills matrix is a visual tool that helps you map out your team’s existing skills or the skills required to complete a particular task. It helps you plan and manage projects effectively. Add each of the jobs on your farm to the matrix, then use a colour coding, number or tick system to indicate the skill level of each worker against each of these jobs. This will help you better understand the areas of expertise where you’re covered and the areas where you need to encourage further staff training.

Webinar: training your team for business success

How to build an employee training plan

Dairy Edge podcast: what will the dairy farm workplace look like in 2030?

Do

Our skills matrix to score an employee

Create your own annual training plan with our template

Useful links

DairyNZ has kindly given permission for AHDB to adapt their ‘People’ resources for use by the British dairy industry. We share a commitment to supporting the dairy industry and will collaborate to provide benefit to New Zealand’s and British dairy farmers.