By Catalina Mejia-Bonilla, DVM, The Dairy Authority
Providing positive feedback is a win-win-win for employees, managers and owners. Providing a culture of positive feedback is crucial to your dairy’s ability to maintain and grow a team of skilled workers. This not only enhances employee well-being but also drives the dairy’s success and sustainability.
Positive feedback should include both praise and constructive criticism. Employees need and want both in order to meet job expectations, learn new skills and to feel appreciated. Just remember, constructive criticism must include both explaining an issue and suggesting how to improve performance so employees can meet or exceed expectations.
Providing positive feedback to employees can be as simple as saying, “thank you,” “well done,” or “appreciate your efforts.” It should be a part of your day. To help you get started, or improve, I’ve put together some ideas on how to make providing positive feedback easy.
- Be timely. Acknowledge good work as soon as you see it. Immediate recognition reinforces positive behavior and shows that you are paying attention. Schedule brief daily or weekly check-ins with employees to discuss performance and any immediate concerns.
- Be specific. Always indicate precisely what the employee did well. For example, “I noticed you were doing a great job moving cows gently into the parlor today.” Or if correction is needed you could say “I noticed today when you moved the cows to the parlor that you were moving too fast and making a lot of noise. I want you to practice moving the cows more calmly and quietly.”
- Make it routine. Set aside time each week for feedback discussions with employees. This creates a structure that employees can rely on. This should be open two-way communication where employees can also ask questions or bring up concerns.
- Create a culture of feedback. Ask employees for input on how things are going in their area. This demonstrates that their perspective is valued. Ask for their ideas on ways to improve operations or their performance. Foster an environment in which employees feel comfortable giving feedback to each other as well. This can enhance team dynamics.
- Be approachable. Encourage employees to approach you with questions or concerns. Fostering two-way communication helps employees understand that they are valued.
Now let’s discuss some on-farm examples to help you understand how easy it can be to incorporate positive feedback into your dairy farm business. While it’s important to provide direct feedback throughout the day when you see employees making a change you asked for or going above and beyond to take care of something, positive feedback can be delivered in many other forms as well.
- Public recognition. Managers can use a regularly scheduled meeting to acknowledge a specific area of the farm that excelled thanks to employee performance. For example, somatic cell count has steadily decreased for the last month, and the manager notices that all of the milkers on the night shift are consistently following the milking routine after retraining. The manager can say, “During this month’s meeting I want to take a moment to recognize our night shift milkers for their outstanding dedication. Thanks to their consistent adherence to milking protocols and proactive approach to identify and treat cows with mastitis, we’ve seen our somatic cell count decrease significantly over the past month. Truly exceptional work, team!”
- Personal notes. A small thank you note is another excellent option. For example, a manager notices that one feeder has been consistently achieving accuracy goals for ingredient mixing. The manager could deliver a chocolate bar with a short note to acknowledge their dedication and impact on the team. For example, “Dear Jose, I just wanted to express my heartfelt thanks for your consistent accuracy in feed mixing. Your attention to detail has significantly improved the quality of feed delivered to the cows. As a small token of my appreciation, please enjoy this chocolate bar; keep up the fantastic work!”
- One-on-one conversations. Sometimes a one-on-one conversation is the best way to go. For example, a manager wants to personally recognize a shift leader who has been training three new employees. The manager could shake the shift leader’s hand and say “I want to personally acknowledge the fantastic job you’ve done this past month in training our three new employees. Your leadership and guidance have truly set them up for success, and I appreciate the time and effort you have dedicated to helping our team grow.”
One last point to remember: in order for your dairy to reap the benefits of providing positive feedback to employees your mangers may also need some training and development to do the same and help meet your goals.
