“Everybody on your farm or organization has a place, and as a leader or as a person of influence, your job is to help them be a part of that,” Hoffman says. “You want people who work with you to say, ‘This is why I love this. I love having these people on my team. I love this farm. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.’ It is all about the experience you create.”
To create a better experience for your employees, Hoffman notes it’s important to implement a wow culture.
“A wow is something that makes people say, ‘I can’t wait to tell everyone about this,’” Hoffman says. “The wowexperience on a business level is the experience that makes people say, ‘This is why I work here. This is why I love being on this team!’”
To help create a better work experience for your employees, Hoffman recommends doing the following:
Do the random and unexpected. “I want you to find ways to be random and do things for people that are unexpected,” Hoffman says. “Think of it like the mint on your pillow at a hotel. It’s a positive thing that not everybody always expects. It doesn’t have to be huge. It could be as simple as having a joke board in the office, but it’s random and unexpected, and people enjoy that.”
Some examples of this might include:
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Feeding calves together
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Bringing in doughnuts for the morning shift
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Handing out popsicles on hot summer days
“You have to have a heart that is constantly thinking, ‘How can I wow you? How can I do just a little something that makes somebody go, ‘I appreciate that.’”
2. Look at the process put in place. Serving your people takes a lot of work, but you can’t forget about the business side of things while taking care of your employees. Therefore, it’s important to put a process in place to better help you serve. This includes:
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Putting time on your calendar to talk with employees
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Following up with employees after a conversation
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Scheduling regular meetings and employee training
3. Create joy. People enjoy coming to work when they work in a fun environment. Take time to find little ways to create a positive experience for your employees.
“Life is already hard enough, it’s important to make time for joy and fun. Your team will love it,” Hoffman says. “I can’t emphasize this enough – joy is power. I promise you, people want to have a good time, and they can’t do that if they dread going to work.”
Some examples of fun activities include:
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Host a farm bowling tournament
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Have a soccer competition with the neighboring farm
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Taking time to celebrate employee birthdays
Don’t let your farm be just another place to work. Instead, take time to create a positive experience and craft a wow culture for your employees.
