by Dr. Margaret Jodlowski (jodlowski.1@0su.edu) and Cassie Mavis (cassie.mavis@ag.tamu.edu)

Read the full bulletin.

Agricultural employers face the challenging balancing act of navigating tightening margins while needing to attract and retain workers on their operations. While farm labor issues are perhaps not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Ohio agriculture, workforce dynamics play an important role in all of Ohio’s agricultural operations, even those that are more row crop focused or less labor intensive. Wages and other forms of compensation are, of course, key factors that influence workers’ behavior. Using the only nationally representative data that directly surveys farmworkers, we can examine workers’ income trends over the last 20 years, compare wages by job type and worker demographics, and explore non-wage compensation.

Although the overall average wage has grown slowly, this average does not convey important differences by worker type, experience, and other important factors.

• Workers’ hourly wage has grown only about $4 per hour over the last 20 years; the trend in Ohio closely matches the trend in the Corn Belt and Northern Plains (CBNP), which is made up of states with relatively similar production characteristics as Ohio:
  
• Worker experience (measured by years spent working in agriculture) has grown more valuable since the COVID-19 pandemic: laborers with 20 or more years of experience saw a significant increase in their average wage in the period between 2020 and 2022
• Equipment operators also experienced a notable jump in their average wage during this period. Workers with these skills were especially important to retain and competition from other industries was stiff.
• In addition, workers experienced few positive changes in terms of other forms of non-wage compensation: fewer employers are able to offer health insurance and the percent offering bonuses (of any kind) has remained relatively stable since 2000.

The need for a well-functioning agricultural labor market is always a pressing one. Compensation is a major factor that determines where individuals decide to work. As agriculture continues to change, understanding what compensation to provide employees can play a crucial role in securing the workforce necessary to succeed as an industry.

MANAGER’S LIBRARY SERIES

Trey Malone, Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Jay Akridge, Trustee Chair in Teaching and Learning Excellence and Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

John Foltz, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University; and Dean Emeritus, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Economics, University of Idaho

Originally published at: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/aede-0029

Many managers struggle to delegate because they believe no one can do the job as well as they can. While that may be true—at least for certain activities and tasks—what we can accomplish as individuals is finite. And managers may be just a bit biased when it comes to the quality of their work.

As farm and agribusiness managers, it is worth remembering that management is the process of getting things done with and through people (your employees in this case)—and not doing everything yourself. And, if we are truly honest, with training, experience, and ingenuity, many employees can actually do a much better job at what they do than their managers. The hallmarks of a great manager are hiring good people, giving them the training and resources to accomplish their goals, and then letting them do their job.

Delegation separates overwhelmed managers from impactful leaders. Yet even seasoned professionals struggle with delegation. Why? Because it demands trust in the manager’s employees and the discipline to resist the urge to micromanage them or take on tasks they should be doing. Using insights from the academic management literature, we break down the essential components of delegation. As academics, we believe that grounding our perspective in research-backed leadership principles and decades of managerial experience can help move agribusinesses into even higher levels of performance.

Why Managers Struggle to Let Go

Most managers were promoted because they excelled at doing. They delivered. However, the transition from doer to leader requires a mindset shift. Managerial success is measured by how effectively a manager enables others to deliver. Still, many managers resist delegation for various reasons:

• It seems faster to do things themselves.
• Someone else will not meet their standards.
• They want to model commitment.
• They worry the task feels beneath them or their employee.

These barriers stem from a misunderstanding of the manager’s role. Management is not about being the best technician. It is about getting things done with and through others.

Douglas McGregor’s classic Theory X and Theory Y framework sheds light on why some managers struggle with delegation. McGregor argued that a manager’s underlying assumptions—often influenced by where employees fall on the hierarchy of needs—can profoundly shape their team’s behavior. These assumptions then become self-fulfilling prophecies that either empower or inhibit employee potential (McGregor, 1960).

Figure 1: A manager’s assumptions about what motivates their employees can drive the manager’s behavior. Graphic by Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.

McGregor’s theory suggests that managers operate between two extremes: authoritarian and participative (Figure 1). Authoritarian, or Theory X, managers believe employees are inherently lazy, avoid responsibility, and require constant supervision to be productive. Delegation under a Theory X framework becomes a reluctant transfer of duty rather than a strategic leadership act.

In contrast, participative Theory Y managers view employees as capable, self-motivated, and eager to take on responsibility. Leaders with this mindset are more likely to trust their team, provide them with meaningful work, and delegate tasks and ownership. This shift in perspective transforms delegation from a burden into a developmental tool, enabling organizational efficiency and individual growth.

Too often, managers delegate only the menial or repetitive tasks they do not want to do without considering how the nature of the work influences motivation. But when managers delegate meaningful responsibilities that allow employees to use a range of skills, understand the whole scope of a project, and see the impact of their work, they tap into the deeper motivational drivers that Theory Y champions.

Use the Eisenhower Matrix to Decide What to Delegate

Once managers recognize the need to delegate, they often ask, “What should I delegate?”

Overwhelmed managers may try to do everything themselves or delegate haphazardly. Both approaches can backfire. The Eisenhower Matrix (eisenhower.me/eisenhower-matrix), popularized by former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, offers a simple but powerful tool to help managers make smarter decisions about how to allocate their time and team resources.

The matrix categorizes tasks in two dimensions: urgency and importance.

Figure 2. Use the Eisenhower Matrix to decide what to delegate. Graphic by Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.

Tasks that are both urgent and important, like crisis management or looming deadlines, should be handled by the manager directly. These are non-negotiable and time sensitive.

Tasks that are important but not urgent, such as strategic planning, relationship building, or developing new systems, are ideal for delegation. These tasks promote long-term growth and improvement and can provide excellent employee development opportunities.

Urgent but unimportant tasks, like responding to routine emails, coordinating logistics, or standard approvals, can often be delegated or automated. Managers who regularly find themselves bogged down in these activities may benefit from investing in systems or support staff to offload them. In fact, it is worth investigating whether some of these tasks can be delegated to an artificial intelligence (AI) agent.

Tasks that are neither urgent nor important are prime candidates for elimination.

By using the Eisenhower Matrix as a delegation filter, managers can shift from reactive time management to intentional leadership. Delegating strategically frees up time to manage and creates meaningful work for others. Encouraging team members to take on important but not urgent tasks can empower them with more responsibility, help them develop key competencies, and increase their overall engagement.

Clarify the Goal, Then Step Back

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – George S. Patton

Communicate expectations clearly but resist the urge to dictate how the work gets done. Effective delegation requires clarity. Provide your team with the information they need to understand to know what success looks like:

• What is the ultimate objective?
• What does success look like?
• What are the constraints (budget, deadlines, resources, etc.)?

Delegation can and should expand beyond operational necessity and become a tool for employee engagement and personal growth. When managers are intentional about what they delegate—and how they frame those tasks—they can elevate the work experience and its outcomes. This builds employee capability and strengthens the organizational culture through trust and empowerment.

Pick the Right Person, Not Just the Most Reliable

Sometimes, delegation does not work because we give the assignment to the wrong person. A manager’s job is to decide who has the time, ability, motivation, etc., to get something done. Giving an assignment to the wrong person or team can result in disappointment for the manager and the employees involved.

Note that this does not mean going back time after time to the same employee or the same team because they get things done (though that is tempting!). Good managers distribute opportunities broadly to keep the whole team engaged. Really good managers give stretch assignments to up-and-comers. Managers may take a risk with a less-experienced employee because they sense the employee is ready and can deliver. Making these kinds of assignments and then coaching the up-and-coming employee to successfully complete the task, is where managerial leadership and talent development intersect.

Situational leadership theory, developed by Hersey and Blanchard, suggests that effective delegation depends on matching the level of direction and support to an employee’s readiness. This model identifies four leadership styles:

• directing
• coaching
• supporting
• delegating

Each leadership style is suited to different combinations of employee competence and commitment (Hersey & Blanchard, 1077).

For example, a new employee learning a task for the first time may need a high-directive, low-supportive approach or “directing” leadership style where instructions are clear and closely monitored. As the employee gains confidence and experience, managers can shift to a “coaching” or “supporting” leadership style that uses encouragement while gradually reducing support.

Once an employee is competent and committed, the manager can move into the “delegating” leadership style, offering minimal guidance and full autonomy. This progression helps ensure employees are neither micromanaged nor left adrift, unlocking their full potential through a tailored leadership approach.

Set Clear Expectations, Then Trust the Process

Once the goal is clear and the right person is chosen, communicate the rules of engagement:

• What are the deadlines?
• What resources are available?
• Who else needs to be involved?

Clear expectations are often not enough for even the best employees to succeed every time. Equipping employees to succeed requires removing friction. Consider the importance of support in successful task execution exemplified by Lean Six Sigma, which focuses on how organizations can minimize waste, reduce variation, and ensure consistent quality. At the heart of this approach is a deep commitment to structured training and documentation, especially when onboarding or developing employees.

Standard work documents communicate the best-known method to perform a task at a given time. These documents eliminate guesswork, reduce variability, and help ensure consistency and quality, across different employees or shifts. When tasks are delegated, standard work documents ensure that performance expectations are aligned and communicated.

Job instruction breakdowns divide tasks into teachable segments—what to do, how to do it, and why it is done this way. This method supports knowledge transfer. It is especially effective when a manager moves past the notion of training as a one-time orientation and emphasizes training as a process of continuous skill development. Delegation paired with instruction breakdowns ensures that even complex assignments are approachable for newer employees.

Process maps visually outline the steps, decisions, and flow of a task, helping employees see how their work connects to broader team or business objectives.

Collectively, these training tools can help create a culture of operational excellence. When managers invest in documenting and teaching their processes at a high level, delegation becomes less about relinquishing control and more about confidently empowering others to deliver high-quality outcomes.

Track Progress Without Micromanaging

Some tasks are so simple and their timelines are so short that managers quickly know whether they are done right. In other cases, clear milestones and progress checks are needed along the way. The key is to catch problems early, allowing for timely course corrections.

Monitoring progress is not the same as hovering. Micromanagement erodes trust with employees, wastes managerial time, and leads to a lower quality outcome than allowing a carefully selected team with proper resources to do their job. When something goes off course, intervene constructively. Remember, clarity prevents micromanagement. Set expectations, then check in at intervals. Do not hover.

Celebrate Completion and Give Credit Publicly

When the work is done and goals are met, recognize contributions publicly and sincerely. Praise is a powerful motivator, especially when it is authentic and shared in front of leadership and/or the employee’s peers. Conversely, few things demoralize a team faster than a manager who takes credit for work they did not do. Usually, these managers lack confidence in their position or ability and do not understand the power of delegation. By being confident enough to highlight employee/team contributions to upper management, managers build trust, motivate their people, and set themselves up for another successful delegation.

Confident leaders share the spotlight. They elevate their team’s success, build a culture of trust, loyalty, and shared ownership. When employees know their efforts will be seen and celebrated, they are more likely to rise to the challenge again.

A Delegation Diagnostic

Not sure how well you delegate? Take a few minutes with this delegation quiz from MindTools (mindtools.com/andp4jg/how-well-do-you-delegate) to assess your current habits and blind spots.

After major projects are completed, take time to reflect and ask important questions:

• What went well?
• What could have gone better?
• Were expectations and constraints clear?
• What can we do differently next time?

This step signals that employee growth matters. It also strengthens future delegation. Good managers know how to conduct a debriefing without making employees defensive. This is a time for coaching, to reinforce the things that went well, and discuss how it could have gone better—including how the manager could have done a better job of delegation. It takes confidence and trust to have an honest reflection/debrief session with an employee, but once that trust is established, a powerful step has been taken toward ensuring a delegated project goes even better next time.

Final Thought: Delegate to Elevate

Effective management is not about managers finding ways to do more. Rather, effective managers enable more to be done. Delegation is how leaders scale, how organizations grow, and how people develop.

So next time your plate is full, don’t ask, “How can I get all this done?” Ask instead, “Who else can grow by taking this on?”

References

Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H. (1977). Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources (3rd ed.) New Jersey/Prentice Hall.

McGregor, D. (1960). Theory X and theory Y. Organization Theory, 358(374), 5.

Manager’s Library Series 

Jay Akridge, Trustee Chair in Teaching and Learning Excellence and Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

John Foltz, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University; and Dean Emeritus, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Economics, University of Idaho

Margaret Jodlowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University

Originally published at: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/aede-0025

Picture this: You have just received a phone call you had been hoping for—the new sales manager you have been recruiting accepted your offer. You kick back in your chair and put your feet up. It is late on a Friday afternoon and you have a day off scheduled for tomorrow. Life is good and you can enjoy your weekend. The new manager starts in a couple of weeks. You expect she will hit the ground running. All you have to do is get her here, show her around the office, and get out of her way. She’s a go-getter with a great track record, and you know she is the perfect fit. Yep, your work is done on this one!

Unfortunately, here is where we interrupt your daydream. As any experienced manager knows, hiring the right person is one of many important steps to a productive and healthy employer-employee relationship. What you do before and after an individual is hired will have a huge impact on whether you have an employee who “delivers the goods” or you lose them in a few months out of frustration—yours, theirs, or both. With the war for high-quality talent raging, great hires are more and more difficult to find. This is why onboarding new employees has never been more important. Whether an individual is new to your operation or an existing employee is moving into a new position, a well-designed onboarding process can make or break employee retention. What steps can you take as a manager to make sure the new hire who looked great on paper is onboarded successfully in your operation?

Who Do You Want to Hire?

If you do not have a well-developed job description for the position you are filling, no onboarding strategy will work. Your new employee will have the wrong expectations. You and your current staff will have the wrong expectations. “Right person, wrong job” and “wrong person, right job” are recipes for a quick exit and a lot of frustration. A well-developed job description, along with a carefully considered set of capabilities and characteristics, go a long way toward making sure you select the right person and that everyone is on the same page when the new hire joins your organization. Spending a long time thinking about the skills needed by your new employee may feel like time wasted daydreaming, but when it is done thoughtfully, it can make a huge difference in finding the right person. As an aside—don’t forget the role internships can play in developing new talent. Working with someone less experienced, whether the intern is in high school, community college, or college, can serve as a low-risk trial run. It allows you to determine if the person will be a good fit for your company and allows your intern to learn whether your organization is a good fit for them.

What Does a New Hire Need to Know?

What is a typical onboarding process? Often, managers allocate an hour of a new employee’s first day to onboarding. The new employee may spend the rest of the morning with their team members and then tour your facilities. By the next day, everyone, including you (the manager), gives the new employee space to begin working independently. Of course, we know this form of new employee training is more commonplace than we would like to admit. This “data dump” approach is quick, easy, and, in general, very efficient. We also understand the realities that drive managers to implement such short onboarding programs. Who has time for coaching, mentoring, or even thinking about what a longer or more intensive onboarding program should look like? We would argue that given the challenges involved in finding and retaining great people, managers must put more effort into their onboarding plans. Unfortunately, for the average manager’s busy schedule, that means new employees need more than a one-day data dump. But it is not too difficult to get started. First, establish what the new hire needs to know. Some of this will be obvious:

Who are their direct reports?

Who are key customers?

What are the reporting relationships?

What are the important company policies?

Are there important norms that underpin the company’s culture?

Make sure the answers to this brainstorming are recorded. Putting this list on paper means it can be easily deployed again in the future.

Once a general list of “need to know” items has been established, an onboarding program should then be tailored to the specific new hire’s situation based on their background. Are there important gaps that need to be addressed? For instance, is this person a first-time supervisor? If so, a people-management or supervision course may be needed. Is this person in a new sales role? Maybe a distance education or online course on selling could be of value. Are there any professional licenses or certifications the new employee will need or that will improve their performance? Think about and plan for such needs upfront by including them in your onboarding plan.

The real work of onboarding comes next and is often found in the least obvious questions:

How will you help your new employee understand the culture of your business?

What was the culture of the organization this new employee came from, and how does it differ from your organization’s?

How will you integrate this employee into the social or informal networks within your organization?

Are there any pressing issues that this individual will need to address quickly to earn the trust of customers and other employees?

For example, perhaps the previous sales manager was popular and seen as “one of the guys.” Customers loved him. You had to let him go for reasons that were not obvious but his departure was not well-received with either his direct reports or your customers. How will you help your new employee establish her credibility in this situation? How can you create space for her to be successful, knowing that her personality and characteristics might be different from the previous sales manager’s? Addressing such barriers to success head-on will likely be far more productive than the “data dump and cut ’em loose” strategy.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge that onboarding is a two-way street. While the new employee should, and will, be expected to adapt to the company’s culture, current employees should also be prepared for new expectations. Think about what your employees may need to know about the new hire and how the new employee’s role is changing the existing structure. Are there any changes in reporting relationships and/or responsibilities that need to be communicated? Clarity is important. New hires can run into real trouble early on simply because managers avoided difficult conversations before hiring a new employee. Existing employees are often told, “This won’t affect you,” when, in fact, a new hire does affect their role. Think through how the new employee’s position affects everyone. It is only fair to your new employee. It gives them the best possible chance of success, rather than setting them up for problems that could have been addressed up front.

Your Onboarding Strategy

Now that you have your carefully crafted list of what your new employee needs to know, you might be expecting that one good, well-focused day of training should cover the onboarding process. Hardly. Think back to when you started a new job. Did you ever encounter a difficult issue weeks or months into the job only to discover that it could have been solved quickly using information covered during the “day one data dump?”  We are all human.  Only so much information can be absorbed at one time, particularly when dealing with something new amid the emotions and excitement of starting a new job. For an external hire, it is all new—you may even be hiring someone into their first job. So questions as simple as where to park; how to dress; the names of employees, customers, and community leaders; how to complete mandatory paperwork; etc., start to pile up. Capturing and remembering all this information require significant mental energy. The metaphor “drinking from a firehose” comes to mind.

No matter how much information needs to be conveyed to a new employee, delivering it in digestible chunks is possible. First, take your list of what a new employee needs to know and start breaking it down into a schedule. What does the new employee really need to know on day one? What information can be held back until later? Such a schedule should incorporate necessary training courses or certifications. It is also important to determine the best method for sharing certain types of information and who from your existing staff should be involved. Maybe the best method for onboarding is a one-on-one meeting or a series of one-on-one meetings. Maybe something less formal over lunch would be more effective. Showing is usually better than telling, so perhaps a tour or hands-on demonstration would be most productive. Other options that require more groundwork include setting up a shadowing program. This allows new employees to work side by side with, and model the performance of, a member or members of your current staff. Maybe rotating new people through all positions, branches, or departments is the right method. Remember, you will always need to balance the needs of your organization, bring new employees up to speed quickly, and take into account the human capacity to absorb information. Plan accordingly.

Regardless of what strategy you choose, encourage new hires to ask questions. People are reluctant to admit they do not know something. This is especially true for new hires who are trying to make a good impression. Creating a formal structure that encourages and rewards them for asking questions and/or builds in the time for such questions is a good practice. For example, telling a new employee to “write down any questions during the week so they can be addressed Friday at noon” sends the message that questions are part of the process and are not a sign of poor performance.

Next, give some thought to who should be involved in onboarding your new employee. In some cases, the participants will be obvious: your accountant, your safety manager, etc. In other cases, it may take more careful consideration:

Do you want to create a formal mentoring relationship for your new employee? If so, who should be the mentor?

What expectations do you have of a mentor? Does he or she have the training and personality it takes to be a successful mentor?

After onboarding or mentoring assignments are made, ensure that those involved understand their role. Recognize that these assignments add to their workloads and that it is often the best employees who receive these assignments. Mentoring should not be a burden or a punishment for success. Think about how to appropriately compensate mentors and onboarders. It will go a long way in helping your staff take their onboarding or mentoring roles seriously while sending the message that you value their service.

As always, address any circumstances that may represent barriers to early success. You may need to spend time with the new employee to help them navigate barriers, especially in cases where a new employee is replacing a longtime or favored staff member. Of course, your new hire ultimately has to deliver, but they deserve a fighting chance and to be set up for success.

Finally, self-evaluation is crucial. Think about your role in the onboarding process. What can you do to make sure this new employee understands your organization and gets off to a great start? Helping your new employee understand your culture—where the rough spots are likely to be, and where there might be quick wins—shows that you have genuine interest in their success. Doing this while investing some personal time to check back on the employee can go a long way in helping them get up and running.

Give Them Some Time—Then Follow Up

As mentioned previously, a new employee can be overwhelmed with all of the things involved with starting their new job. Many employees and their employers find it helpful to schedule a session six to nine months after the employee’s start date to discuss how things are going, address any questions, and review what the new employee should be learning. Some employers hire an employee with a probationary period—typically three to six months. This period can be used to monitor the new employee and decide whether to retain them. However, many employers use this period to support the employee’s on-the-job learning and provide an opportunity to meet, ask questions, and air concerns.

Expectations

Finally, think about your expectations for the new employee. In some cases, a few weeks may be enough to get the employee up to speed and to see real benefits in your organization. For some jobs, such as senior management positions, it may take a full year for a new employee to master the role. Determine where a new employee should be in terms of metrics that matter, like customer visits, trainings attended, sales, plans developed, goals, etc. Provide the new employee with a predetermined schedule of meetings to review their progress on these metrics. Make sure expectations on their metrics are clearly communicated. Periodically review milestones with and without the employee and take remedial action if necessary to correct issues and get the new employee back on track. At the same time, we understand the truth of market realities. You can’t wait forever for a new employee to deliver—the individual must hold up their end of the bargain. Make it clear what their “end of the bargain” is to set them up for success.

Upshot

We know how much work goes into the hiring process and the uncertainty that comes with hiring a new member of your team. Investing in a carefully designed onboarding process gives that prized new hire every opportunity for success. In today’s battle for talent, the investment in onboarding is one well worth making.

Portions of this publication were originally published by WATT Global Media in Feed & Grain magazine at:
feedandgrain.com/grain-handling-processing/grain-facility-management/article/15401823/bringingem-safely-onboard-launching-new-employees-successfully

Published as part of the Farm Financial Management and Policy Institute’s Manager’s Library Series

Written by:

John Foltz, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University; and Dean Emeritus, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Economics, University of Idaho

Christine Wilson, Associate Dean, College of Agriculture and Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Trey Malone, Boehlje Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness and Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

It is human nature to gravitate toward the path of least resistance. While many of us work hard, sustained focus on significant challenges often feels daunting. These are the “big, hard things” that require stepping out of the familiar into uncharted territory.

Figure 1. The magic happens outside of your comfort zone! Graphic adapted from Vygotsky’s “Zone of Proximal Development” (Vygotsky, 1978).

Why do we hesitate to tackle these challenges? Fortunately, many empirical studies explore ways to break through the habits and comfort zones that hold us back. Short-term discomfort can overshadow long-term rewards, but as we frequently remind our students, the real magic happens outside a person’s comfort zone (see Figure 1).

This article explores strategies to help you and your agribusiness embrace big, hard challenges. The potential payoff of pushing through discomfort and persevering—for both personal growth and organizational success—can be transformational.

Different Kinds of Hard

Challenges come in different forms, each presenting unique obstacles. One category is physically demanding tasks. For example, a farm or agribusiness manager might face physically intensive tasks like climbing a grain leg or unloading grain during harvest. However, most managerial challenges are not  physically hard, but instead require stamina to see them through, making them physically taxing over time.

Another category involves mentally challenging tasks. These require persistence, perseverance, and sustained focus over long periods. The mental difficulty is often compounded by the fragmented nature of managerial work, where limited blocks of uninterrupted time make it hard to focus on significant projects.

Finally, some challenges are difficult because they lie beyond our comfort zones, as illustrated in the zones of comfort, fear, growth, and panic presented in the popular education model shown in Figure 1. Moving into the growth zone—where real learning and innovation happen—requires overcoming fear and discomfort. These tasks might involve trying something new, taking calculated risks, or addressing uncertainties. Stepping outside of one’s comfort zone builds resilience and fosters growth. Tackling these challenges strengthens the individual, driving business innovation and success.

Breaking Old Bad Habits—or Starting New Good Habits

One approach to doing the hard things is to break old, bad habits or form new, good habits. Breaking habits or creating new ones is extremely difficult but can be done. Breaking habits or creating new ones can also remake you or your business. Habits are ingrained actions or behaviors that people perform regularly or as a response to some stimuli. Change is impossible if a person does not know they have a bad habit or is unaware that a good habit might help them. Upon being made aware, the person is alerted to the issue and the desired behavior change. Awareness and desire then motivates the individual (or their employee) to take action to change the behavior or habit. They decide that change would provide a better result. However, intentions are insufficient to make a change—they must be followed with action, where the individual (or their employee) practices the desired behavior change. Maintenance, in the form of hard work, is also required to sustain the desired habit or behavior. It is important to note that the approach outlined above can be used to eliminate a bad behavior or institute a good behavior.

Horowitz on the Hard Things About Hard Things

A recent book by Ben Horowitz, “The Hard Things About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers,” tackles some of this article’s concepts. Horowitz asserts that CEOs tend to be a “positive bunch,” which is a good thing, generally speaking. However, he notes that honesty is far more important than positivity because it builds trust. Horowitz states that communication in a firm is always a challenge and that if employees fundamentally trust you as manager, communications will “be vastly more efficient than if they don’t” (Horowitz, 2014).

Secondly, Horowitz states that “concealing problems from your employees is self-defeating.” He is adamant that managers and owners with a good staff should rely on them to help tackle some of the tough problems their firm faces. Thus, it is important to be honest with employees. Even though it might be hard, it generates trust and ideas from them.

Horowitz also writes that “most companies at some point in their lives face a rival who is beating them in the marketplace and putting their future at risk, and it’s bound to be scary. So scary that many in the organization will do anything to avoid facing it.” But, according to Horowitz, it is critical to understand that when facing a market rival there are only “lead” bullets—no “silver” bullets. Horowitz’s tough-love message about tackling the hard things is instructive, stating, “There comes a time in every company’s life where it must fight for its life. If you find yourself running when you should be fighting, you must ask yourself, ‘If our company isn’t good enough to win, then do we need to exist?’”

Rely on Pre-Commitment

An effective method for tackling tough challenges is to use the psychological principle of pre-commitment, which requires you to share your goals with someone else. Pre-commitment, a concept widely discussed in behavioral economics and psychology, involves making a deliberate choice in advance to bind yourself to a desired course of action, thereby reducing the likelihood of giving in to short-term temptations. Studies by researchers such as Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein have shown that pre-commitment can significantly increase the likelihood of achieving long-term goals because it leverages traits such as accountability and commitment.

For agribusiness managers, pre-commitment can be as simple as sharing an objective with a trusted colleague, spouse, or even a mentor from another business. By doing so, a social contract is created—an implicit agreement that you will follow through on your plans to avoid disappointing the person who knows about your goal. This external accountability acts as a powerful motivator, making you more likely to persist through challenges and avoid procrastination.

An accountability partner can be thought of as your own personal “Jiminy Cricket”—a person offering guidance and holding you to your commitments. While the comparison to the Disney character may sound whimsical, the principle is grounded in robust research. Pre-commitment taps into our natural aversion to social disapproval and helps align our actions with our intentions. Whether your goal is implementing a new sustainability initiative or scaling your operations, sharing your commitment with others can keep you focused and motivated to achieve those “big, hard things” that ultimately drive business success.

No Pain, No Gain

Stepping outside your comfort zone and embracing difficult tasks can lead to meaningful growth and success. Angela Duckworth’s groundbreaking research (Duckworth, et al., 2007) on grit provides compelling evidence to support this mindset. For example, her study of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point demonstrated that grit—defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals—was a stronger predictor of success during the grueling “Beast Barracks” training than intelligence, physical fitness, or leadership potential. Despite immense physical and mental challenges, cadets who exhibited higher levels of grit were more likely to persist and complete the program. Similarly, in the context of the National Spelling Bee, Duckworth found that “grittier” contestants performed better because they devoted more time to deliberate practice, even when it was tedious or difficult.

For agribusiness managers, success often requires tackling “stretch goals” that push teams beyond routine tasks into uncharted territory. Whether implementing innovative technologies, expanding into new markets, or navigating regulatory changes, long-term success depends on cultivating grit within your organization. Like the cadets who endured weeks of rigorous training or the Spelling Bee contestants who persevered through hours of study, agribusiness leaders must embrace discomfort and persist through challenges. Furthermore, communicating these ambitious goals to employees can foster a shared sense of purpose and resilience. By modeling grit and encouraging perseverance, a culture can be created where hard work, persistence, and growth are valued, ultimately driving positive outcomes for your business.

Portions of this publication were originally published by WATT Global Media in Feed and Grain Magazine at:
feedandgrain.com/grain-handling-processing/grain-facility-management/article/15400514/tackle-the-big-hard-stuff-not-the-easy-little-stuff

References

Duckworth, A,L. Peterson, C. Matthews, M.D. & Kelly, D.R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101.
doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087

Horowitz, B. (2014). The hard things about hard things. Harper Collins Publishers.
harpercollins.com/products/the-hard-thing-about-hard-things-ben-horowitz?variant=32122118471714

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674576292