The Right Tool for the Job

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The Right Tool for the Job

A few years ago, I joined my wife on a trip to the California coast in Huntington Beach. She had continuing education to complete and allowed me to tag along. That meant I had several mornings to kill on the oceanfront with perfect weather.

I had never been surfing before, but opted to try it out and take some lessons. I found Clint Surf School online and got signed up for two mornings of surf lessons, not having a clue what to expect.

For the first lesson, I met my instructor on the beach across the street from my hotel. His name was Canyon, and he was the son of the owner, Clint. Canyon was exactly what you could expect from a surf instructor. He was tall with longer blonde hair, a tan face, and a surfer’s build. He spent a few years growing up in Kansas, but then moved to the coast with his dad and has been surfing every day since. And he was an awesome surf instructor.

I didn’t know anything about surfing, had never been on a board before, and the water was not great that day, but he had a knack for the waves, when to send me, and got me up on the board several times. It was an awesome experience, and I even got a cheesy photo with Canyon in my surf attire when the lesson was done. He just had a way of passing along his knowledge of the water to me.

On the second day, Canyon was not going to be available because he was backpacking with his dog, so I got a different instructor. It was a terrible experience. It felt like he didn’t know what he was doing, and he definitely wasn’t able to pass on any knowledge to me. Sometimes he would tell me to turn around and start paddling while holding my board back, while other times he would tell me to start paddling and push me off without me even realizing that this was the wave I was supposed to take. Communication was bad at best, and I had to tell him to let me know when I was going so I could be prepared. I barely got up on the board that day, and it was a frustrating experience.

Who is your mentor on the farm?

Is it someone who has been in the business their whole life and knows the ups and downs and everything about the industry? Your coach or mentor is probably your parent on the operation. Some parents have thrived financially and grown the operation over the years. They have grown the business well and are able to pass the message down through coaching to you.

Other farmers don’t have the strength of coaching. There’s nothing wrong with that. We just need to recognize that they may not have the ability to pass their knowledge on, or maybe they weren’t successful in their own farming operation and aren’t the best route to have you moving forward.

Look at your coach or mentor. Are they capable of training you? Have they had success, or do you need to branch off? Your success is dictated by who is training you, just like it was for me on the surfboard.

If you do not have the right coach or mentor in your operation, that is fine. You can continue to work with those individuals, but you should seek outside help to give you the knowledge and resources to be able to grow the operation and thrive successfully by learning from someone who has been there, done that, and has the ability to communicate and coach you along the way.

If I can be the one to help you along the way, either 1:1 or in a confidential peer group setting, let me know here.

Make it a great day.

Grant