The major concern for every farmer in South Africa at the moment is runaway costs. Seldom have we faced such extreme escalations, and I hope every single farmer is taking a fresh look at the way they do things and considering some extraordinary action. It was Albert Einstein who said, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insane”. With the challenges facing SA farmers right now he could have been talking to us.
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It’s all very well having a detailed line-by-line review of your budgeted revenue and costs to see what improvements you can make. You might add a few percent here, shave a percent or two off there but, given the scale of present cost increases, this may not keep the business solvent. What’s needed now is some radical change. Not reckless change, but something that’s going to add significantly to your revenue and slice a big chunk off your costs. Something that fundamentally changes the economy of your business.
Are there any other options for selling your products in an entirely different way? What about exploiting high-value niche markets for part of the production? Adding value? What about expansion? Do you have undeveloped land? If not, could you acquire land? What about major changes in your production processes? Closing down under-used facilities and having a neighbour or the local co-op pack your crop? In fact, what about pooling resources with neighbours and getting full use out of machines and equipment? Or what about driving production levels up by adopting an entirely different management system?
How to do it
It can be very difficult to ask these hard questions, and the way to get them into the open is to organise a brainstorm. I’ve been privileged to be part of a number of such sessions and, if properly constituted and guided, they can deliver some amazing insights. Here’s how to do it:
- Select the participants carefully. Like-minded people won’t generate the creative ideas you’re seeking, and you want representatives from a few levels in the organisation, not just the top. You also need to have a person or two from outside the organisation who knows something about it and the industry. This is extremely important.
- At the same time, the group mustn’t be too big. Try and limit it to seven or eight maximum.
- Prepare participants by informing them what you’re trying to achieve, and provide some reading on the process. The purpose is to get people ‘unstuck’ from their normal ways of thinking, but don’t deluge them with pre-session information.
- The session itself should be a relaxed, fun-filled, free-wheeling approach to problem solving. It should encourage lateral thinking and generate ideas that at first may seem crazy. Appoint only one person to record the ideas that come from the session and free up the others to brainstorm.
The first reaction to new ideas from old hands is often “Ja, but…”. This is taboo in brainstorming. You’re trying to open up possibilities. Judgement and analysis stunt creativity and the generation of ideas.
Don’t stifle creativity
Remember some participants may be inhibited if they fear criticism, while unusual suggestions may appear to lack value at first sight. This is where you need to chair sessions tightly, so that the group doesn’t crush these ideas and stifle creativity.
You need to take advantage of the full experience and creativity of all team members. When one member gets stuck with an idea, another member’s creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. After the session, get all the ideas organised and evaluate them. Now is the time for analysis and judgement, and the real work to implement the changes begins.
This article was originally published in the 03 May 2013 issue of Farmer’s Weekly.
