Psychosocial risk
As we are in the middle of calving up here in the North and the days are counting down in the South (although wintering is in full swing!), try your best to pause and think about your farms preparedness to deal with the expected and unexpected on farm. Psychosocial risk is one of the top causes of harm on farms, and has long reaching consequences throughout the industry.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for mitigating psychological harm, but there are a number of steps you can take to help prevent it.
What can you do to avoid Psychosocial Harm and reduce the Risk?
Plan work in advance (where possible) with your teams about who, how, where, when, and what is needed to do the work – the expected routine has a positive impact on the brain, rather than chopping and changing of a plan everyday (or multiple times in a day). It also makes your team more efficient and gives them a sense of pride in their work. Then, later, review the work to see what went well and what could be improved for next time.
Fatigue is typically a factor in diminished wellbeing. So, when planning work, does the task have to be done during calving, on the darkest, coldest, and wettest day of the year with limited sleep?
It is important to continue to talk with your team— and recognising the with component rather than just at them. Circumstances change, and sometimes, outside stressors are brought onto the farm. The key to a good relationship, as is good communication. Being open and honest with your team on how you are going or what mistakes you made will give them confidence to share more. Mistakes happen. How you react and recover is what determines future communications.
When giving instructions, don’t rely entirely on verbal communication. A written reference for them to refer back to can do wonders for the tired mind. This could be through the use of whiteboards or task management apps (Trello is a free option), and consider using technology like voice notes or video to document these valuable discussions. This documentation gives everyone a point of reference and these records can significantly impact future actions and improvements.
Finally, if you feel the need to scream or shout, walk away. Call time on a conversation if it isn’t constructive and let the other person know that we all need to cool off and pick it up again tomorrow. Saying things in the heat of the moment can have a substantial long lasting impact on your working relationship.
We want to encourage you to recognise your limitations over the next few months; sometimes, we need experts to step in and help. Not everyone is naturally excellent at communicating with the people they work with. Specialist consultants can make a huge difference here. As always, you get in touch with me via louiseg@thesharefarmingconsultants.com
