In this season of Thanksgiving, I ask: How are you giving thanks? Giving is a verb, an action.
You’re probably participating in cooking a hearty meal and saying a heartfelt prayer of gratitude over it. But are there other ways of giving that would impact your business and team?
Here’s a few I suggest using:
Your words of thanks
This sounds obvious, but sometimes we get too busy to stop and say a slow, intentional “Thank you.” I perceive I thank my close companions often, and then my family begs to differ! I realize the “slow” part is important. I may be throwing out “Thanks” over my shoulder on the way out the door or putting it at the bottom of every email. But that’s different than approaching someone with no other agenda item.
Family business and agriculture can be difficult at times. I believe that showing genuine gratitude to the people around us is like the coolant in the engine. It helps hold down the heat.
Who among your family, partners, work team, advisors, vendors or customers would really appreciate an intentional thank you? Be specific about what you appreciate. Is it their extreme hours without complaint? Their patience when you mess up? The trust they place in you? The opportunity or financial support they’ve provided? The care they’ve shown you in hard times? The great service you receive? Their positive attitude?
If you’re not comfortable doing it face to face, do it in writing—old school or digital. In this age, a personal note in snail mail is precious to me.
Your presence
Time is the most important resource we have. So, we can’t be everywhere and do everything that’s asked of us. Yet our presence in some situations sends an important message or has outsized impact on someone else. Our challenge is identifying those situations and prioritizing them.
Working with multi-generational family farms, I see situations where showing up and participating, or providing an answer to a long-standing question, is sorely needed.
- For the senior generation, it may be presence at the new team meetings the next gen is trying to implement (that you may think aren’t entirely needed).Or it could be answering the question your brother/cousin/partner has been asking for years about how you want to transition ownership.
- For the rising generation, it may be attending an after-hours industry networking event that is critical to a successful marketing contract. Your presence signals that you are ready to invest in the extras that business leadership requires.
Your service
I recently organized a service day for our office with Habitat for Humanity. I was surprised at how excited people were. They felt a shared purpose. They appreciated the company’s investment in the community. While putting up sheetrock and various other tasks, people interacted in personal ways they don’t at work. I assumed people already had their favorite place to volunteer, but some experienced it for the first time. Several told me they would volunteer again on their own.
If your farm crew doesn’t want another day of physical labor like building and repairing, there are many other possibilities: packing supplies at the food bank; cooking or delivering Meals on Wheels, which is critical in many rural areas; mentoring youth in your schools; and many more.
I hope you value service for the sake of helping other beings. But there are also business benefits: your family and team need thriving rural communities and it builds team engagement. Whether it’s a one-time event or an ongoing commitment, consider service as a means of giving thanks.
I would love to hear your examples of giving thanks this season! Reach out at my email below.
Davon Cook is an ag family business consultant at Pinion. Reach Davon at davon.cook@pinionglobal.com. The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.