Hiring The Whole Person

General Rick Hillier wrote a book called Leadership. It is 50 points of wisdom he learned while leading the Canadian Military from an institution not respected from inside and out, back to a national symbol of pride.

One of his ideas was that when you hire a person, you also hire their family. The reality is that family life weighs on and affects your work life and vise versa. He learned quickly that you had to take care of not only the person, but also the the family attached. He didn't need families to resent their loved one's place of employment.

In this gaming world, the only thing we have to retain people is engagement, and that comes from relationships, common goals and fulfilling their needs. If you demand they play or build a culture where it is not acceptable to have a life (the second is much more subtle and dangerous... it sneaks in unless you are always on guard for it), people will slowly start to resent you and disengage. Some people you will need to tell to slow down or put the phone down while on a date, so that their families don't resent the game. As hard as it is, you also need to model it. Step away for an hour and put your kids to bed.

When you welcome a stranger into your co-op, you are accepting them and their lifestyle. If you embrace and nurture the person and their lifestyle, you will end up with a happy individual that will contribute to the community.

I firmly believe we need co-ops that are just about loyalty points and those that passively participate all the way to the 'set a timer to contribute your cheese' ilk. There is a wide variety of farmers, and we need a wide variety of co-ops to meet their needs. The trick will be a better system of matching farmers to co-ops.

I had a person that didn't want to join for 2 weeks because they were going to be gone the weekend through their first tourney with us. My response was nope, you are joining now. That is part of your lifestyle and we accept that. (They snuck on multiple times during the weekend... :) ) Was it hard to say that? No! I have seen the fruits first hand enough times to know it is the best way for ME to build a co-op.

The secret to a great co-op lies in your farmers (and attitude)... take care of you farmers and your farmers will take care of your co-op, resulting in a happy and healthy place.

Uh oh... now what?

If you are a leader, apologize to your people, commit to learning and ask them to join you in this journey. Having a red coat doesn't get you respect; you have to earn it.

What does it look like to start shifting from a contribution to a farmer first mindset? Put people first. A practical tool is never ask someone where they were or why they were missing. Always ask how they are and if everything is OK. You will find out rather quickly that the spotty contributions are because they are a sneaking corn between customers. If you ask why they are spotty, you will shame them and they begin to disconnect from the group and either become toxic or leave.

If you are a farmer, talk to your leader. If they aren't open to seeing you as a valuable person, find a new co-op. There are lots I recommend that advertise here.

In the future, we will look at the concept of engagement and things you can do to encourage or destroy it, things that cause unrest and frustration in co-ops that should be dealt with, and some thoughts on the art of booting farmers.

Happy Farming!

SF