Consider purpose

I’ve always felt this is a good time of year for reflection.

Christmas and New Year celebrations are behind us, for most of the croppers the harvest is done, and many people have had, or are having, that precious beach time.

You naturally think about the season that was.

What did you do well? Where can you improve?

You’re thinking about the year ahead. Fine-tuning the cropping plan. Ordering fertiliser. Getting seed requirements lined up. All the operational stuff.

But what do you see when you look further out?

Where are you taking your farm business, your family, yourself? We’re all so busy with the day-to-day operations, it takes deliberate effort to lift the eyes to the horizon.

I have great respect for a man called Rob Hunt.

He was managing director of Bendigo Bank and took that business from a small Victorian-based building society to a national ASX 100 company.

He was the architect of the Community Bank model, which is now probably the most influential, and impactful, social enterprise in Australia.

At one point, Rob had pens made for staff with the inscription: ‘What Are We Trying To Achieve?’

He wanted them to think about the higher impact of their efforts; to not get so caught in the demands of the day-to-day they lost sight of their primary purpose.

Often, the primary purpose is not immediately obvious.

For Rob’s business, shareholder return was a necessary outcome. But his real focus was building customer wealth.

His view was that successful customers would create successful communities and in turn, lead to the success of the bank.

If we apply that thought process to our farms, where does it take us? We might say our aim is to grow high-yielding crops, but is that simply a tool we use to achieve an objective of making money?

If our primary objective is to make money, who are we doing that for? Are we using money as the scoreboard to show we’re winners? Is it to prove to ourselves and others we’re good at our craft?

Perhaps the real objective is to create a large, successful, family businesses. Understanding this opens our minds to other areas of business that could help us achieve this outcome.

Or perhaps you’re motivated by a more altruistic desire.

It might be a focus on improving soil microbe activity. But is this just a step in building a sustainable farming system? Something that will leave your farm in a healthier state than when you began — and by doing so, contributing to a healthier planet.

There’s no right or wrong answer, but it is important to not just drift along.

Being able to recognise your ‘light on the hill’ helps guide your decision making.

You’re more likely to have a sense of satisfaction, of happiness, if your day-to-day actions take you in the direction of your true objective.

Right, enough of the dreaming. Must be time to cut some more bindii.