We all know the daily stresses that come with farming. From untimely extreme weather to high disease incidence to a failed crop, there is simply no running away from it. Poor emotional communication only exacerbates these situations as conflict can either be elevated or lessened by one’s emotional reaction. That is where emotional intelligence comes in.
It’s basic self-awareness and the awareness of others around your working environment. The capacity to be aware of your strengths, your weaknesses, your emotions and behaviours. How you express, control and communicate in interpersonal business relationships judiciously is the key to Emotional Intelligence in business. It’s how you relate with your farmhands as a farm manager or owner
I will give you a scenario: It’s a lovely Saturday morning and as the cell phone farmer that you are, this is the one day of the week where you go down to the farm to check on progress. You arrive at the farm to find half of your crop burnt to a crisp from wrongful chemical application. Immediately you lose your temper and start exchanging words with the farmworkers, raising your voice and threatening their jobs. The situation just went from bad to extremely bad in no time! Could this altercation have been avoided? Absolutely.
How could the farmer have dealt with the situation? Take a breath and assess the situation. You are probably desperate to get a good crop and yield, your farm help on the other hand probably made a genuine mistake, and sadly, you can’t both be right. In a calm voice you could start by asking what really happened. Take the time to understand the farmhand, then proceed to reprimand the farm hand while educating them on how to actually apply the chemical properly. Anything within reason to help ease the situation and guarantee that they will follow-through. Human error and carelessness are common traits, we just have to know how to deal with them.
Tony Robbins has outlined his six tips for growing emotional intelligence:
- Identify what you’re feeling. Use mindfulness to routinely check in on your perspective.
- Acknowledge and appreciate your emotions for what they are. Robbins emphasizes that “Emotions are never wrong. They are there to support you.”
- Be curious about what an emotion is trying to tell you.
- Tap into your inner confidence to deal with emotions by remembering when you’ve done this effectively in the past.
- Mentally think through how you would deal with difficult feelings in the future to feel more equipped when the time comes.
