Article 1 This is the Year I'll... Fast Company, January 1999 By: Gina Imperato

With the ringing in of the new year many people decide to change something in their lives. some may decide they need to lose weight while others may decide to improve on their personality by being a better listener or having a more positive attitude, etc.

The reality is that within six months one half of the poeple who set resolutions have not stuck to their plan. john Norcross of the University of Scanton says that three factors separate those who keep their resolutions and those who don't. the factors are: 1) readiness to change, 2) confidence that you can change and the skills neede to change, and 3) the ability to plan.

I would have to agree with the three factors. A lot of people think they are ready to change but are not willing to do what it takes. if they are really ready they will do what it takes. I think confidence to change can be very hard to possess if your past has not had a lot of success. I believe a support group or person should be used to help with confidence. Planning, I believe, is very important and it must be written down and monitored. I believe it should have small goals that need to be achieved before long term goals are acheived.

I work with a lot of farming operations that want to make changes. Most want to make more money and/ or be more efficient with time management so they can have more time off.

I think that the three factors discussed in the article could be used to help a farm. An example of where I could help would be a farmer who wants to increase the operation's milk output. The first thing I could do is sit down with the farmer and go over the facilities he has to work with plus evaluate his management ability. The next thing I would do is list the factors of why he wants to increase the herd producction. Next I would work with him on management changes that might need to take place. After doing this I would ask him if he is ready to make the required changes to his operaiton. If he is ready, then I would help him plan out the time interval for his production goal and the management changes that will be implemented. Hopefully this planning will giv him confidence to start.

The next hing I could do is check back with him and see how he is doing at following his plan and help him make necessary changes and support his efforts.

The people I talked to believed this would work with farms that really want to change and are self starters. They say that too often once the support person leaves the picture the farmer backs away from his goal because he loses focus unless the change has been going on for one year.

-- Anonymous, February 07, 1999

Answers

Bill,

Thanks for your interpretation of this article. I appreciate the way you related the information to your work with farmers. In all organizations any change is met with resistance. Your assessment of the farmer's willingness to change is critical. The farmer must be very involved in this entire change process in order for it to be effective. He/she must be committed to the change.

For some additional reading on change in organizations, I recommend a book by Kanter, Stein and Jick called "The Challenge of Organizational Change." This book is a classic in management literature, and was published in 1992. If you are looking for other sources, I can try to point some out for you.

I would like to comment on your writing. I realize that it is easy to type something very quickly and submit it electronically without checking the spelling, grammar and capitalization. Please check your work before submitting it to avoid these types of errors. Also, be sure to submit your "Fast Company" articles under your name rather than in the general question area.

I look forward to seeing additional work of yours.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 1999