Setting team goals

People need to be able to buy into a shared vision before they can translate it into action. Detailed plans will help make the vision a reality. Without them, all effort and energy tends to be absorbed by the day-to-day activities.

The starting place for building an effective team is setting the strategic plan for the business and adequately resourcing it. It is then possible to align the business and team goals.

An effective team needs realistic team goals that:

align with business goals;
are well documented and measurable; and
are used to evaluate performance and give feedback.

Use this template to help set your farm goals.

Here is a sample list of objectives and goals:

Team goals	Geoff and Dianne’s farm
Production		Priority (High,Medium,Low)	August target	Annual target
	Total litres	High	400,000	3,000,000
	Litres per day	High	13,000
	Litres per cow	High	33
	Milk solids per cow	High	2.1
	Total milk solids	High	26,040	240,000
	BMCC monthly average	High	200,000	< 220,000
	Other milk quality measures	High	Premium	Premium

Stock
	Milker numbers	Med	400	400
	Dry cow numbers
	Deaths	High	0	< 2%
	Clinical mastitis cases	High	<8	<60
	6 week in calf rate	Med		75%
	Empty rate	Med		< 7%
	Heifer calves reared	Med		100
	Condition score	Med	4.5	5
	Cull cow rate	Med	<4	< 10%

Pastures
	Pasture utilisation rate	High	30kg/ha /day	9 tn/ha
	Pasture cover	High	2200
	Area in milking rotation	Med	200	250
	Level of pugging	Med	Moderate	Low
	Weed control program	Med	Sprayed all boadleafs	None flower
	Pest control program	Med	Fastac
	Cropping targets	Med		10% O/P

Infrastructure
	Machinery maintenance schedule	Med		100% compliance
	Dairy cleanliness	Med	Full pressure wash	Always excellent
	Electric fencing effectiveness	High		always 5000 plus
	Track status	High	Chips applied bi-weekly	Excellent
	Water system supply	Med		Never run short
	Trough function	High		Leaks immediately fixed
	Amenity tidiness	High	Clean up dairy office	Excellent

People
	Adherence to safety SOPS	High	Review	100% compliance
	Effectiveness of communication	High	Farm policy review	Excellent
	Punctuality	High	No failures	100 % compliance
	Work place injuries	High	Nil	Nil
	Wage book compliance	High	100%	100%
	Hours of work per staff member	Med	< 60 hours per week	< 2500 hours per year
	Days at work	Med	No leave scheduled	220 days per person

Seek help from someone who has planning skills

Consider having input from someone who’s skilled in planning if this may be a limiting step. Encourage all on-farm and some off-farm team members to contribute to the plan and set the goals for the team.

Setting team goals

Seek help from someone who has planning skills

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