Participants for the 2018 Australian Grain Leaders Program (AGLP) have been announced.  National grain farmers representative body, GrainGrowers, announced the 11 participants and acknowledged it is pleased to have expanded the program for 2018 to include the whole of the supply chain in the grains industry. The 10th program will be launched in Canberra this week.  Jo Eady, Director of RuralScope Pty Limited and facilitator of this program said, "I am delighted to be facilitating the 10th industry leadership program for the Australian grains industry.  This years participants are from across most of the main grain growing regions of Australia, including Tasmania.  And we are heading to Tasmania after Canberra to visit two highly productive agricultural regions and see the best of the best in mixed farming enterprises.  And we will visit and be introduced to the leadership drivers of Tas Foods Ltd an innovative agricultural and food company taking the Tasmanian brand to the world.         

I want to share a key activity we do here at RuralScope each and every January.  It's a simple one and is great for team building as all staff can participate.  But the best part of all is that it cleans the slate ready to bring in new things for the year ahead. We call it CLEANSWEEP.  We grab our diaries and go through each month identifying key things we did / achieved / mucked up etc etc for each month.  And through this process we jot down the highlights as we go.  And we also acknowledge things that didn't go to plan and let them go.  It is a fabulous time for each of us to reflect, review, acknowledge, let go and celebrate.  One thing I know for sure is that it creates pride and allows each of us the time to re-calibrate for the year ahead.  We have just completed our CLEANSWEEP, here's what we found.....                         

I am always bombarded with an array of workshop, webinar, teleseminar and conference offers at the beginning of the year. Most of them are about learning the business secrets to increasing cash flow, improving marketing, setting up a to die for business plan, getting your head around how to use social media for your business etc etc.... the list is actually endless.  And yep, each new year, I get caught up in the "I really should attend / participate..." mentality and then when I don't make the effort feel pretty lousy! This year, I did something different........            

Tough conversations like succession planning, which house to live in on farm when married, changes to crop rotations and sheep versus cropping etc are a necessary part of life.  And especially so in many farming businesses where everyone works and lives together. Yet it is common for us to not have these tough conversations, in fact many of us will go out of our way to avoid them.  Having the conversation is uncomfortable, risky and unpredictable.  In the short term it is easy to turn  blind eye and do nothing.  But, in the long run, short term pain is worth the long term gain.  It is important to speak up and speak your truth!              

For almost a year now, I have been involved in a monthly business peer mentoring mastermind program.  It's only 2 hours a month but it has really rocked the 'soul of my business' and led me to question its why and how!  You see, there are times (perhaps even many) when I can find myself and my business lacking in focus, feeling overwhelmed and not sure of direction. This year I am keen to establish a vision framework for my business RuralScope, a process that I can follow to achieve a vision that is clear, ALIVE and compelling!