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Ah, a farmer’s life — you get up early, plant your crops, and then a few months later, you come back and harvest the fruits of your labor. What could be better?

If only that was all you had to do!

Farmers have to wear many hats. They identify the best seed, and then organize acquisition of that seed. Once received, the seed is planted — and even that’s a task because each one germinates in its own environment. Some like to be planted deep, others perform better when they sit on the soil surface; some like to be kept warm, others prefer a cool environment. And so a farmer’s job continues through transplanting, plant maturation, and then preparation of the land for the next year.

Farmers have many roles. They must be able not only to grow plants and identify ripe fruit, but also to run and maintain farm equipment. They must understand, and possibly become licensed in the use of, fertilizers and pesticides. Further, they need to know community regulations that govern farming. (Is a nursery license necessary?) As if that’s not enough, farmers must also become accomplished purchasing agents, tracking down the best sources for everything from seed to fertilizer to ladybugs to boxes or bags to package products.

Like farmers, managers wear many hats. A successful manager is an accomplished intermediary, communicator, organizer, coach, and leader.

As an intermediary, a manager interacts effectively with various populations. We’ll discuss this in depth in the next chapter. For now, just remember that you don’t operate in a vacuum. To get your job done, you will need strong professional relationships with many people.

To support these relationships, you must be able to communicate clearly and concisely. You have many choices for communicating: in person, via e-mail, by phone, written letter, or memo, just to mention a few. Each method of communication has unique characteristics.

One of the most effective ways to communicate is in person. When two or more individuals are together in one place, it’s easier to ensure the message has been received correctly. The person sending the message can get immediate feedback and can communicate using words, tone of voice, and body language. No other method of communication allows you to use all of these qualities.

Phone conversations don’t permit you to see the other person. Not only does this make it more difficult to interpret voice tone, you also have no sure-fire way of knowing if the other person is rolling his eyes or listening intently.

E-mail messages are a particularly dangerous way to communicate because written communication is based solely on words. Often, we want to keep the message brief, and we tend to be brusque in our language. If you add to this a bit of satire, such as “Yeah, I’d LOVE to spend the next five hours digging through old files looking for that record for you,” miscommunication is almost guaranteed.

Managers are responsible for many diverse tasks. In order to keep everything running smoothly, they must be able to organize. Lack of effective organization can lead to unpleasant surprises. Any farmer can tell you that most baby tomato plants look very much alike. If they don’t carefully organize and label seedlings as red, cherry, and plum tomatoes, come picking time they’ll be hopping all over the field to gather each type of tomato.

Similarly, managers need to organize work priorities and projects carefully to ensure timely completion. Managers have many tasks and deadlines, including paperwork, projects, supervising staff, daily responsibilities, and more. Each comes with different instructions and deadlines.

Managers are also responsible for coordinating people or tasks or both to accomplish stated goals.

If you are a manager, you can be sure that you will have to attend meetings that you or others initiate. Meetings consume a lot of time — preparation time before the meeting, time spent at the meeting, and time devoted to tasks as a result of the meeting.

As a manager, you will likely have some responsibilities for hiring, training, and reviewing your staff. You may also have to respond to customer, vendor, and regulator issues. And you will have to deal with the occasional crisis.

Organization enables you to complete all these additional jobs while still getting your normal job responsibilities accomplished.

Another management role is that of coach. As a manager, you are responsible for your own productivity and outcomes, and also for that of your staff. Don’t panic — this doesn’t mean that you should do your employees’ jobs for them.

A farmer cannot force a plant to grow and produce flowers and then fruit, and a manager cannot force his staff to produce results. A manager can only assist in his staff ’s growth by providing the proper training, tools, and environment. As coaches, managers continually evaluate each employee’s needs. Does the employee require more nourishment? Perhaps it’s time to provide additional training. Or maybe you should give them one last boost of confidence and let them grow quietly for a while.

Finally, a manager needs to be a leader. Just as a farmer provides direction for plants by installing trellises for them to climb, a manager provides a vision of where the department is going.

Being an effective leader involves the ability to see the big picture. Farmers need to be aware of the weather and other challenges in the industry. Similarly, a good manager knows what’s going on inside his department, within the company as a whole, and in the general industry.

These five roles — intermediary, communicator, organizer, coach, and leader — require diverse skill sets. Just as being a farmer involves more than planting and harvesting, being a manager means more than just watching your staff work and accepting praise for what they accomplish. In order to be an excellent manager, you need to see the big picture, engender respect, authentically empower your employees, balance priorities, and inspire others to perform to the best of their abilities.

As a farmer of people, are you prepared to do more than plant and harvest?

What have you done to ensure that you are aware of “the weather”? Are you keeping up with events within your company, in the industry and perhaps in the wider world? Are you aware of impending new regulations or policies before your manager talks about them? Are you able to warn your supervisor about outside events that may have an impact on business before it’s too late?

Are you keeping an eye on your “crops” as they grow? Are you aware of which employees are flourishing and which are bogged down by weeds?

Are you keeping an eye on priorities and doing the tasks that are most important? Are you watering when it’s dry, and not immediately before a rainfall? Are you fertilizing before a plant looks diseased and half dead? Are you anticipating what lies ahead? And are you figuring out contingency plans for dealing with those possibilities?

Quick Tips to Grow Your People:

Successful managers are able to …

•Effectively intermediate, communicate, organize, coach, and lead.

•Create strong professional relationships with as many people as possible.

•Effectively use the three parts of communication: words, voice tone, and body language.

•Use strong organization skills to meet all of your responsibilities.

•Work with your staff, one-on-one, to determine specific needs.

•Keep up to date on issues outside your department.