?TEAM TALK?.I believe this on-farm staff/team communication system to be the most innovative development I?ve seen in Farm Business Management for decades?
TEAM TALK is a very exciting new on-farm computer communication system that is simple to use and empowers all staff members to take responsibility for their individual roles on the farm. It permanently records what has previously been keep on hundreds of bits of paper, whiteboards and shed notice boards.
TEAM TALK does not replace good person to person communication on a farm but enhances it significantly. I see it as being like a computerised template that with Ginny Neal?s help you can create a unique system tailor made for your farm & your team of staff. I imagine that each farm will develop a personalised or custom made TEAM TALK system for their own farm.?
?I?m very impressed!
?TEAM TALK? has been created by Ginny & Stu Neal (Farm Manager at Castlepoint Station, a large sheep & beef station on the South Wairarapa coast of New Zealand). Stu was a participant in the Rabobank Farm Managers Course where they had to do an individual project as part of the course. http://www.rabobank.co.nz/Rural/Education/Pages/FMP.aspxThey are in celebration mode as Stu has been notified that he was one of the 3 finalists from last year?s Rabobank Farm Managers? Course in Brisbane chosen to go back this year to present their project??..his of course being the TEAM TALK now implemented at Castlepoint Station. Castlepoint Station owned by Anders & Emily Crofoot, who recently won the Wairarapa Hill Country Farm Business Award, in part due to the excellent staff communication system. Ginny Neal was until very recently a local country school teacher, now she has set up her own company AgRecord, to help other farmers to use & implement TEAM TALK on their farms & with their teams of staff.
AgRecord's flagship system is called TEAM TALK. It can be best described as an on-line internal communication system which assists with the efficient and effective day to day running of agri-businesses.?
?TEAM TALK is completely individualised for each business and can either be started from scratch or include existing documentation.? The concept itself is completely new to the agri-business industry and has already revolutionised the businesses it is being used by.?
?TEAM TALK encourages staff members to be a part of the business by ensuring accountability for pasture measuring, tallies, quantities, weights etc that they add.? One of its main features is the ability to store all information in one place thus replacing the 'bits of paper'? that never actually end up being recorded or they get lost.
? Users access TEAM TALK by logging in via the internet ? this means it is accessible from any mobile or wi-fi capable device such as a phone, ipad, laptop etc and from anywhere in the world.??
It is a powerful tool for absentee owners or those that spend a lot of time away from the farm/office.? Staff/members can also access it 24 hours a day 7 days a week allowing them to enter information when and where it suits them.? Clients can contact AgRecord via Skype meetings and have their tailor-made system designed for them without even having to meet.? This is a huge saving on time and travel for both Client and AgRecord and allows you to spend this time actually creating the system for your farm team.
AgRecord ?provide the client with regular updates on their system build and can even share what it is looking like during the design process ensuring it meets the clients requirements.
The TEAM TALK concept was adapted by Ginny Neal from a platform she has been using in schools for a number of years.? Ginny has grown up farming and has a background in educational management and many years of experience in IT.
Clients so far have included the following on their TEAM TALK system:
?Work schedules?
?Stock rotations
Key events & activities?
?Current hazards list
?Animal Health Plan
?Maps of the property
?Repairs and maintenance schedule
?Plant and machinery maintenance schedule
?Movements of team members over the week (leave, off- farm activities etc)
?Health and safety programme
?Inventory of sundries etc quad tyres, workshop supplies
?Chemical inventories and spray records
?Staff leave form
?HR policies etc Health and safety videos
?Live calendar
?Stud stock information
?Milking information
?Rainfall
?Videos/photos
?The list is limitless.....each system is completely different depending on the needs or requirements of each agribusiness.?
Pasture wedge graphs can/could be entered by one staff member & shared with everyone. Your "Team" might include the Farm Consultant or Vet. If a staff member leaves your team they can no longer participate in TEAM TALK.
All this information is ordered chronologically and all past records are stored on the system, thus building up 'history'.? The functionality of TEAM TALK is very straightforward: -
?The person designated as the system manager has ultimate control over what goes on and stays on the information system.
?The platform is only accessible by those the system manager has invited to? 'belong'.
?Team members can contribute information (e.g. stock weights, tallies) and any entry sends an alert to the system manager.
?Maps, spreadsheets and pictures, videos, live calendars can be readily imported into the platform.
?It has safety features that make it 'Herd Manager/shepherd/staff proof'.
?It is accessible from anywhere in the world as it is stored on the web.? Users can access it from any mobile Smart Phone or wi-fi device if not in front of their desktop.
What I really like about TEAM TALK is that it has been created in the farm kitchen, by a Farm Manager, his very creative wife & a real life farm team, on an innovative award winning farm.?
It?s an extra ordinary new Farm Business Management tool which I think you should investigate.
Contact details
Skype? ginny.neal
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