Page 208 - The Welfare of Cattle

ranChInG WIth InteGrItY and IntentIonaLItY 185

Nimble
Solutions
driven
Recover quickly
from mistakes

Identify critical issues

Transparency is norm Adapted from:
e Advantage
Utilize full talent and experience Lencioni
spectrum

Get smarter over time

People (especially leaders) learn from each other

Figure 17.2 healthy organizations capable of driving innovation.
(Source: adapted from Lencioni).

important decision for a ranch. Core values define the soul of a ranch and define its culture. When
these values align around concepts such as integrity, stewardship, and husbandry then the stage is
set for a healthy ranch.
Business writer Patrick Lencioni makes the case for the healthy organization in The Advantage
(Figure 17.2). Lencioni’s premise is straightforward—healthy organizations are capable of higher
performance than “smart” ones. Ranching organizations are no different; success depends on the
ability of people to learn from each other, to leverage each new experience and observation into a
bank of wisdom, and to value the knowledge, skills and abilities of people across the organization.
It is the third capability, to value knowledge beyond the confines of formal education that character-
izes healthy ranches. As a case in point, the most common mistake made by wealthy investors who
purchase ranches is to undervalue the collective knowledge of the people who have lived and worked
there. The new owner seeks out a “pedigreed” manager, superimposes their biases and uninformed
expectations on the decision-making process, listens only perfunctorily to local knowledge and then
wonders why the ranch underperforms.
Transparency is vital within a ranching enterprise—information, mistakes, successes, and
observations must be acknowledged and shared seamlessly. A working landscape is a complex
entity and effective decisions require information to flow up and down the organization. Given the
scope of the ranch landscape as well as the dynamic nature of the environment, an organizational
culture that values information sharing is necessary for success. Hierarchy, fear of failure, and a lack
of accountability undermines ranch performance. Transparency underpins the ability of the orga-
nization to identify critical issues and to then allocate resources to their resolution. Furthermore, a
culture that values learning and transparency is better suited to recovering from mistakes, develop-
ing and implementing solutions, and retaining the advantage of nimbleness. Of course, none of the
aforementioned outcomes is possible without a deep sense of trust among all members of the ranch
team and the willingness of each to assume a high level of personal accountability.