ITHACA, N.Y. — It’s not too late! A few spaces are still available in Organizing Work for High Quality Results, the second course offered by Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development’s Agricultural Supervisory Leadership Certificate program.
Organizing Work for High Quality Results teaches how to develop clear expectations and standard operating procedures, delegate effectively, and diagnose and correct performance problems. Materials for the virtual course will release June 18, 2021 and the first virtual meeting will be June 24, 2021. Cost is $275 for the six-week course.
Registration link for Organizing Work for High Quality Results
Information link for the Agricultural Supervisory Leadership certificate program
Supervisors are critical to the success of farm businesses. They have a major impact both on employees’ daily work experiences and on the production performance of the business. The Agricultural Supervisory Leadership certificate helps farm supervisors and managers develop skills and apply human resource management practices to create rewarding workplaces and drive business results, like more engaged employees and less turnover. The six courses within the certificate program, which can be taken in any order, offer extensive practice and engagement activities to build confidence and skill sets.
Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development leadership courses are appropriate for both new and experienced farm supervisors and managers, and those preparing to become supervisors. All participants will learn leadership concepts and practice skills that will improve their ability to build a positive workplace and get results through leading others.
Each course includes up to six weeks of instruction on topics that will build your leadership and management skills. Instruction includes a combination of prerecorded lectures, reading assignments, written exercises, live discussion sessions and quizzes. For those looking to learn more on a particular topic, supplemental videos and articles may be recommended by the instructor. To get the most out of the course, students should plan to spend a minimum of two hours each week on combined course activities.
Participants in Transitioning to Supervisor, the first course in the Agricultural Supervisory Leadership program, highly recommend the program and say:
“All modules had great value. It got me to rethink some things. The elements fit together pretty well, building upon each other. The breakout rooms were good. I liked the variety of learning. I found the country differences extremely valuable to better understand our multicultural workforce. Communication lessons gave perspective on different ways to communicate effectively with your team. The lesson with power distances was helpful to teach different ways people of other countries view topics. I really enjoyed the videos during the course and being able to ask questions to instructors and getting a quick response. The self-evaluation to find out what kind of a supervisor you are was helpful.”
Course instructors include:
- Richard Stup, Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development Specialist
- Elizabeth Higgins, Ag Business Management/Production Economics Extension Specialist with the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture team
- Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy Specialist
- Bob Milligan, Cornell University Professor Emeritus
- Thomas Maloney, Cornell Cooperative Senior Extension Specialist Emeritus
Direct questions to Rachel McCarthy, Agricultural Supervisory Leadership Coordinator, at rachel.mccarthy@cornell.edu.
Upcoming courses include:
- Managing Performance: Understand motivation. Harness the power of performance feedback and coaching. Build clear and effective workplace communications, including leading team meetings. Set safety expectations. Conduct effective performance reviews.
- Ethics and Employment Regulations for Supervisors: Implement responsible and ethical labor practices and understand why this matters for agriculture. Recognize and prevent sexual harassment. Understand and follow minimum wage and overtime laws. Implement Equal Employment Opportunity laws to prevent discrimination and harassment. Handle employee discipline and termination.
- Becoming an Effective Trainer: Identify training needs. Understand learning styles. Design and plan learning experiences that accommodate learner needs. Develop effective training skills and techniques. Evaluate learning results and training effectiveness.
- Staffing and Organizing Your Team: Develop job descriptions. Learn how to find potential employees, interview and select the right people. Implement new hire documentation, employment authorization, and onboarding: bringing new employees into the business successfully and productively.
Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development’s mission is to help farms and agribusinesses build committed and effective teams who will carry out the important work of feeding the world. We believe that agricultural work can, and should be, engaging and rewarding for everyone involved. Managers can build committed teams by applying the best human resource management practices for the agricultural setting. Key program goals include:
- Provide leadership and management development education focused on farm supervisors, middle managers, and owners
- Clarify workforce regulations that apply to farms and increasing levels of compliance
- Build consistent channels of communication and learning opportunities about agricultural workforce issues
- Conduct research into workforce problems and challenges that confront agriculture
–Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development