I can describe to you what it feels like when you jump into the pool, and I can tell you how to move your arms and legs - but until you actually get in the water, you're never going to feel it and you're never going to really know what it is that I am talking about.
It's all too easy to forget this when working with employees. You can spend all the time you want telling prospective employees how hard it's going to be, how hot and how muddy and how intense, but until they actually get to your farm and start working, they won't really know.
The same is true for documenting procedures. You can spend all winter writing about how to drive a tractor or making videos of how to put a twist tie on kale, and that's tremendously useful, but in the end, the person who's going to do it has to get on the tractor and go. You can read tips and tricks for driving straight, but you still have to do the work of driving straight to really learn it.
At the same time, you can capture some important information this way. There's nothing worse that trying to figure out how to do something this year that you know went right last year! And documenting procedures lets the lowest-possible skilled person do the work. You're not going to hire a packing house manager with no experience, hand them a manual, and expect them to succeed; but you can hand that same document to somebody with experience and expect them to understand how the processes work on your farm, and what the end product should look like.
So, yes, write it down. Describe the wetness of the water and the angle of your arms as well as you can, but remember that your people will still have to swim before they really understand.
It's all too easy to forget this when working with employees. You can spend all the time you want telling prospective employees how hard it's going to be, how hot and how muddy and how intense, but until they actually get to your farm and start working, they won't really know.
The same is true for documenting procedures. You can spend all winter writing about how to drive a tractor or making videos of how to put a twist tie on kale, and that's tremendously useful, but in the end, the person who's going to do it has to get on the tractor and go. You can read tips and tricks for driving straight, but you still have to do the work of driving straight to really learn it.
At the same time, you can capture some important information this way. There's nothing worse that trying to figure out how to do something this year that you know went right last year! And documenting procedures lets the lowest-possible skilled person do the work. You're not going to hire a packing house manager with no experience, hand them a manual, and expect them to succeed; but you can hand that same document to somebody with experience and expect them to understand how the processes work on your farm, and what the end product should look like.
So, yes, write it down. Describe the wetness of the water and the angle of your arms as well as you can, but remember that your people will still have to swim before they really understand.
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