Last month, SA dairy farmers participated in workshops with Dr Nollaig Heffernan, to close her five-week dairy region tour of Australia. Nollaig, a leadership, and organisational psychology expert from Ireland, returned to Australia to meet farmers and discuss topics including leadership, motivation, people management and resilience.
On Thursday May 9, Young Dairy Network participants engaged in a morning session with Nollaig around effective communication. In her presentation, Nollaig emphasised the importance of setting rules around communication in the workplace and highlighted how the “right time, right person, right way, right agenda and right place” can help optimise communication between team members.
The day continued with a session for farmers on motivating, managing, and retaining people - where Nollaig shared insights from her 15 years’ experience in the dairy industry and offered practical solutions to boost performance. With around 30 farm owners, staff, industry processors and service providers coming together at The Barn Mount Gambier, Nollaig’s second workshop of the day welcomed some attendees who had benefited from her insight in previous years and returned to learn more. Amongst discussion around workplace structure, skill development, expectations, safety and culture, Dr Heffernan’s key message was clear – “valuing people as an asset will make your business much stronger”.
Extension Coordinator Alberta attributed the day's success to Nollaig’s passion and incredible ability to connect with the group, along with the curious and open-minded involvement from farmers. Thank you to those who came along on the day.
Dr Nollaig Heffernan makes last stop in Mount Gambier
04 June 2024
