Workforce Development Training Lays the Foundation for Positive Shifts in Organizational Culture
The following content was included in a webinar on Integrating Worker Voice presented by The Packer and EFI in March 2021.
An EFI Leadership Team is a central pillar in establishing an organizational culture of continuous improvement. The team provides a place for the integration of worker voice to happen, both for maintaining compliance and also contributing to solutions for business problems affecting the operation.
Building a Leadership Team
Each EFI Leadership Team is composed of 8 to 20 people (depending on size of the farming operation) who represent both management and labor from all the different work functions of the operation. Teams have a gender and regional balance that accurately reflect the demographics of the workforce.
Bringing together a diverse cross section of the labor force and management team creates new channels of communication as people who don’t normally work together are able to interact and use their different areas of expertise to address issues.
“When management and the labor force work together, there’s a synergy that creates more efficiency. The real value in regard to our product, our customers and consumers is having more people, with more ideas working on the same line toward food safety goals, the wellbeing of our associates and the good of the industry.”
– Pamela Aceves, Human Resources Business Partner Director for F&A & IT NatureSweet
Training a Leadership Team
Leadership Team members receive a minimum of 40 hours of training from EFI’s workforce development facilitators on effective problem-solving processes, data gathering, communication and conflict resolution — all skills that contribute to creation of culture of continuous improvement.
The training follows an adult education model that is very interactive and focused around relevant topics in agriculture that the team may encounter such as harassment, discrimination, food safety and issues of certification compliance. Representatives are trained in the soft skills of communication, active listening, conflict resolution and problem solving, which they will use when addressing issues as a team and when engaging the workforce as a whole. The training cultivates a wholistic view of the work of the company by touring the entire operation with Leadership Team representatives serving as the guides and advocates for their specific area of work.
By following the training processes, team members are able to experience new methods of communication and problem-solving that can break down barriers created by assumptions, stereotypes and misconceptions. This process is instrumental in setting the stage for wide-scale culture change in the organization.
“We start with the certainty that the knowledge is in the training room, we aren’t bringing it in. There are experts in the room, people that know their work, know their company and love what they do.”
– Gretta Siebentritt, Director of Workforce Development for EFI
Accessing the Expertise in the Room
EFI trainings can be bilingual or multi-lingual and have been done in a mix of English, Spanish, Miztec and Punjabi. EFI provides translators for any spoken language represented on the Leadership Team.
The language barrier that’s given the most attention isn’t that of spoken language. In fact, a team member’s level of familiarity or comfort participating with a group in a meeting or classroom setting can be the biggest barrier to accessing the rich knowledge they possess. EFI facilitators understand this and trainings are designed to create a space for full participation of employees from all backgrounds.
“Our methodologies are designed to facilitate a space where a group of people who haven’t ever been in a training room before are able to participate and discover their own skills and strengths that may not have been exercised in the past.”
– Gretta Siebentritt, Director of Workforce Development for EFI
Accessing the Expertise of Your Workforce
After completing training, the trained Leadership Team provides the structure to engage the voices of workers from the entire operation.
Minutes from monthly Leadership Team meetings are posted publicly so that all employees can see what issues are being addressed and follow up or contribute ideas. Leadership Team members are also able to give ear to problems employees may not feel comfortable raising with management and receive suggestions from co-workers in their area of work then bring these issues to the monthly meetings to be addressed.
The team members are able to engage the rest of the workforce in the process of continuous verification of compliance in many creative ways: meetings, tailgate meetings, role plays and visuals have been used in by teams in the past.
Integrating worker voice through the EFI Leadership Team brings the expertise of your entire workforce to the table and provides the structure to engage workers at all levels to raise the standards for food safety and production.
Read more about the business benefits of integrating worker voice.
Other Posts in the People First Series:
Webinar Recap: Intro to the Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices
Webinar Recap: Myths and Realities of Social Compliance
Webinar Recap: Integrating Worker Voice
Webinar Recap: Responsible Recruitment
Summary written by: Amy Beth Dingle, Freelance Writer for EFI
