By Annette Scott

Copyright farmersweekly

Reading Time: 3 minutes

A new agriculture leadership training model is proving a need to equip farmers and rural leaders with practical tools to drive real outcomes in their business.

Built by Halo, a Southland-based leadership company, the Certified Halo Leader-Agriculture (CHL-AG) model, designed for farmers, growers and rural professionals, is geared to create real team accountability, empowering leadership through trust for busy on-farm leaders who need to lead under pressure.

CHL-AG founder and lead trainer Tony Groves said the leadership training model stemmed from farmer and industry demand.

“We have been running general High Altitude Leadership Orientation (Halo) programmes for several years and farmers and related industry professional leaders started to attend. We had them all from shepherds to senior leaders.

“We never set out to do specialist agriculture, but there came an approach that given leadership on the land is different, would we run a specific course for farmers who need to lead well under pressure to get things done when it counts.

“We have been overwhelmed with interest, we have had strong uptake here in the south, so clearly there is a need and we are about to kick off the second year of CHL-AG.

“I come from a military background where, like farming, there is no clock, work starts and finishes as required, so from military to farming is where I have landed.

“At the moment ag leadership is like a fruit salad and what farmers asked for was to bring it all together so that’s where this model stems from.”

Groves said most leadership training tells people what good leadership looks like but not how to deliver it under pressure.

“This is no-fluff and fully practical, covering the real-world stuff like leading teams during peak season, managing pressure, and navigating tough conversations.

“Our model is built from battlefield-tested principles, intelligence operations, and real-world leadership that’s practical and grounded in the sector, in turn developing practical leadership skills designed for rural life structured around farming, equipping farmers to step up with confidence and lead effectively on the farm.

“When things go sideways, there is no pause button, but you are equipped to lead through it with the ability to stay calm under pressure becoming a critical skill.”

The programme is delivered across 11 workshops, one three-hour in-person workshop per month, each session building critical leadership capability with practical tools that can be applied immediately on farm in a systems thinking understanding of how decisions ripple across people, paddocks and production.

“For example one choice in stock management often impacts feed supply and labour planning; here strategic communication builds clarity and purpose, and as a result leaders communicate with fewer misunderstandings, in leadership that builds trust, motivation, and drives action.”

The programme is currently being supported by and delivered out of Fairlight Station in northern Southland.

“We really didn’t know how it would go but we have a mix of interns, shepherds, farm managers and professional rural business general managers, and each and every one is learning with each other.”

If interest demands there could be opportunity in the future to take the programme wider across the South Island.