Survey shows communication critical to navigate COVID-19 crisis
Engaging all elements of a produce organization proved to be the most useful way to navigate the uncharted waters of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That was the view of many industry leaders surveyed in a poll by the Equitable Food Initiative about the lessons learned by industry.
The Packer and Equitable Food Initiative are partnering to ensure that the lessons that helped agricultural businesses survive COVID-19 in the past year are widely shared within the industry to ensure its future growth and success.
The survey polled more than 50 produce operators, mostly on the supply side, about their experiences during the pandemic year of 2020.
In this second installment of a four-week report, The Packer will consider industry perspectives on the importance of collaboration in dealing with the demands of the pandemic.
Constant cooperation
Continual adaptation was a key element in confronting the challenges of COVID-19, according to the survey. Forty-eight percent of those responding said their business was very or extremely impacted by the pandemic, while 46% reported slight or mild impacts.
Compared to before the pandemic, 32.6% said their business was very or extremely different, while 61.5% said their operations were slightly or moderately different. Organizational realities were constantly changing from a policy and management response to the front-line workforce for providing the essential work of growing and harvesting product. The survey found clear communication is one critical need.
While most respondents said they didn’t know how they could have been better prepared given the many unknowns that COVID-19 brought to their workplaces and the industry as a whole, almost all of them cited the importance of collaboration, relationships and human capital in forming their response. The survey found it was essential that “clear communication” is based in the co-creation of understanding, not merely announcements of new policies.
The engagement of the employees throughout the supply/production chain allowed for in-the-moment adaptation as information, regulation and work structure were needing to change. About half of respondents relied on a mixed team representing all departments and levels of staff. Most respondents said they relied primarily on a mixed employee team from all departments and levels of staff (38%), management (36%), a combination of a mixed team and management (11%) or a combination of management and HR (11%).
Here are selected quotes from industry leaders about their experience with the importance of collaboration and cooperation and the most important thing they learned:
- “Communicating effectively is the most important thing we do.”
- “Not everyone has the same base. Communicating with a broad range of employees requires an acknowledgment that not everyone has the same foundation. Know your audience.”
- “The importance of consistent and reliable employees. With so much changing and unknown at the beginning and during the pandemic, having people that you could reliably count on to show up every day and do their best with the increased workload.”
- “Be flexible. Understanding that you have the ability to learn each day and adapt as changes (specifically in science) arise. I made it a point to check the new updates nearly weekly to ensure I could protect my workforce the best we could.”
- “Companies adapt quickly to challenging environments and learn to operate in such difficult environments, which make them more resilient and efficient in the long run.”
- “Resilience is a currency, and we have a team rich with it.”
- “Remain pro-active; seek resources; create partnerships that you can reach out to and lean on. Communicate, communicate, communicate.”
- “Be flexible and to move quickly.”
- “Industry news updates from our industry associations; sharing best practices with our peers.”
- “Teamwork was a skill that helped when a person was out.”
- “Farming websites to determine what other farmers are doing was most helpful to me.”
- “Making sure we had established partnerships with city health departments and colleagues that we could lean on as we navigated through this pandemic.”
- “Every person in our organization rose to the challenge.”
- “In our business the need for fruit to be packed/shipped doesn’t stop. With shortages of staff at times to get the job done it was amazing how well all of us can really help each other’s departments!”
Next week:
In the wake of the stresses of COVID-19, what are best strategies for building people skills in produce companies? The Packer/EFI survey results look at the role of communication in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and the next big challenge.
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