Cattle in production? WTF?
Calf? What calf?
The boss sighed impatiently. "When do we raise cattle in production?" "Well, hear me out," my father began.
So, what do cattle and production have in common?
Practically nothing. But I can make a point here.
Now is a time of many uncertainties. We might be headed into another recession. The first budget that gets down is, by default… the HR training budget.
Am I right?
I am.
When managers say that they don't invest much in training, I always think that the reasoning behind it is that our employees are older and have a lot of skills and knowledge. I'm afraid I have to disagree with their logic.
Experts say that older employees have a lot of skills and knowledge, but I don't feel management takes too much time to invest in their training. We've been hiring younger people with skills and knowledge because they could easily replace others.
And this is true, but it's not fair to assume everyone is replaceable. You can never say that you'll get equal knowledge or skills when hiring a new person if you haven't invested time to train them properly.
Nevertheless, every job has its specifics, and different training is required. This is the unfortunate reality that people face as they prepare to retire. These people depend heavily on knowledge transfer. Too often, it doesn't happen.
Ok, still not sure where the calf fits in.
Here.
This is a story about my father, an engineer with a lot of knowledge.
And when he was approaching his retirement, like three to two years before his retirement, he was starting to say to his boss, "I need a little calf. Where's my calf? "
And his boss was like, what the hell are you talking about?
What kind of calf?
And my father's boss didn't know what he was talking about. He was like, God, is this man senile?
Is he going to get some dementia? What the hell is he talking about in the mechanical industry about calves? We do not breed cattle here.
"Listen, man. What the hell are you talking about? Why do you want a calf? "
And he said, my father, I'm going to tell you a story.
Before we had tractors and all that other machinery, the farmers would plough their fields with oxen in the old days. But when they saw their ox was getting tired and old, they would bring a little calf to walk beside — that calf didn't do any of the work, but it looked as though he was working!
He was walking up and down alongside the old ox. When time passed, the young calf got stronger and was put inside a harness more firmly each time they went up and down the field. And eventually, the calf was a young ox, and he knew the way.
So the farmer could retire the old ox, and the young ox would take his lead. Now the calf grew up in the ox and could take the work of the older ox.
I ask you. What would happen if the farmer put the young calf in the harness if the old ox was gone?
He would go bananas. He would go crazy. He wouldn't know the route and be most definitely all over the place.
The farmer would have to spend a lot of time training the young calf to turn them into oxen. But, at the same time, the farmer couldn't work in the fields because he'd be training the calf. So, as a result, the calf wouldn't be as quick as an ox, and it would slow down any work that needed to be done.
And my father said, you see, that is why I need a calf right now. I need someone to be with me all the time.
He will not do any valuable work. But see, what I do, I would teach him, train him on the job. And after I go to retirement, I will pass on my knowledge in the meantime. So he would pick up where I finished. So the work would go as expected.
My father's boss laughed at him and told him that this wasn't economical. What about the head hunt?
"I know how to do my job, and I have experience. But if you think this is worthless, that it has no value to anyone and that someone from the university with a degree would be able to do it, then fine. I stated my case. I'm willing to pass on the knowledge."
Most people, myself included, are so caught up in their own lives that they take the farmers for granted or underestimate how important they are to our system. But, in reality, they have all the knowledge and expertise. They see what's happening around them and understand their mistakes over time.
It makes me wonder who the better manager is.
Someone who manages a company or someone good at farming?
They don’t need P&L to tell them the importance of job training.
