Don’t Consult In A Silo
10/03/2024
Private, independent Agricultural Consultants often work in small, even one-person businesses. Their professional interactions tend to be focused on clients and prospective clients. Essentially, they “Consult in a Silo”.
Oftentimes they have launched their consulting careers after years of gaining education and experience working as an employee in a larger entity. As an employee, they may have had opportunities to gain professional development and interact with others working in similar lanes . . . or perhaps totally different lanes. These professional development and interaction opportunities served to fast-track their professional acumen.
But when they launch their independent consulting career, those intrinsic learning opportunities greatly diminish congenitally – they may become “Siloed”. There are inherent dangers of Siloed Consulting. Production Agriculture is a rapidly advancing and evolving business landscape. Siloed Consulting may easily result in limited insights and narrow-minded recommendations. Rarely does a consultant “know it all” – cannot benefit from professional networking and fellowship.
Siloed Consulting may prevent Ag Consultants from identifying innovative approaches; they simply aren’t aware of them. This unawareness, due to lack of diverse perspectives, potentially may result in suboptimal recommendations leading to relatively ineffective solutions for clients. Even Agricultural Consultants working in multi-consultant firms may be entrapped in (connected) Consulting Silos. The propensity to share similar somewhat-narrow perspectives and work experiences remains elevated.
Theodore Roosevelt once opined: “Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining.” So, as not to whine, how can an Agricultural Consultant effectuate “Continuous Process Improvement (CPI)”? I strongly recommend becoming a member of a professional group / organization sufficiently diverse (preventing entrapment in “connected silos”) to provide a “wide angle lens” view of production agriculture. The perspectives and experiences of consultants that do not travel in your “lane” can provide insights to aid – directly or indirectly – in one’s consulting practice. Additionally, the fellowship and relationships established feed fundamentally to one’s human needfulness.
I offer for consideration one such professional organization – the American Society of Agricultural Consultants (ASAC). ASAC is not (and its membership is not) narrowly focused; historically its membership has been comprised of an array of agronomists, animal nutritionists, organic farm/processor certifiers, risk management consultants, marketing consultants, farm business advisors, viticulturalist, just to name a few. How can interaction with / fellowship with / building relationships with such a diverse group be valuable to an individual Agricultural Consultant? I can only offer from personal experience – ASAC holds an Annual Conference offering formal Professional Development opportunities via presentations and Agricultural Tours. These opportunities are useful and educational; however, I have found that the after-hours fellowshipping, relationship-building, and experience-swapping is equally educational and professional developing. You will not encounter this in your silo.
ASAC’s 2024 Annual Conference will be held in Ft Myers, FL in November 3-5 this year. The program and tours are exceptional; the fellowship will be extraordinary. An ASAC member (or the ASAC office) can provide a discount code for non-members. Come see what ASAC is about.
For more details about the conference: https://www.agconsultants.org/2024_annual_conference.php
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Russell D Morgan CAC
ASAC Board Member
Morgan Agricultural Consulting Svcs (MACS)
(615) 422-6490
https://www.morganagconsulting.com/
Private, independent Agricultural Consultants often work in small, even one-person businesses. Their professional interactions tend to be focused on clients and prospective clients. Essentially, they “Consult in a Silo”.
Oftentimes they have launched their consulting careers after years of gaining education and experience working as an employee in a larger entity. As an employee, they may have had opportunities to gain professional development and interact with others working in similar lanes . . . or perhaps totally different lanes. These professional development and interaction opportunities served to fast-track their professional acumen.
But when they launch their independent consulting career, those intrinsic learning opportunities greatly diminish congenitally – they may become “Siloed”. There are inherent dangers of Siloed Consulting. Production Agriculture is a rapidly advancing and evolving business landscape. Siloed Consulting may easily result in limited insights and narrow-minded recommendations. Rarely does a consultant “know it all” – cannot benefit from professional networking and fellowship.
Siloed Consulting may prevent Ag Consultants from identifying innovative approaches; they simply aren’t aware of them. This unawareness, due to lack of diverse perspectives, potentially may result in suboptimal recommendations leading to relatively ineffective solutions for clients. Even Agricultural Consultants working in multi-consultant firms may be entrapped in (connected) Consulting Silos. The propensity to share similar somewhat-narrow perspectives and work experiences remains elevated.
Theodore Roosevelt once opined: “Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining.” So, as not to whine, how can an Agricultural Consultant effectuate “Continuous Process Improvement (CPI)”? I strongly recommend becoming a member of a professional group / organization sufficiently diverse (preventing entrapment in “connected silos”) to provide a “wide angle lens” view of production agriculture. The perspectives and experiences of consultants that do not travel in your “lane” can provide insights to aid – directly or indirectly – in one’s consulting practice. Additionally, the fellowship and relationships established feed fundamentally to one’s human needfulness.
I offer for consideration one such professional organization – the American Society of Agricultural Consultants (ASAC). ASAC is not (and its membership is not) narrowly focused; historically its membership has been comprised of an array of agronomists, animal nutritionists, organic farm/processor certifiers, risk management consultants, marketing consultants, farm business advisors, viticulturalist, just to name a few. How can interaction with / fellowship with / building relationships with such a diverse group be valuable to an individual Agricultural Consultant? I can only offer from personal experience – ASAC holds an Annual Conference offering formal Professional Development opportunities via presentations and Agricultural Tours. These opportunities are useful and educational; however, I have found that the after-hours fellowshipping, relationship-building, and experience-swapping is equally educational and professional developing. You will not encounter this in your silo.
ASAC’s 2024 Annual Conference will be held in Ft Myers, FL in November 3-5 this year. The program and tours are exceptional; the fellowship will be extraordinary. An ASAC member (or the ASAC office) can provide a discount code for non-members. Come see what ASAC is about.
For more details about the conference: https://www.agconsultants.org/2024_annual_conference.php
= = = = =
Russell D Morgan CAC
ASAC Board Member
Morgan Agricultural Consulting Svcs (MACS)
(615) 422-6490
https://www.morganagconsulting.com/
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