Opinion: Now is the time for farming’s leaders to step up
© Adobe Stock Who’d want to be a leader? It’s been a volatile start to the year, both internationally and locally, and leaders great and small are under scrutiny.
On the world stage we see the dominance of the Strong Man leadership style, “telling it like it is” and pulling no punches.
At home, our prime minister is attempting to be the adult in the global room, while at the same time presiding over a pig-headed Cabinet that’s determined to harm rural people.
See also: Opinion – our traditional culture jars with those in power
About the author
In these uncomfortable times, spare a thought for the leaders of rural representative bodies.
As a former director of a land-based membership body, I can tell you that it’s an often thankless job where you’ll be criticised no matter what you do.
But that’s the leader’s lot in life.
Trying to balance the task of effectively influencing people in power, while also pleasing the varying views of your members, is a tightrope strung over a slurry pit.
While walking this tightrope, you also have to look after the management of your staff and effective communication with your board.
It’s a whole dinner set of plates to keep spinning.
So the hardworking representatives of non-governmental organisations fighting our corner both in Westminster and Holyrood right now are dealing with truculent ministers and arrogant civil servants, while also being mindful of their own staff morale and leading their members through one of the most difficult times in recent history.
Several years ago I was interviewed for the principal role of a large agricultural estate, and a grandee on the interview panel asked for my favourite leadership quote.
I paraphrased the famous Scottish author and statesman John Buchan, saying that good leadership isn’t about putting greatness into people, but bringing out the greatness already there.
The grandee smiled, and said: “Yes, but some of them hide it very well!”
If asked again now, after hard experience has tempered my natural idealism, I would instead quote the wellbeing influencers’ favourite: “People can only meet you as deeply as they’ve met themselves”.
The most important part of leadership, especially in negotiations, is understanding the personalities, motivations and fears of your own people – and of the other side.
And right now, your rural representatives will no doubt be wondering how to convey to you just how hard it is dealing with a government that is committed to ignoring facts.
Once, in a meeting about a particularly contentious rural issue, I was told by a government representative that the minister would only change their mind when the public did.
I pointed out that the public had no practical knowledge of the subject, and that they’d been manipulated by emotional social media misinformation funded by rich activists, with which we couldn’t compete.
They shrugged their shoulders – that’s just how it is. Public opinion, I was told, always trumps evidence.
This is what we’re up against. But, with the collective might of all farming and rural representatives combined, perhaps this is an opportunity.
The post-Budget months have been a shock for our sector, but now we know who we’re dealing with.
Winning out against the Labour malefactors is an enormous challenge. Nevertheless, there is greatness in our farmers – and in the British public, too.
Now, it’s up to our leaders to bring that greatness out when it matters the most.