Not Just About the Overalls

Our time at the IZ Ranch was not just about the tasks we did out on the field. Although I loved sporting my denim overalls, my time and work there was not just about getting my hands dirty. I learned this summer so much about the other work that had to go into making the IZ Ranch a successful agricultural business. 

On my team, we had to learn to communicate amongst ourselves effectively. With a plethora of personalities and expectations, it was important we delegated tasks and sought out explaining what each person would be working on that day. Our team leader would either inform us before we got to the worksite of what our task would be for the day. Sometimes there would be another job for the day that was not at the main work site (Beaver Creek IZ) so our team leader would tell us before breakfast who those people would be that needed to stay back. 

Not only did we have to communicate with everyone on our team, but we also needed to communicate with our superiors the things we accomplished so they could organize our time and their time to be well spent. They would check on how things were going during our water breaks. During this time as snacks and water was passed around, the whole team was able to connect and discuss what was working and what was not. Our leader would re-evaluate and make adjustments to either the job or the people working on that job. He would do this often in order for everyone to have the opportunity to work with everyone on the team at some point. He mixed us up constantly. Most of the time there were two or three people working on a specific job on the site, so he would rotate people so everyone could learn to work together with every team member.

Learning to work with different personalities was important! I thought it was great that our leader saw the value in creating a dynamic work site through creating the different teams. As a team member, I could tell that our leader cared about our success - not just as hard working, efficient ranch workers, but as leaders of integrity in daily life as well. Our leader would check in with us not just during the work day. Because we were all living together in close quarters, there was plenty of time that we all could have got irritated by one another. It was amazing that there were no 'blow up' disagreements! I truly believe that leaders with integrity who have a servants heart towards those they are leading, has the potential to be so much more effective! Our leader wanted his team to know each other - to not just be co-workers on the ranch, but to be friends who knew about each other's lives. This was wonderful because at the end of the time, we were all such good friends and did not want to part our separate ways and say bye! Our team really bonded through the hard work, which created lasting memories. 

Some of my friends and our team.