66 | PRODUCTION Silver Fern Farms - Finegand T T Richard Loader Culture shift ‘top down, bottom up’ Silver Fern Farms has been transforming its Finegand site from the old traditional freezing work culture, to that of a modern meat processor. T Tto page 68 The culture of a business, whether big or small, is a key driver of attitudes, leadership and the way ‘things are done around here’. Culture drives the success, or otherwise, of the business, how it is seen by the outside world, and it can influence customers’ decisions to engage with a business that shares its values, or workers seeking employment where the culture aligns with their own. To be fair, making any large scale change in multi-site organisations can be challenging, requiring robust change management practices. Yet that is the journey Silver Fern Farms has been on over the last few years, transforming its sites from the old traditional freezing work culture, to a modern meat processor — the two being quite some distance apart. With 1200 employees at peak season and processing both beef and lamb, Silver Fern Farms’ Finegand site is the largest in the company’s portfolio, and the positive impact of the change that has also embraced modernisation of the plant, its systems and processes, has been significant. The Finegand site has been part of the Clutha landscape since 1912, with many team members third or fourth generation from the same family, and so traditions were well entrenched in the site’s culture. While new systems and plant can be implemented, learned and readily accepted, changing ingrained attitudes and behaviours is where the real challenge presents itself, with strong leadership and guidance across a business always the hero. Dr Silvio Tenci has been Silver Fern Farms’ Plant Manager at Finegand for the past five years and comes from an executive background working across the world for highly successful companies like Cadbury Schweppes, Parmalat and Simplot. He says the prime focus of those companies was always people first, with the very best of the leaders and the very strongest team members running the business and plants. “That seems to be the key to running world competitive businesses, whether it’s a corporate or a cooperative. The culture flows down from leadership and strong teams. Good leaders develop new leaders. Ownership and care is a huge factor, culturally, at all levels of a business. The people really do live and care for the business, and in return the business cares for them. The trick is to effectively manage rapid change in large organisations to adapt to what is happening in the market.” Silvio makes the points that the culture shift at Finegand has been two dimensional — top down and bottom up. Top down was about looking at whether Finegand had the right leaders in leadership roles, and in some cases changes had to be made. 03 659 0777 Equipment For Hire! www.fulcrum.nz Excavators & Attachments Skid Steers & Attachments Wheel Loaders Rollers & Compactors Graders Site Dumpers Pumps & Generators 150 Mornington Rd, Dunedin | hire@fulcrum.nz Frameless Glass Balustrades Splashbacks Frameless Glass Showers Windscreen Replacement & Repairs P 03 418 0777 | 30 Charlotte St, Balclutha | E info@balcluthaglass.co.nz Proud to provide support services and equipment to Silver Fern Farms
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