LJM Associates Ltd

I think being caught red-handed must come from eating ripe mulberries from the tree - pick one and you are left very red-handed, but they taste amazing.....  

  Today I am speaking on a panel at the NSA Sheep Day at the Three Counties, Malvern. My talk focused on the value proposition for farmers, now and in the future

  Peter Drucker said that we should, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”  We all need to recharge our personal batteries, but do we do it enough? How often do you retreat?  Retreating in its spiritual or religious sense is about taking time away from everyday life and reflecting and seeking to find answers to the issues or problems that we face.  Retreat, or quiet reflection, as a process helps us with our personal lives, but can also help us in our working lives too. Quiet reflection can give us perspective, clarity, give us space to learn and grow and also help us to be more self-aware. When we have days on the production line, wall-to-wall Teams Meetings, rushing between activities and meetings when do we give ourselves time to reflect? Meetings can be very good to air views and opinions and reach a consensus, but a trap that many organisations fall into is to end up having a meeting to d...

 Sometimes there is a moment that brightens our day. We need to be looking for it and then embrace the moment when it arrives.

 Sometimes things catch you unawares when they come out of the blue... like this chicory plant I found on a walk...

Disruption can come in many forms, a sudden market shift, emerging technologies, global crises, or even internal upheaval in the business you work in or your family life. And while disruption can trigger concern, uncertainty, resistance even fear … it also presents opportunities for leaders who seize the moment and act with courage. Courage isn’t about not being concerned or fearful, it’s about moving forward on your own or with others despite it.  So what does courageous leadership look like when everything around you feels uncertain, different? First, it means embracing transparency. Faced with uncertainty, feeling processes and structures are brittle, then silence and a lack of connection creates anxiety. Courageous leaders speak up and fill the void. They explain what they know, what they don’t know, and what they’re doing to solve the problems.  Second, it means making tough decisions which are anchored in personal and business values. During disruption, the easy reactio...

 I had a great visit to a primary school last week to answer questions about farming from fifty eight year old children. A really great hour and lots of brilliant and tough questions..

  Building a more coherent approach to CPD in the land-based sector  This short paper which I have co-written reviews current approaches to continuous professional development (CPD) across the land-based sector, focusing on how CPD is linked to agri-food market requirements and public agricultural payments across the UK and Ireland. It finds that, while CPD is already embedded in many parts of the sector – through regulation, professional standards and conditional funding – the overall system is inconsistently applied and often difficult to navigate. Do check it out.

  Leadership isn’t just about maintaining what already exists, what already seems to work and what everyone around you is comfortable with. It’s about imagining what could be, what you, and the others around you in your team, could become. Imagining is not enough, it takes courage to move ideas forward into real and effective actions.  Changemakers don’t just react and respond to change… they are the people who create it, who embrace it. They see opportunities, possibilities, and solutions that others often overlook and they take action, even when the path ahead is uncertain. Being a changemaker means asking: “We need to be better so what needs to be different about what we are thinking and doing and how can I make that change happen?”  To lead as a changemaker, you have to shift your mindset: From being comfortable to being curious and willing to explore what’s possible.  From being in control to facilitating collaboration because change isn’t a single event, a sin...

 

 

  Inertia causes individuals, teams, departments, and organisations to stand still — unable to move forward or even see a way ahead. Effective leaders must recognise inertia as a limiting factor and find ways to guide people toward realising their potential.  Doing nothing can sometimes feel like the safest option when faced with uncertainty. But over time, inertia creates comfort in habits and routines, leading to rigidity rather than adaptability. It fosters resistance to change and keeps people anchored to past experiences. As leaders, recognising inertia as a problem and actively seeking solutions is the crucial first step. We can start by asking ourselves:  What is making us, as a team, less effective?  Is inertia a problem?  Is fear of failure or fear of success driving inertia?  Do we fear changing the status quo or losing control?  What unlocking strategies can we introduce?  How do we determine if they are successful?  We implement ...