With a new year upon us it's time again to be planning your County Program of Work for the year ahead.  What did you do last year that worked well?  Is there a new program or event you'd like to incorporate this year?  Over the next several weeks you'll see a smattering of posts appearing on the blog showing new and innovative programs being done by County Farm Bureau's around the country and many right here at home.  Leading off is Sweet Grass County President, Bonita Cremer, with a series of posts explaining Annie's Project and how this program can benefit your county Farm Bureau.

Why Annie's Project?
Sweet Grass County Farm Bureau is sponsoring Annie’s Project, a series of classes designed by women for women in Agriculture to foster problem solving, decision making and record keeping skills in women managing a modern farming and ranching enterprise.  Our first class focused on the human resource aspect of our business by using the Real Colors® training to better understand our communication styles and behaviors. 
The vast majority of farms and ranches are family owned and operated which we all know likely means the boss is your spouse, the employees are your children and all your “time off” is spent with those same people.  We know the joys and stresses this brings to family and business management.  Wouldn’t it be helpful to have a clear understanding of our personality type as well as those we are living, working and playing with?  The search to better understand human nature and why we do what we do is nothing new.  According to the history of Real Colors® over 2300 years ago, Greek philosopher Hippocrates wrote that all human beings could be divided in to four distinct personality categories.
What Color Are You?
Wheatland County Extension Agent, Mandie Reed a trained Real Colors® facilitator, lead us in discovering which one of the four color groups - orange, gold, green or blue we belong in and what that means to us as well as those we live and work with.  Real Colors® is a concept of temperament theory developed by David Keirsey and is a fast, fun, easy way to help people understand human behavior and bring that knowledge into real-life applications. 
We gained insights to better understand what motivates us, what stresses us and why.  Oranges tend to be bold, spontaneous and risk takers.  Golds are loyal, dependable, sensible and caring.  Greens are perfectionist, analytical and logical, while blues tend to be sympathetic, idealistic and imaginative.  We learned to look at not just the challenges in living and working with these very different temperaments but to recognize and utilize the strengths each type holds.
When we clearly understand the uniqueness of our own and others’ temperament it leads to much stronger relationships, improved interactions and clearer communication with each other.  All of this translates to running a more successful business and developing better relationships with those we rely on daily.
More information about the Real Colors assessment tool can found at www.realcolors.org.

If you’re interested in Annie’s Project and learning more about hosting it in your own County Farm Bureau, be sure to watch the blog.  We'll be following along with Sweet Grass County as they continue through the program.