b'CHRIS THRASHER Have You Reached DIRECTOR OF NORTH AMERICAN SALES Your Angle Of Repose?ABM/AGRAUXINE BY LESAFFREc.thrasher@agrauxine.lesaffre.comwww.agrauxine.usFIRST, I AM NOTreferring to the Pulitzer prize winning novel Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. I am referring to the angle of repose Trust is the Building Block which can be defined as the angle at which a material stops sliding or flowing, the way it settles or its resting point. When the pile stops grow-of Company Culture ing, the material has reached its angle of repose. There is a formula for determining the angle of repose using some basic trigonometry. The cohe-WHEN YOUR COMPANYgoesnothing more than simple trustIsiveness of the material determines whether it through an acquisition or a merger,trust them to do their job and askforms an irregular or taller heap or pile. Different its easy to get intimidated andme for help when they need it. Theseeds have different angles of repose. consumed with the uncertaintykey for me is gaining their trust thatHave you reached your angle of repose ? In as an employee. There are a lot ofmanagement is fair and ethical inyour life ? In your job ?questions to be answered, frommaking decisions in how we comeIt seems like we humans can relate angle of getting new co-workers, newthrough the acquisition.repose to ourselves. How cohesive are we as a managers, new things to learn, andGaining trust with a completelyteam? How high can we go? How big a footprint understanding Whats my rolenew team can be difficult, butwill we make? A slope angle less than the angle of moving forward, and do I have awhats been working for our ABMrepose means the slope remains stable.place? Overall, lets face it: changeand Agrauxine teams is knowingWho da thunk it, that I would use the trigo-is hard. How you internalize thewere both collaborating togethernometry I studied in school every single day in my change is what separates a suc- for success. While there may bejob. Im not sure I can calculate it, but I personally cessful acquisition for the entiresome language or interpretationdont think I have reached my angle of repose. I organization.barriers, both the teams in Franceknow we have not stopped growing or reached Company culture is the heart- and in the U.S. are getting a clearour angle of repose as a business. Those trig beat of the companyculturepicture of the depth of knowledgeformulas dont help me make my team stack up dictates how people feel eitherand expertise that we have nowbetter. We use a formula something like this (qual-empowered or stifled. You mustthat separate Agrauxine by Lesaffreity + smarts + teamwork + trust + respect + hard establish early in the acquisitionin the industry. And our biggestwork) = the best products and outcomes. Belt a company culture to empowerfocus currently? Looking at ourconveyors, bucket elevators, screw conveyors, employees to do what their ulti- assetsthe peopleand buildingbulk fill systems, bins, dryers, etc., our products mately employed to do, and it getsthat trusting culture as one team.win, your seed wins, your pocketbook wins, eve-complicated when that cultureAs much as we all want arybody wins. changes. But, it doesnt have to beperfect plan for merging, theres a breaking point. no such thing. We all wanted a big In my mind, culture comes downbook filled with certainty of how to one major building block: TRUST. everythings going to go, but it Its not only really important tojust doesnt exist. Instead, focusing make sure all employees feel valued,on how we can control our teams but that they feel trusted to domindset and culture is what were their job and not micromanaged. Atfocusing on. ROBIN OMARAABM, Ive worked really diligentlyI might not have all the answers PRESIDENT,to build a sense of trust within mywhen it comes to change, butOMARA AG SERVICESteam, because they are profession- theres one thing for sure:romara60@msn.comals and know how to do their job.Im helping my team navigateomara-ag.comMy job is to give our team membersthrough what they can control, and what they need, so they know thatIm working on helping them get management is there to give themthe answers. That wouldnt be pos-the tools to be successful. Thatssible without trust. DECEMBER 2021SEEDWORLD.COM /33'