Fight unproductivity: Nine habits of the most efficient UK dairy farmers

“A lot of studies show us efficiency actually improves when time is spent away from the business.”

He said it was also important to take time to reflect on the positives of the business and look at how you were operating in terms of your priorities.

He advised the delegates to assess which category they normally operated in when working – important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, or not urgent and not important.

“You should be operating in the ‘important, not urgent’ category as much as possible as, if you deal with issues when they are this category, they will never get to the important and urgent one.”

He also said it was a good habit to give staff responsibility, recognise improvement would not be pain free and be able to say ‘no’ in order to control your time.

“My advice is to ‘do, plan, eliminate or delegate’. Planning is key to this, and these habits will establish themselves best when you are well informed and can occasionally step away from the business.”

The nine habits identified by Nigel Davies

■ Fight unproductivity – identify the bottom 10 per cent
■ Have clear goals
■ Benchmark
■ Give staff responsibility and trust
■ Recognise that improvement might be coupled with some pain
■ Say no in order to control time
■ Take time out for family and leisure
■ Give gratitude
■ Address important issues before they also become urgent