The Objectives of this project were to undertake research to enable:

1. Cotton businesses to understand the value of improving the capability of their workforce.
2. CRDC to be able to assess and objectively report on the impacts of its investments in developing human capacity, via an appropriate monitoring and evaluation system.
3. The Australian cotton industry to make informed investment decisions about how best to produce the skilled, knowledgeable and progressive workforce required into the future.

In other words, the Purpose was to support the cotton industry to make more informed assessments of the return on investment or impact of capacity building projects and activities at a strategic level.

The project outcomes can be summarised as:

• An overall Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) Framework and measuring system was developed – to allow assessment of the level of success of industry funded social research and capacity building projects funded by industry;
• A personnel management process to support cotton growers in better managing and understanding the value of skill development, training and professional development – via an adapted and further developed Cotton myBMP system (supports Level 3 HR practices in a revised module). This includes checklists supporting increased capacity for training and professional development in leadership and higher-level personnel management; using personnel performance metrics, to gauge business and industry improvements over time;
• A series of frameworks, mapping data/schematics and findings/recommendations from the project – to support thinking and action in the industry around higher-level Personnel Management and how to create a culture of learning in the industry;
• Increased overall industry awareness (including a recommendation to create a Cotton Industry Personnel Roundtable) that supports a strategic and on ground thinking activity to ensure implementation of project outputs, within a framework of a longer-term strategic plan of attack. The purpose is to support the critical contribution of higher level personnel and their management in industry adaptation to changed cotton needs in a global marketplace (stronger focus on higher technology-based farm/business management practices; supporting acquisition, management and retention of appropriately skilled personnel; engaging younger more technologically savvy personnel across the cotton growing and agribusiness sectors; including expansion to all personnel sectors in the industry);
• Engagement with members of the People Program – and a group of additional Informed Persons – who could be instrumental/a catalyst for driving change in the industry;
• Extrapolation of these findings to a wider industry emerging issue – namely the fit of personnel management into wider, higher-level business management (rather than production) across all cotton industry sectors and which appears to be lacking in this changing marketplace;
• A series of example Informed Persons Case Studies – which can help demystify the issues and solutions; particularly at an on-ground level, relevant to growers at different stages of their business development (focused on personnel management);
• The data contains a number of approaches to personnel management gained from engagement with a range of Informed Persons – which could be used as the basis of industry conversations, strategic thinking and engagement around the project outcomes; in particular to support the proposed Cotton Industry Personnel Roundtable;
• Insights which can be benchmarked over time – using the Cotton Grower Survey and the Crop Consultants of Australia survey process to measure change over time and acquire additional data to ensure these matters are more fully understood (as needs evolve over time);
• The Catalyst for commencing an ‘Industry Conversation on Personnel and Business Management‘ – which draws together work in the People Program and Cotton Workforce Development Project activities; and hopefully ensures the conversation continues on.

(Information: Dr Jeff Coutts, ph: 0438 361 153; email: jeff@couttsjr.com.au and Gordon Stone; ph: 0408 063 229; email: gordon.stone@abdi.com.au)