By Liz Barron-Majerik, Lantra Scotland Director

At this year’s Highland Show, I had the pleasure of listening to some of our Industry Champions describe their career path and outline why they love what they do, and why others should join them.

This to an audience of other young people, apprentices, employers and the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing.

They, and the other young people speaking at the event, presented honestly and proudly about their journey and experiences.

No better ambassadors for career opportunities in the land-based and aquaculture sectors could you have found than those speaking that afternoon.

This was also just after they had attended the launch of the new ‘Employers' Toolkit’ where again, they spoke eloquently and confidently, this time with Jamie Hepburn MSP, the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills, Andrew McCornick of NFUS, and others.

This is not the first time that I have been impressed with the confidence of our Industry Champions.

If faced with a similar situation at their age, I would probably have mumbled inaudibly and ‘taken a beamer’ as was the Highland parlance back then, with my red face running the risk of incinerating the person that I was speaking to.

So I decided I needed to find out more about what had helped our Champions to become so self-assured.

To set the scene, Lantra's Industry Champions help to inspire the next generation of learners in the land-based, environmental conservation and aquaculture sector.

They are former finalists in our Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards who have been recognised for demonstrating inspirational qualities and outstanding contributions to the workplace.

Lantra provides them with training in skills like presentation and blogging, during which they also learn about each other’s industries.

This way, when they are representing Lantra at school careers fairs or speaking in parliament, they can do so with a broad knowledge base.

Was it this support that helped them to be so fearless? I didn’t think so, as some of the champions taking part in the Highland Show were still relatively new into the role.

So, was their ability to speak confidently in public, about what they do and why it is important, always there? If not, what was the influencing factor?

Was it a college course, their parents, an employer or something else? What helped them to become champions for the industries they represent?

When my father was young, he was an apprentice stone mason under the supervision of his dad. No matter how much effort he put in, his dad would survey the work, pause, then announce: “I see where you made your mistake”.

Perhaps because of this, my father never stopped telling myself and my siblings how proud he was of us and what we were doing.

This helped encourage us to take risks and to stick in at our studies.

Watching my own children become more self-assured is a beautiful thing to experience. They take more risks — which can be terrifying — but they learn from them.

As an ex-college lecturer however, I also know that building confidence in a learner who has none, can be incredibly difficult. There were always some students who would get great marks, or who showed all the signs of having the potential to succeed, but never seemed to really believe you, no matter what you tried, or how you presented your feedback.

Unsurprisingly then, this was echoed in the words of the champions to whom I spoke. “The guys at college were great – but it wasn’t real life” said one. The ex-lecturer in me smarted a bit at this comment, but I could see where he was coming from.

Another commented: “It is their job to be nice to you, so you can’t be sure how much they mean it.”

And I suppose this is the same with parents. Even if you are lucky and they tell you regularly how proud they are, even if your confidence is at a healthy level when you enter a new field, if your parent has no background in that area – what does their praise mean? Even if they are also working in that area, are they just being nice?

At the end of the day, the person who seemed to make the most difference in the lives of our Industry Champions was someone with no motivation to praise — the boss! Or rather, the people the Industry Champions worked with.

“When the boss tells you that you have done well, that is something else! They don’t have any reason to say it, other than it’s the truth, and they want you to do it again.”

“Knowing he believed in me gave me the confidence to try. I knew that if I didn’t get it right that time, he wouldn’t lose the rag either. He would just tell me to try again, after telling me what I hadn’t done right.”

In some cases, it wasn’t their line manager, but the mentor assigned to ‘keep an eye on them’ who was the most influential: “The most influential person to me in building my confidence was my apprenticeship mentor. I wasn’t a very confident person at school and it wasn’t until I made the decision to leave that my confidence began to grow. When I started my apprenticeship at the age of 16, she was the one who got given the responsibility of my training.”

And of course, it can also make a difference to the employer and mentor. Fife Farmer, James Orr, spoke at the Highland Show about how proud he was of the achievements of his own apprentice. By believing in her and giving her the chance to work with his team, she is now making a difference to the business and has become a key employee. And of course, most importantly of all, she is happy in her work and enjoying it!

So, if you are reading this and you employ a young person already, perhaps try to make sure you pass on some positive feedback this week. Or, if you want to help make a difference in a young person’s life, why not consider becoming a mentor? There are several programmes in agriculture, with Ringlink, Borders Machinery Ring and Tarff Valley all offering pre-apprenticeship opportunities in which you could be a mentor to a new entrant.

Or you could find out about internships and work placements in the new Toolkit.

“I think that farmers and businesses should be taking ownership of the labour and skills shortages, giving people a chance and helping to build their confidence, skills and knowledge.”

And of course, if you think you are employing an outstanding trainee, you can nominate them for our Land-Based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards!

That was another form of praise and recognition about which the industry champions spoke highly: “I’d say that winning the Lantra award was a definite confidence boost for sure. It was and still is a very proud moment.”

If your trainee is successful in being shortlisted, then maybe they will join the industry champions I am speaking to next year – you never know!

However, it is clear for the young people that we work with, that it is employers who are most influential in building the confidence of the next generation.

I’ll finish with a quote from a young person who has gone on to have a successful career in agriculture at management level, despite not coming from a farming background:

“I think the biggest thing for building confidence has been the people I’ve worked for over the years. I’ve been very lucky to have had some great employers and haven’t ever been treated as disposable labour. They all invested time in answering questions I had, creating opportunities for me and helping me achieve my goals.”