Andrea Gal's Perspectives: Farmer, Consultant and Continuous Learner

In my four short months since joining Wilton Consulting Group (WCG), I have been struck by the similarities and synergies between the worlds of consulting and farming.

To provide a bit of context, in addition to my role at WCG, I also farm in Oxford County with my family. We run cash crop and cow-calf operations, as well as a research farm. We have seed and fertilizer dealerships, too.

Both my farm and consulting roles offer a great mix of activities and responsibilities. No two days, projects, or growing seasons are exactly the same. As a result, the time flies as you always have new challenges to tackle.

And, as you grapple with those challenges, you have continual learning opportunities. You need a can-do attitude, whether it be in your search for a novel solution for a ‘wicked’ problem for a client, or in facing yet another equipment breakdown. In the process, you must find the right balance between research and learning to do by doing. After all, both types of learning offer benefits – and, while my completion of my PhD demonstrates my love for desk research, you ultimately must jump into the project or task at hand to see if your hypothesis will work in practice.

Importantly, you need to know when to ask for help. In consulting, you may start spinning your wheels (in a figurative sense, of course) on a project. A colleague can provide a fresh perspective and offer suggestions of how to approach the issue from a different angle. On the farm, I think we have all had those days where everything seems to go wrong. You go to the pasture to check on the cattle and find they have broken through a fence, so you need to call your sister for a hand. Or you just cannot get your tractor to start, so you ask your neighbour to borrow theirs so you can feed your cows. Everyone needs some assistance sometimes.

Relatedly, I have found the coopetition in the consulting world to be fascinating. The WCG team readily partners with other consultants and industry experts to ensure we best meet the needs of a client for a given project. On other projects, however, we could compete against colleagues we previously collaborated with. The general congeniality among consultants is reminiscent of that in the ag industry, in which you informally assist one another as needed and perhaps participate in a benchmarking group to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of your operation.  

Finally, both consulting and farming have busy seasons. Thankfully, in consulting, that season seems to occur in the first three months of the year. So, now that WCG has successfully navigated 2020-21 fiscal year end, I can turn more attention to the final preparations for planting season on my family farm.

A view of MGS Farming in Oxford County, Ontario.