When family members go into business together, lines can often get easily blurred. On a family farm, bonding time may happen out in a hay-field, and business meetings may happen around the dinner table. When decisions must be made, though, it is important to have a plan for farm family meetings.
Why should we plan a meeting? Between work and home life, farm families often spend a lot of time together. It is easy to feel like farm business conversations will just happen naturally during the course of the day. But relying on conversations throughout the day can cause us to avoid big decisions or important conversations that require more time and effort. The answer is to plan a farm family meeting.
Why do we need an agenda? Everyone has been in at least one meeting that seemed to go on forever without accomplishing anything. If you do not have a clear idea of a meeting’s goal, that goal will never get accomplished! Putting together a simple agenda creates some accountability for everyone involved in the farm family meeting.
What should the agenda include? Obviously, if the goal of the meeting is to make a decision about a particular problem, that should be front and center. Farm family meetings are also great times to check in with each family member. Family members are often more open and willing to share when allowed to offer an opinion outside the normal day-to-day small talk. This is also a good opportunity to seek out any ideas for improvement. Different family members may see the farm differently and have different solutions to problems others did not even see.
Life on a family farm is busy and complicated. Whatever issue your farm family is dealing with, planning a meeting with a clear goal and agenda can help you come to a useful resolution. Contact us to find out how Agrilegacy can help with your meeting to keep the farm in the family.
