Managing your family farm is a rewarding job, but just like every other business, it also brings its share of conflict. Ongoing tensions can destroy workers’ morale and – through lower productivity – can hurt your chances of maintaining financial sustainability. There are two key steps to avoiding conflict on the farm:
Anticipate the Conflict
Developing a strategic plan before the conflict becomes a full-blown feud can save an incredible amount of time, work, and heartache. As you go about your daily work on the farm, keep an eye on rising tensions and common themes or instigators in disagreements. Although these incidents may seem harmless, the accumulated grudges can become problematic over time. Make a plan now, and later on that plan will help you react swiftly and capably when fast action is crucially needed.
Deflect the Source
Stress is a top predictor of flaring tempers. Take a look at your calendar and determine when your busiest seasons are. When all hands are working around the clock to get the hay baled before the rain or the wheat harvested before it shatters on the stalk, tensions are high. Avoid conflict on these high-risk weeks by carefully planning which farm hands are working in the same field, or who is taking on the toughest jobs. Everybody needs to pull their weight, but it it’s often wiser to let the hot-tempered hand take his turn trying to coax sense into malfunctioning machinery on a day when stress is lower.
The best conflict management strategy is avoidance. It is inevitable that conflicts will arise – but fortunately, you can plan ahead and develop a strategy that deflects the source and heads off the consequences of a large-scale family feud. If you aren’t sure how to develop a conflict management strategy, contact us. We’d be happy to help you develop a plan for your farm’s future.
