One-third of all companies in the S&P 500 Index are family run businesses according to Business Insider. That’s impressive! Family run businesses care about the long-term effects of their decisions, focus on future generations and have passionate, dedicated family members at the top. In family farming operations, we share in those impressive qualities.
Unfortunately, there is another feature often shared amongst family operations: lack of effective communication. One of the greatest hindrances holding farms back from growth and continued success is the inability to communicate successfully.
The management team is talking, but it’s often not as productive as it could be.
Let’s explore five keys to getting the family on the same page:
1. Formal meetings
On farm communication is typically less formal, with teams often talking as needed or in passing. The argument for not holding more formal meetings is lack of time, but holding structured conversations will actually save time as it leads to more efficiency, better planning and more organized management later on.
A weekly meeting doesn’t focus on what’s going on for the day, rather planning for short-term projects or long-term strategy. A topic of discussion might be analyzing the inefficiencies seen in harvest and developing action plans to solve them either this year or in future years. In my experience, farms have a hard time starting formal meetings, but once they are in place they can’t imagine operating without them.
2. Write it down
When you write down goals it forces you to clarify what you want to accomplish and displays holes in the plans. It’s also a great way to hold yourself and others accountable. If you take notes at your formal meetings and delegate tasks, you can utilize those notes to monitor future progress.
3. Removing emotions
Of all the tips in this article, removing emotions is the most difficult one to implement in practice. It’s human nature to be passionate about your business and it’s also human nature to become attached to your own ideas.
Unfortunately, that can lead to individuals being steadfast to their thoughts and agendas which is a recipe for disaster. As best you can, separate yourself and all emotion from your ideas.
Think logically about what you want to accomplish: what’s your end goal? Even though you feel you have a solution, be open to other suggestions.
As long as the end goal is kept in check, you can logically see several solutions that might work.
When speaking with family members, imagine they are co-workers in a corporate environment and keep all discussions professional and collected. Avoid heated discussions, silence, manipulation or just plain disregard for the others.
4. Keep it safe
Family members need to be proactive in keeping discussions safe for all involved. The best run companies share ideas openly and have a culture supportive of healthy debate. Diversification is a key ingredient to creating the best solutions; we need all the ideas we can from the group.
When you feel like a conversation is heading in the wrong direction, be proactive and pull it back in. Take a break or revisit the end goal with the group and restart the conversation. Utilize data and numbers to support ideas. If someone starts to get silent, work hard to bring them back into the discussion.
5. Focus on the goal
The family needs to determine what the strategy is for the company and develop goals on how to get there. If you have a common goal for the entire organization, it is easier to bring all decisions back to what supports the goal.
If there is no commonality, it’s hard to work together towards reaching it. Use the formal meetings to check progress and make adjustments.
Focusing more on the goal will also help keep emotions in check as it transitions from “your idea versus my idea” to “what is the best solution for the business.”
Communication improvements can seem overwhelming to initiate. Take mini steps on your part to keep the daily discussions open and interactions professional.
Work together to develop the future plans of the business in a more formal setting, and keep those conversations going. PD
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