Most of the farmers I have met are proud people who are fiercely independent and resent outside influence.
They see advisers and professionals as parasites whose only goal is to take away their hard-earned money while providing nothing of substance in return.
However, as a result of this independence, I have also seen many potentially successful farm business transitions rattling through from one disaster to another until they inevitably collapse.
Part of the problem is that these farm businesses are still trying to run along traditional lines with no guidance to help them understand why things might not be working. Believing that what worked in the past will work in the future is naïve. Everyone needs to recognize that the game has changed.
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A good family adviser once told me that if we use sports as an analogy for running a business, then the founding generation was playing tennis and for the most part, was good at it.
They understood the rules and knew how to keep score. It was a fairly straightforward game between two people.
However, the introduction of the next generation meant that the game had to change. Let’s say that the new game is baseball, with more people, a bigger pitch, a different bat and a different ball. You can’t play baseball with tennis rules. You need to learn the new rules. This is where you need help. You need a coach to teach you the new rules.
I typically see farm businesses in transition struggling with the concepts of governance, leadership, strategic planning and decision making.
I see them challenged by the idea of creating legal agreements and struggling with the challenges of assigning roles and responsibilities.
Communication often remains a major stumbling block, and the issues of fairness and compensation almost always remain unresolved.
Financial management, inventory management, marketing and human resources all need a greater level of attention than the previous generation faced. This is where outside help can make things easier.
However, perhaps the greatest challenge is in understanding the role of outside help.
It shouldn’t try to provide all of the answers because if it does, implementation will likely fail.
As with any good coach, advisers can’t play the game for you, but they can guide you.
True, there are some things that require an expert opinion, but for the most part, these aren’t the things with which family farms struggle.
It’s the soft skill issues that cause problems for family farms, and it’s these issues that require a collaborative approach with a skilled adviser who understands the concept.
If you are about to transition the farm or you are in a transition that is struggling to move forward, then perhaps it’s time to let go of some of that independence.
Perhaps it’s time to get a coach.
