Is your farm family-first or business-first?

Mar 04, 2020

Balancing a farm business while raising a family requires hard work and dedication. And combine it with multiple generations attuned to transition planning, communication is even more key.

Best-selling author and executive coach David Irvine says governance, or how farm families work together, leads to the development of farm goals, which helps create balance.

Within a business, he explains, are three key groups: farm owners, employees and family. Each circle brings its own goals, and some of them overlap.

“We have to make sure that each circle gets their interests met,” Irvine says. “And the goals need to provide clarity about where each group is heading.”

Those goals, he points out, should determine the business direction. And within the family circle, deciding if the operation is family-first or business-first, takes discussion.

Organize everyone to come together, Irvine says, to discuss what each family member wants, what the business goals are and answer how the business can support the family. Using this style of holistic leadership creates an atmosphere to figure out what’s important to each person.

“What are we in business for? Don’t give me your mission statement. Give me your personal statement. Ask yourself, what’s the purpose of the business in your life?”

But the issue many face is they prioritize the drive for production first, then squeeze quality of life into it. “We work for 20 or 30 years and say, Where’s my quality of life because the business runs my life.”

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