1. Are they all in the same time frame?   (Is one person’s short-term goal another person’s long-term goal?)
2. Do all members have the same priority for the common goals? How would each person rank them? 
3. Who will be the key person or persons involved in deciding upon and/or implementing each of the common goals?

I hope this helps gives you a few things to think about for your farm business succession plan.  In the future we will continue with some commentary about prioritizing goals.

Non-family members and in-laws often play a big role in either the direct management of your business or in helping direct family members shape their personal and business goals.  Obviously, it is important for you to engage these individuals in the long-term planning, goal setting and succession planning process for your business.

When a family member becomes adversarial to the family members that are directly involved in the business (i.e. outlaws), it is important that you recognize that their goals are significant – and, should be understood.  

HOWEVER, if their goals are counterproductive to the future success of your business, their opinions and goals certainly do not necessarily need to be included in your overall farm plan, just noted, observed and dealt with accordingly.

For example, a family member not involved in the business may have the goal of owning land outright if and when the time comes to inherit the land as opposed to keeping in the business for productive use.  Let’s assume that they do not want to guarantee that the farm will have continued access to that land.  Their goals could be harmful to the overall success of your succession plan, especially if one of the central goals is to keep the farm business viable in the future which may require access to this land.

On the flip-side, an off-farm sibling might have no desire to own a piece of the farm and only wants to have certain family heirlooms as part of any inheritance as a memory of their upbringing. If they’re not involved in the discussion at some level, the long-term plans of the business and the goals of the succession plan might assume otherwise – to a great disappointment to the off-farm sibling.  

So -- it is very important to involve these individuals in the discussions, but certainly without any guarantees that their every wish be fulfilled.   Good luck!

The “generation gap” is a well-known and probably over-used phrase, but it does describe a real phenomenon that exists in our culture. 

As people age, their attitudes about several issues related to the family business tend to change, both due to their own unique set of life experiences, and their outlook on the future.  Family members of different generations often have different views about issues such as debt, new ventures and opportunities for business expansion. 

These differences can be sources of disagreements and even conflicts. When evaluating the goals for your family business, it is important to recognize that there may be some distinctly different goals along generational lines that need to be revealed, explored and discussed.

Goals are an integral part of the planning process. Goals provide direction in developing a plan. The process of setting goals can help you and your family (owners and managers) to better understand their priorities. A well thought out set of goals can be the basis for many decisions that are made in a farm succession or business succession plan. 

 A good analogy to use when thinking of goals and the planning process is that of planning a long driving trip.  When planning a trip, most folks use a map to plan their route. 

While the modern conveniences of portable GPS devices and internet based mapping programs have certainly simplified the process, many people will still look at a map of some sort when deciding how and where they will travel on a trip.  The map can be thought of as the plan.  If the trip is to take several days, or there are several sites that the planner wants to visit along the way, there may be several key points that need to be traveled through during the trip. These points can be thought of as the goals in the plan. 

These decisions and actions must be tied to the goals of the farm business owners, both current and future, in order for the plan to be most successful.  If we stick with the roadmap analogy, goals would be those key points along your ‘trip’ that indicate progress or success with the overall goal, or destination where your plan points.  The specific set of goals or objectives of your plan will be unique to your family and your farm business, and will determine the route that you will need to take in order to accomplish your specific goals.