Get past it. Many of us would rather jump off a cliff than sit through a family meeting. The mere thought is enough to make our flesh squirm. But the message from the experts is simple: The stakes in farming today are simply too big to gamble everyone’s future on your guesses about how your closest partners are thinking.
In a family business, family meetings are business. They’re the same thing that corporations do with entire departments dedicated to performance reviews, suggestion boxes, staff meetings and a long list of other tactics aimed at employee morale and getting everyone on the same page.
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Besides, family meetings can be a whole lot less painful than you think. In fact, some of your neighbours are quietly doing them already, and wouldn’t give them up.
When there isn’t enough communication, you get conflict, says Dave Schnarr, executive director of the Centre for Family Business at the University of Waterloo. “People take sides and there’s division within the family. If people don’t talk, issues don’t get resolved and this can lead to the failure of the business.”
“Communication is one of the cornerstones of a successful business,” adds Michael Lobraico, a long-time family business advisor and president of NCI Solutions Limited in Brampton, Ont.
Dysfunctional communication patterns, wildly divergent inter-generational expectations, lack of trust and unresolved conflict are some of the issues faced by family firms, says John Fast in his book,
THE FAMILY BUSINESS DOCTOR.
Farm families already start out with a tough challenge. When family and business are mixed the relationships are more complex, explains Lobraico. For example, a business owner who is also a parent of some of the partners or employees may worry about hurting feelings or treating everyone equally. Children in the business often long to follow in the footsteps of their parents, whether or not they have the skills or passion for it.
Having different generations involved complicates matters even more. We are all influenced by the time period in which we were born, says Candace Laing, a Saskatoon human resources professional and public speaker on generational issues.
Society is changing more rapidly than ever, and this affects how the different generations view the world, Laing says. For example, those born between 1980 and 2000 tend to have a stronger sense of personal responsibility for social and environmental issues than those born earlier. This can lead to disagreement about how the business should be managed.
Communication is key to helping the different generations understand each other, says Laing. “But this needs to be a two-way street,” she stresses. “You have to have respect for differences and be open to learning.”
There are two fundamental types of family meeting. Knowing the differences, and knowing which is the best fit for your farm, can help put you and your family in charge of the future.
1. FAMILY COUNCIL
Another challenge for the multi-generation farm family business is that we often don’t have any models to follow, says Richard Cressman, a family farm business advisor in New Hamburg, Ont. The multi-generation family farm is a fairly recent invention, he says, and communication skills are usually learned from our parents so we may not have received this training growing up.
To keep family members informed and give them an opportunity to ask questions and clear up misunderstandings, Anderson recommends holding “family council meetings.” Attended by all active and non-active members of the family, including spouses,
12 POINTERS: EFFECTIVE FAMILY BUSINESS MEETINGS
1. Before the meeting, determine the purpose of the meeting and set goals.
2. Make a detailed agenda of the topics to be discussed. Review the agenda at the beginning of the meeting to make additions, deletions or revisions.
3. Place key items early on the agenda so you don’t run out of time to discuss them.
4. Notify everyone who needs to know about the meeting and circulate the agenda with sufficient notice.
5. A room with table and chairs arranged in circles, u-shape or squares is best.
6. At the meeting, set the ground rules, such as that only one topic will be discussed at a time.
7. Everyone should have the right to speak and should be expected to participate. The chairperson should ensure that there is input from everyone and draw the quieter people into the discussion.
8. Keep the discussion on the topic. Avoid drift.
9. When unrelated topics are raised, keep track of them on a flip chart for consideration at a later date.
10. The chairperson should summarize the discussion at the end of the meeting and ensure everyone agrees and understands.
11. Record the actions required, who is responsible and timelines for each action on an action sheet.
12. Look for and provide feedback. This reduces the possibility of repeating unproductive behaviours and procedures.
RESOURCES
Centre for Family Business 140 Westmount Road North Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3G6 Phone: 519-749-1441 Fax: 519-749-9087 E-mail: [email protected]
Canadian Association for Family Enterprise (CAFE) 465 Morden Road,
Suite 112 Oakville, Ont. L6K 3W6 Toll free: 1-866-849-0099 Fax: 905-337-0572 www.cafecanada.ca/
For more tips on holding effective meetings, check out the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs factsheet at www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/rural/facts/05-035.htm.
GENERATION TO GENERATION: LIFE CYCLES OF THE FAMILY BUSINESS by Kelin E. Gersick. Harvard Business School Press, available from www.amazon.caand similar sites
THE FAMILY BUSINESS DOCTOR by John Fast, published by Family Enterprise Solutions, available from www.familybusinessdoctor.com.
in-laws, grandparents and children, these meetings are held to inform them of what is going on in the family business, explore family employment opportunities and to discuss other matters of interest to the broader family. Such meetings might commonly be held annually or twice a year, but may be needed more often during the succession process.
Lobraico agrees this type of meeting is a good idea. He recommends the meetings be about a day long, be structured and be held off-site. “These meetings shouldn’t be held at someone’s home or at the place of business,” he says. Hiring an outside facilitator to run the meetings will ensure everyone is on equal footing and gets the chance to speak. It’s also important to have social time built into the meetings, Lobraico says. “Many families just don’t have the time to be with each other.”
Family council meetings will actually help everyone understand that they need to separate their family and their business roles, Lobraico says, and the upshot will be better communication on an ongoing basis.
The meetings also give family members a safe place to raise concerns. These concerns can be prioritized, but all items should eventually be addressed.
The trouble is, farm families are like other family businesses. They wait until there’s already an atmosphere of intense conflict before finally deciding they need a family council meeting. Unfortunately, that just makes it a lot tougher to fix problems that should have been prevented in the first place.
It’s far better to invest the time up front before there’s trouble, Lobraico advises. This could save either the business, the family relationships or both.
The most important thing is that you try, says Lobraico. “People will forgive mistakes if they know your intent was good,” he says. “But they have to know your intent.”
2. FAMILY BUSINESS MEETINGS
Family business meetings involve all the family members who are active in the business, and are meant to address issues pertaining to the “family component” of the business. Business issues that impact the family and family issues that impact the business are to be addressed at these meetings.
These aren’t meant to replace regular business meetings, or the supper-table talk about who will get the fertilizer ordered and who will get the sprayer ready. Instead, they’re meant to help differentiate between family matters and business matters, and to get concrete about personal aspirations and goals and how to achieve them.
There’s no rule on how often these meetings should be held (although monthly is usually about right.)
But there is a rule about how you conduct them. “You need to set a designated time and place with an agenda,” Schnarr advises. “And allow others to put items on the agenda.”
These meetings need to take priority. If a salesperson comes to the door during the meeting, you don’t leave to go talk to them.
Also give some thought to when you hold the meetings. Experts often recommend holding meetings first thing in the morning when everyone is fresh. Set a start time and end time too, because that will help keep the meeting on track.
There should be a chair for the meeting. This could be someone from the older or lead generation, or it could rotate through various family members. An appointed secretary is also a good idea, briefly recording what was discussed, what was agreed to and what actions need to be completed before the next meeting.
While there are many advantages to being in business with your family, too often resentments build and the family relationships suffer, Schnarr says. By setting the stage for clear communication to take place, you can avoid a lot of heartache and stress. CG
