Identifying Strategies to Maximize Potential and Minimize isk

Business strategies are practical actions that communicate how a business plans to reach its goals. Thinking strategically about the farm business as a whole helps determine emerging themes, issues, patterns, and opportunities. This allows for proactive management and helps maintain more control over what happens to the farm. Goals are of little value if there is no tactical plan for achievement and no implementation with ongoing monitoring and adjustment opportunities. Develop three business goals Each farm should develop at least three business goals. These are the basis of the farm planning process and should be kept in mind when decisions are being made. Once developed, use them to determine how you get to where you want (and need) to go. This begins by assessing the current farm situation and focusing on worthwhile issues to address. Complete a SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis, a process to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, is one way to establish where you are now and what you have to work with. It helps establish benchmarks for the farm’s current situation so that there is something to measure against moving forward to see if the farm is moving in the right direction. This process also helps you identify strategies to get there. To conduct a SWOT analysis, the farm leadership team identifies internal strengths and weaknesses and external factors that affect opportunities and threats to the business. The objective of this process is to capitalize on strengths and eliminate or minimize the impact of weakness. It is a profit-seeking and risk mitigation tool. Identifying internal strengths and weaknesses The first step to a SWOT is to identify internal strengths and weaknesses of the farm. The strengths are those that give an advantage or opportunity and weaknesses those that stand in the way or limit what the farm can do. Use this as an opportunity to reach out to people within and outside the farm to have a casual conversation about what the farm does well and what it could improve on. Gather feedback on others’ perceptions, and compile industry benchmarks to measure the farm against. It is helpful to rank these in terms of their level of importance to your operation’s competitive advantage. It is also worth looking at how the business has performed in the past (during good times and bad). Look at the financial analysis measures from the last five years, how business decisions are made, and how the farm has been managed. This is the time for an honest self-appraisal. Recognizing external opportunities and threats The second step in a SWOT is to look at external opportunities and threats to the farm. This includes the general condition of the economy (and how it affects the business), input and commodity prices (and trends), federal and state rules and regulations, industry trends and changes, and competition. Creating strategies or action steps The final step and most important part are pulling it all together. Creating a list does not do any good unless it is put to work. Use the SWOT to create strategies or action steps to address opportunities and threats by taking advantage of strengths and minimizing or eliminating the impact of weaknesses. A helpful way to do this is to look for the intersections of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in order to maximize potential and mitigate risk. Identify opportunity-strength strategies, opportunity-weakness strategies, threat-strength strategies, and threat-weakness strategies. Strategies that show up more than once might be areas to focus on and prioritize higher.A comprehensive SWOT analysis helps a farm acknowledge and be responsive to opportunities and threats in the current business environment. The business strategies derived from the SWOT should be realistic actions that help the farm reach its goals. Spending time developing goals and strategies, helps a farm adapt nimbly in a changing environment and make proactive business decisions. Getting Started with the SWOT Matrix and Strategy Analysis: Use the worksheet in the Cultivating Your Farm’s Future workbook to analyze the internal and external factors affecting the farm business by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and using them to identify strategies to help reach your goal/vision for the future. Additional Resources: “Cultivating Your Farm’s Future” workbook and companion guide. This workbook contains invaluable tools to help with your farm’s succession planning. “Cultivating Continuity“ the companion guide to Cultivating Your Farm’s Future features additional resources. Authors

Farm Asset Division: A 21st-Century Conundrum

The best way to divide farm assets is a challenge that farm families face with each generation of owners. As a parent, we strive to treat and love our children equally, and we want them to know that we love them all the same.  When our children perceive their inheritance as a direct indicator of how much we loved them, it makes dividing farm assets a daunting task. The fear of upsetting one’s children often causes parents to divide farm and family assets equally among all heirs. However, it can be beneficial to look at farm and family assets separately when dividing the estate. Long-term viability for the farm, financial security for the founding generation, and continued family ownership of the farm are documented goals of many farmers1. Research from the Farm Business Institute indicated that family-owned and operated businesses have roughly a 30% success rate in transferring the assets and control from the founding generation to the second generation2. Failure to transfer the business is often caused by a lack or avoidance of planning from the owner generation. This results in the implementation of the state’s succession plan which divides the assets equally among the heirs. Oklahoma State University has created a statistical model that compares various transition strategies and their probabilities of success. The results demonstrate that the most common farm succession strategy of dividing the assets equally among all heirs has the lowest success rate. Farms employing this strategy normally do not continue to the next generation3. Distributive Justice Principles When the owner generation makes decisions concerning farm succession, they are subconsciously considering three principles4: (see What is the biggest threat article for further information) Equality principle: assets are divided equally among heirs regardless of their contributions Proportional equity principle: distribution of assets is in proportion to the heir’s contribution in maintaining or growing the asset Needs-based principle: the heirs’ needs are given primary consideration   Research has shown us that the equality principle does not help us reach our goal of transferring the assets and control to the second generation. Therefore, let us delve deeper into the proportional equity principle and needs-based principle3. Proportional Equity Principle of Distribution Proportional equity distribution relies on an accurate accounting of the heirs’ contributions. Contributions can be defined as money, labor, management, providing care and maintenance on the home and facilities, mechanical repairs, or being a caregiver that allows the aging parents to stay in their home, etc. There are several questions to consider when dividing farm assets based on proportional equity. When do the contributions start? Does it begin when the heir becomes an adult and makes a conscious choice to continue providing labor? Or is childhood labor also considered? Are the on-farm heirs compensated at a fair market price for their labor? Or are they receiving below-market wages with a promise of “making things right” with inheritance? Is this arrangement documented? Are the on-farm heirs adding value to the farm with their labor and management? Is the owner generation growing the business because they know they have consistent labor and additional management? Would this growth happen without the on-farm heirs, and should they be given credit in some way for this increase in wealth? Are the on-farm heirs helping preserve the farm’s wealth by maintaining the asset base?  If they weren’t there, would the owner generation keep the business operating at the same level? Are the on-farm heirs helping their parents age in place? Are they providing services to the owner generation that would otherwise be an out-of-pocket expense and deplete the asset base?   To help us visualize equality vs proportional equity distribution, let’s look at an example from John Baker, Iowa State University and Dave Goeller from the University of Nebraska. In this example, we will use an example farm that has one person in the owner generation and three heirs. Two of the heirs are off-farm and do not contribute to the farm.  The on-farm heir joined the farm in 2000, and we are crediting 50% of the farm’s growth in net worth to the labor and management contributions of this heir. For this example: The farm’s net worth in 2000 is $600,000 The farm’s net worth in 2020 is $3,600,000 What will the distribution of the farm net worth look like using the equality principle? Using the equality principle, each heir would receive ⅓ of the farm’s 2020 net worth.  $3,600,000 divided three ways leaves $1,200,000 for each heir regardless of their contributions to the farm. What will the distribution of the farm net worth look like using the proportional equity principle? Using the proportional equity principle, we would divide the original 2000 net worth equally among the three heirs. The net worth at this time is solely due to the contributions of the owner generation. This gives us a distribution of $200,000 per heir. We would then consider the change in net worth from 2000-2020 and determine how much of the change was due to the on-farm heir. The change in net worth is $3,000,000 with the on-farm heir being responsible for 50% of that growth, or $1,500,000. The owner generation’s portion of the net worth is divided equally amongst the three heirs. This $500,000 is added to the $200,000 from the 2020 net worth resulting in each off-farm heir receiving $700,000. The on-farm heir received $700,000 plus the $1,500,000 for a total of $2,200,000. While this division is not equal, it is equitable and provides the on-farm heir with compensation for their contributions and increases the likelihood of keeping the farm business viable and in the family. Each farm will value the contributions of the on farm heir differently. The questions posed above can help you determine what this will look like for your farm. We recognize that this was a simplified example but hope it helps give you a place to start thinking about what proportional equity may look like on your farm. Remember, you may need to treat each

Control of Farm Management Decisions

Earlier we discussed the importance of transferring management to the successor generation. However, we did not delve into the details of making this transfer successful. To help with this process the University of Wisconsin – Madison Division of Extension Farm Succession educators developed the Control of Farm Management Decisions Worksheet. This worksheet allows the farm owner and successor to rank how important the following are to them: To be involved in the daily operation of the farm business? To be involved in the production decisions for the farm business? To be involved in the marketing decisions for the farm business? To maintain some financial control of the farm business? Once each generation has identified how important the above items are to them today, they are asked to think about how important they may be in 3 years and in 5 years. Once the ranking has been established it is time to talk about what is most important to the owner and most important to the successor. The owner and successor can then utilize the rankings they provided to work on the “Planning Transfer Control” page of the worksheet. If marketing the farm’s soybeans is not very important to the owner generation but it is to the successor then this should be listed as a management decision that will be transferred immediately to the successor. Working on each management decision by order of importance gives the two generations the ability to develop a transfer plan that allows each to hold on to what they feel is the most important, and to make compromises about others. When working through developing a plan to transfer management decisions it is important to realize that management decisions should be transferred incrementally. In the worksheet the owner and successor can select what will be transferred in a year, in two years, and in three years. Having a framework of when management decisions will be transferred will give both the owner and the successor generations peace of mind. Through the incremental transfer of management, the owner generation can gain confidence in the successor generations ability to make decisions that will result in the continuation of the farm the business and their legacy. The successor generation gains confidence in their farm management decision making while utilizing the safety net of the owner generation. At the end of the transition period, the successor should feel confident in their ability to make management decisions in all aspects of the farm business. Additional Resources: “Cultivating Your Farm’s Future” workbook and companion guide. This workbook contains invaluable tools to help with your farm’s succession planning. “Cultivating Continuity“ the companion guide to Cultivating Your Farm’s Future features additional resources. Authors

Fair vs. Equal Strategies for Asset Distribution

Recent farm succession research by UW-Madison Division of Extension educators indicates that the division of assets for inheritance is a common tension around farm succession planning. This study found that 54% of participants felt stress over how assets were divided. The participants’ comments regarding this stress were grouped into five main categories, business risk, sibling harmony, emotions, personal risk, and treating assets strictly as inheritance and not as business assets. In some cases, the tension can be so great that the owner generation avoids making a decision until it’s too late which may allow their assets to default to the state’s plan, which typically mandates dividing the assets equally between the children. If the goal is to continue the farm to the next generation, dividing the assets equally may jeopardize that. Oklahoma State University has created a statistical model that compares various transition strategies and their probabilities of success. The results demonstrate that the most common farm succession strategy of dividing the assets equally among all heirs has the lowest success rate. Farms employing this strategy normally do not continue to the next generation 1. Making decisions and following through with them can alleviate the successor’s worry about their financial ability to purchase the farm assets. Having a succession plan allows the successor to prepare for ownership of the farm assets, whether it is through inheritance, purchase, lifetime gifting, or a combination of the three. Solidifying the owner generation’s goals and priorities for their retirement needs and estate plan, allows them to better communicate these goals to the heirs and/or business successors. Service providers, such as attorneys, accountants or other professionals can use these goals to tailor their suggestions and strategies to better fit the needs of the family. An overview of the following tools and strategies is provided to help owners and successors become familiar with these options before meeting with planning professionals. Familiarity with these tools and strategies will give owners and successors a better understanding of the strategies as they discuss them with professionals. Farm families may want to consider a combination of these strategies to fit their unique asset distribution needs. Unequal Gifts of Essential Business Property Owners of the farm business may choose to transfer the essential assets of the business to the on-farm heir. These assets may include livestock, machinery and equipment, tools, and buildings that are critical to the business. For a business to survive, these things may need to be passed on to the business heir even if this means the business heir inherits a larger percentage of the parent’s assets. Estate planning tools (Wills, Trusts, and ownership of property) Wills are a set of instructions for the distribution of assets at the time of death. Wills are easily changed, and assets distributed through a will are subject to probate. Probate is the court process of validating the will. The instructions in the will can distribute assets however the owner deems appropriate and can set parameters for the purchase of assets between heirs. Parameters could include a set price, a formula for a price, and an interest rate if a purchase is done over time like a land contract. The instructions may also include that assets be available for the on-farm heir to rent for a set period of time. A trust is a legal entity that has the power to hold assets. Trustees and beneficiaries need to be identified for each trust that is created. A set of instructions would be developed outlining who makes decisions for the assets and who receives the assets or the benefits generated by the assets after the owners pass. Assets in a trust are not subject to probate, unlike assets that are transferred by a will or by the state’s default plan. Depending on the type of trust, the date the trust was implemented, and the trustees and beneficiaries chosen, a trust may provide some protection against Medicaid Recovery in Wisconsin. Any assets moved to a trust would still be subject to the Medicaid programs “look back” period or may still be considered the owners’ assets, despite being held in the trust name. For more information about Medicaid Recovery visit: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/medicaid/erp.htm and https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/dhs/resources/medicaid/medicaid-general-eligibility.html The way the property is owned or titled may have a bearing on how it is distributed. For example, if property is owned as tenancy in common, and one of the owners dies, the deceased’s interest is transferred to his/her heirs. Joint tenancy exists when two or more persons own the entire property with the right of survivorship. This means that at the death of one joint tenant, his or her interest passes directly to the surviving joint tenant(s). It does not become a part of the decedent’s probate estate. Therefore, it cannot be controlled by his or her will and is not subject to creditors’ claims against the estate. The last surviving joint tenant becomes the sole owner of the property2. If one is unsure of how property is titled and owned, a consult with an attorney can be helpful. Business Entities as Transfer Vehicles Corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and limited partnerships may be an option to transfer business assets to the on-farm heirs. The assets in the entity could be transferred to the successor over time allowing the owner and successor to co-own the entity. The transfer of ownership could be achieved by selling shares of the entity in the case of corporations or interest or units in the case of LLCs. The owner could choose to gift ownership of shares, interests, or units to the successor. The purchasing or gifting of shares, interests, or units guarantees the essential business assets are in the appropriate hands. The entity can also have language in the operating agreement or legal documents as to how the owners’ shares or interest are to be transferred at death. It is important to consult with an accountant or tax professional regarding gifting and sales transactions that may have tax consequences. Purchasing Agreements There are many different types of

Divorce and the Farm

When discussing succession and estate planning, we usually focus on ensuring the farm passes on to the next generation before or after the current operator’s death. Although the hope is that every marriage is successful and lasts until the spouse’s death, divorce can happen and create issues for a succession plan. A divorce may cause one of the parties to the succession plan to have to buy out a divorcing spouse if issues are not resolved before the marriage or during the marriage’s life. Succession planning can also be useful if a party to the plan gets divorced. Tools such as prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements can help prevent issues that could arise regarding how assets are distributed during a divorce and impact a farm succession plan.  Marital v. Non-Marital Assets In Pennsylvania, marital assets are subject to equitable distribution in the event of a divorce. It’s important to note that the law requires equitable distribution, not equal distribution. Equitable distribution can often become equal, but it may not always.  With equitable distribution, the court can consider several factors, including the length of the marriage, the opportunities for the parties for future wealth acquisitions, the standard of living during the marriage, tax implications, and more.  Those factors can be found in 23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3502(a).  To determine what assets would be subject to equitable distribution, we would need to determine if the property was acquired during the marriage or the increase in value of property acquired before the marriage. Property that would be excluded would be gifts, except for gifts between spouses, property taken under a will to one party, and property acquired after the divorce is filed.  Let’s consider a scenario where Taylor and Travis each owned 100 acres of farmland before marriage. Each farm is worth $600,000. After their marriage, they invest in a dairy farm and significantly improve their farmland. The improvements raise the farms’ value to $800,000. In this case, the dairy farm and any increase in value, here $200,000/farm, to their respective 100 acres would be considered marital property, as they were acquired or improved during the marriage.  At the same time, both are still part of respective family farming operations.  What can Taylor and Travis do to prevent loss in their respective farmland, or can one continue on the dairy farm in case of a divorce? Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements The first thing that should be considered is a prenuptial agreement. A prenuptial agreement is a legal agreement between the two parties before marriage regarding handling assets brought into the marriage.  This agreement is a good way to limit risks to family farmland or other farm assets before marriage and prevent issues in distributing those assets in the event of a divorce.  These agreements can be structured in ways that allow the spouse to be integrated more and more into the existing agricultural operation as certain milestones are hit, potentially the length of the marriage. To be valid in Pennsylvania, both parties must enter the prenuptial agreement voluntarily before the marriage.  At the same time, the parties need to have adequate knowledge of the property and financial obligations of the other party. It’s crucial that both parties seek legal representation when negotiating these agreements. This ensures that all aspects are considered and the agreement is fair and comprehensive. At the same time, the parties can voluntarily waive in writing any right to disclosures of the property and financial disclosures of the other party. What if Taylor and Travis did not consider a prenuptial agreement before marriage?  Pennsylvania law allows for the couple to consider a postnuptial agreement after marriage.  A postnuptial agreement is a legal agreement between spouses on what assets remain outside of marital property and what assets are considered marital assets.  The agreement operates similarly to a prenuptial agreement but is entered into after marriage.  In the case of a postnuptial agreement, the parties should talk with legal counsel to ensure the document is valid when drafted. Postnuptial agreements can often be used as couples mature together.  For example, if Taylor and Travis married in their early 20s and entered a prenuptial agreement that considered assets they brought into the marriage, those assets and goals may have changed over time as they entered their 40s.  A postnuptial agreement that modifies the prenuptial agreement would allow the couple to contemplate what has changed over the marriage.   Both documents can also be integrated into farm succession plans that contemplate an heir taking over an operation. For example, if Taylor is going to take over an existing farm from her family, the prenuptial agreement would be a way to ensure that limited issues will arise if she gets divorced. At the same time, if Travis becomes active on the farm and helps the farm grow over time, the family may want to consider a postnuptial agreement to modify the prenuptial agreement to consider how the situation has changed.

Forgive Generously

I’ve been married 36 years and am still learning what makes a good marriage. Recently while traveling I listened to a podcast, Bob Lepine author of Build a Stronger Marriage was sharing insights. He shared late speaker and author Gary Smalley’s most important marriage advice, learn how to resolve conflict and forgive. In fact, be a generous forgiver. I realized it was not only good guidance for marriage but for everyone especially farm families. Conflict Working together in hectic and stressful farming situations can create conflict and misunderstanding for the most loving farm families. Sprinkle in an unexpected financial challenge or equipment breakdown and the calmest person will be agitated. A child psychologist once told us, they act out more at home because they feel most comfortable there. I’ve found it to be true for people of all ages. It’s not all beautiful sunsets and pretty green hayfields on a farm there are disagreements too. How they are handled makes a difference. Assumptions Often disagreements and grudges are a result of an assumption. Assumptions are not necessarily true. It is best to ask the person instead of presuming you know what they are thinking or blaming an action on the person. Sadly, I’ve witnessed farm families broken apart by assumptions lacking facts to prove validity. One or more people are “sure” they know who caused an issue, but there’s no way to prove or disprove it. The accused said they didn’t do it, but still the grudge wears on causing separation in the family. Resolve Conflict Gary Smalley didn’t say if conflict occurs, he said learn how to resolve conflict. He knew arguments were a given in marriage and it’s also a given in farm families. Since it’s a given, the best option is for farm families to learn how to talk through the issues and resolve the conflict. Compromise may be required in order to come to an agreement. Forgive Generously The term indicates a need to forgive freely, not begrudgingly. In fact, the biblical example of 70×7 comes to my mind and I am guessing Gary Smalley was thinking of that too. Forgiving generously requires us to completely lay down the wrong or the assumption, etc. and never pick it back up. If we do, we need to consciously let it go again, as many times as it takes. Family Held to a Higher Standard Those who forgive strangers ought to also eagerly forgive family members. Afterall we are called to forgive both. Many farm families refuse to acknowledge direct relatives for various reasons. The same people will agree generous forgiveness is a great marriage tip and confirm the biblical 70×7 example. Farm families are not exempt. It appears the expectation of family is perfection and unfortunately people aren’t perfect, and things happen. Family is too precious. Don’t give up the ability to communicate and cherish blood relatives because of hurt feelings, conflict, or old issues. Begin the conversation and the healing today, swallow your pride and take a step forward to mend broken relationships and begin the forgiveness process. 

Every Family and Farm Have a Story

Why Is the Story Important? Remember sitting at a family gathering and hearing family members share stories from their childhood or grandpa sharing stories when you visited. Different times of the year brought different memories to mind. Some repeated often, even to the point of being annoying. Until the person was not there to share them anymore then the value of those stories soared. At that point, the details were lost if not written down and questions came to mind that could no longer be answered. The details a necessary piece of the farm and family puzzle. History, especially items talked about the least, played a crucial role in people’s actions and possibly the farm’s history because for farm families it’s all intertwined. Understanding the history helps us address and work through the tough stuff as well as embrace the victories. But I’m Not Family Farmers have an incredible close tie to their farm. After all, the farm is where both family and farm have happened. Transitioning a farm outside of the family can feel a bit like betraying one’s family and the sweat equity everyone who came before them put into it. Therefore, even if you’re not family, it’s important for you to embrace the topic and learn all you are able to about the roots of the farm you want to take over. You are the only one who can ensure the farmer and farm family that the history of the farm will not be lost at the signing of a sales agreement. It’s at this crossroad that you realize you must invest in the history of the farm as well as the land and buildings in order to have a successful farm transition. An Impact to Work Through The tough stuff is likely the things that had the largest unspoken impact on a farm. A very traumatic death of a child during birth in days when counseling was not available. The only recognition flowers lovingly placed on the baby’s grave every Memorial Day. A small marker placed on the grave in later years when money was available or maybe when the farmers realized the need to publicly acknowledge the loss. The couple lost one child; they could not bear losing another. Thus, when their only child, a son, shared an incredible job opportunity with a large farm he was told if he left the family farm he could never return. Realistically they would have welcomed him back with open arms but instead they gave a tough front, and that young man lived his life with an underlying regret and anger issue because of it. Understanding the challenges previous generations faced create opportunities for empathy, healing and ensuring the hurts are laid to rest and negative cycles broken. Celebrate the Positive Impact Grandchildren loved the stories shared by others about their grandparents. The animals they purchased from them and stories of farm visits. A plethora of the people still in the ag industry today, remembering a positive start made possible by one family farm. The positive stories give reason to celebrate and encourage the next generation of farm stewards to develop a mission not only for the farm but also a plan to positively impact people in a way that best fits the next generation. Skipping family and farm stories leaves a missing piece in the transition puzzle.,

Work Life Balance

We just finished our farmers’ market season. We are ready for a break. A break from extra early Saturday mornings and my husband working every night restocking the market trailer after working outside on the farm all day. I often spend evenings entering inventory or writing the newsletter. Therefore, the title of an old article I ran across struck me as important and something we could use a refresher course on. The article was about work life balance. It’s hard for those of us that come from what I refer to workaholic families. The unspoken rule was the more work you do the better. Family vacations could be counted on one hand with fingers left. This is not a good habit nor is never leaving the farm something to be proud of. Let me share what I learned from the article Robert Milligan of Dairy Strategies LLC wrote. Robert suggested four reasons for working “too” much. Our financial status doesn’t allow opportunity to hire sufficient labor to enable us to work reasonable hours. No one else is capable of doing the work we do. Time working is more urgent, even though not more important. There is nothing important to do in non-work time. The first reason is a challenge for many, but it’s also used to justify the next two reasons. The last reason often happens because while we’re young and able to handle all the physical labor farming requires. We don’t realize the need for hobbies and off farm activities. Sometimes we must force ourselves to get off the farm to develop other interests and nurture hobbies. It’s important to do so in order to develop interests before we don’t have other things to pursue when we need to slow down because our bodies can’t keep up with farming or it’s time to transition the farm. Those of us who work too much believe subconsciously or consciously, or unintentionally or intentionally that we are the only ones that can do the job right. We need to get past this challenge. Here are four suggestions we can learn from: Make Life Balance a Priority Steve Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Successful People) developed a four-quadrant rectangle, which included: 1. Quadrant of crisis, the goal is to reduce the time spent on these items. 2. Quadrant of Quality, the goal to expand the time spent on these items. It includes everything important but not currently urgent. The quadrant includes many work activities such as leadership, management, training, coaching, and professional development. It also includes much of our personal/family time. Two other quadrants include: 3. Quadrant of Deception and 4. Quadrant of Waste. This is where unimportant activities are located. Items we are doing that do not have value or are wasteful of our time. These can be eliminated. Success requires expanding the time available for Quadrant 2 activities. This is done by making these items a priority, by setting aside time in our schedule for these things. The first step is the hardest, start small and expand the time little by little. Remembering time management is not about time but about priorities. Plan for Life Balance We need to be off work at 5 pm to meet family obligations or evening meal but always work an extra hour or more because there are always uncompleted tasks that need to be completed. Many of us do that, we work too much because we don’t have a plan to do otherwise. Some ideas to help in this instance are: Outline what needs done. Determine what can reasonably be done in the time available. Complete high priority tasks only we can do first, even if they are tasks we tend to avoid. Delegate tasks to others. Become more efficient with work time. Train Others to Complete Some of Your Tasks Employee management, failing to recognize employee capabilities can be a huge area potential loss on a farm. Sharing responsibilities spreads the burden of tasks to be completed over a larger group of people. Stop focusing on the weaknesses of employees and look for the strengths and potential. Based on employee strengths and potential, select one task you currently do that one or more employees can successfully complete. Develop a plan: Create employee(s) excitement for the task Provide required training Establish performance expectations Coach and provide feedback, including comparing actual and expected performance expectations. When the employee is successfully managing the task, select another task to transfer from our task list. Not only are we freeing up more time for Quadrant 2 activities, including personal time, but we are also increasing productivity and job satisfaction of our employees as we trust them with the activities. Enhanced Personal Efficiency Sometimes stepping away from an activity is the best way to become refreshed to return and accomplish what needs to be done. While working through long days and nights without a break creates burnout. Failing work life balance also creates a very inefficient work style. The next time we just can’t go anymore get off the farm and do something, anything to create more work life balance. We will come back to the task refreshed and renewed, even if it’s a short break. Good work life balance makes a person more efficient at work and happier in life. It’s like a lot of things we know we should do but often don’t take time. Its time work on creating a better balance for the sake of our family, our farm and ourselves.