Guiding Families Through Farm Succession

This two-day certification course gives professionals a clear, repeatable process for helping farm families move through succession over time. The emphasis is not on producing a tax plan or drafting legal documents. It is on knowing how to lead the process – asking the right questions, facilitating productive conversations, navigating interpersonal challenges and helping a family turn difficult issues into decisions and action.

• A succession process that works. Define the stages, sequence and pace of a comprehensive engagement – from initial discovery through implementation and ongoing accountability.
• Conversations that move families forward. Create clarity around goals, roles, expectations, ownership, leadership, fairness and the future of the farm.
• Tools for communication and conflict. Address differing perspectives, avoidance, family dynamics, trust concerns and the interpersonal barriers that keep decisions from being made.
• Business strength and readiness. Analyze the strengths, vulnerabilities and overall readiness of the business to support a successful transition.
• Professionalizing the family business. Help families adopt practical best practices for governance, decision-making, accountability, financial visibility, role clarity and management discipline.
• Operational performance and leadership. Identify opportunities to improve performance, strengthen leadership capacity and prepare current and future leaders for greater responsibility.

• Guide a farm family through a structured, multi-stage succession process while keeping momentum and accountability over time.
• Recognize when communication, relationships, leadership or business practices are preventing progress – and know how to intervene productively.
• Work effectively alongside attorneys, CPAs, lenders and other advisors while maintaining responsibility for the people-centered process that connects their technical work.