IFTN 2021 Virtual Conference Day 3

IFTN Author

06/10/2021 Added

10 Plays

Description

IFTN 2021 Virtual Conference Day 3. 10-0:30 a.m.: Mediation in the World of Agriculture with Dr. Kiley Fleming. | 10:30-11 a.m.: Does Your HR Strategy Support a Smooth Farm Transition? with Jim Versweyveld | https://farmtransition.org

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.089]Allan Vyhnalek: Oh yay for me.
[00:00:02.760]Allan Vyhnalek: Alright well good morning to our last day of our Conference, I think i'm on right, am I on I am okay and there's a slide and here's our website and there's a couple couple things I want to say here quick one is.
[00:00:17.279]Allan Vyhnalek: The business thing the business meeting will be at 11 when we get done with a two talks, this morning, if you didn't join who would like to join it you haven't paid your your your membership dues.
[00:00:27.720]Allan Vyhnalek: We will trust you so if you send me your email via chat or send me your email via via email, I will send you the link to the business meeting so you can join us and be a part of that.
[00:00:39.060]Allan Vyhnalek: I don't want to leave anybody out there plans to be a member, I know that everyone that's registered for the conference, the link to the recording will be mailed either late afternoon or Friday or Monday i'll get that out.
[00:00:51.990]Allan Vyhnalek: i've already got the links to both Tuesday and Wednesday and my computer, I just have to get them to somebody so that.
[00:00:58.140]Allan Vyhnalek: get them to the guy that handled the registration, so you can get them out to everybody that did register, if you have any questions about that or, if you have any questions about.
[00:01:06.870]Allan Vyhnalek: Anything that's happened last few days, send them to me and i'll make sure that.
[00:01:10.830]Allan Vyhnalek: Somebody on the board handles them, although I will not be on the board meeting or somebody somebody will handle them will make sure that gets done.
[00:01:17.100]Allan Vyhnalek: So russ was going to introduce kylie but rounded croissants will have joy do that and then joy joy joy you're also going to introduce Jim here in half an hour so i'll shut up it's your turn joy go.
[00:01:33.690]Joy Kirkpatrick: Okay, thanks, so a lot of you may recognize kylie if you took our certified farm succession coordinator, training, I think she's been at almost every single one except maybe a couple so she is one of our trainers oh one Okay, and so.
[00:01:53.250]Joy Kirkpatrick: kylie i'm just going to read a few of the things you've probably saw her bio on the website, but.
[00:02:00.990]Joy Kirkpatrick: Most recently she's started working in 2015 at the iowa mediation service and she's the executive director there, and she also recently received her doctorate.
[00:02:13.110]Joy Kirkpatrick: In interdisciplinary leadership, she has a master's degree in human resources development and a bachelor's degree in psychology she works on.
[00:02:25.980]Joy Kirkpatrick: conflict management and communication, training and also conflict resolution and mediation sessions.
[00:02:33.330]Joy Kirkpatrick: And i've worked with Kelly, for a lot of years and she's one of my favorite people, and I think you guys will figure out why, if you haven't heard her speak before in this 30 minutes and I will let her get started, then.
[00:02:47.880]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Well, thank you joy and she's very gracious with those words i'm I feel the same about her joy is exceptional, and so I love our partnership.
[00:02:56.280]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because we only have half an hour today, I had to think really hard about what we were going to cover so because i've done so much training with the ips.
[00:03:06.360]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And with ins and getting kind of wear two hats and feel free to the chignon so we're going to be thinking about what is mediation.
[00:03:15.570]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And how does that parlay into the world of farm succession planning and how do you differentiate when you need that so some of the slides i'm not going to spend a lot of time on but i'm assuming enjoy your Alan you can chime in will these be shared with people afterwards.
[00:03:31.050]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Yes, so some of this is in here, for your reference point so close important for people to know that we've been around serving the.
[00:03:39.810]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: iowa farm Community since 1985 so we're well versed in in Midwest farming, at least I said, say, but we also.
[00:03:50.160]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Do mediation work in other areas, so it can have to do with business family employment in our faith issues, so the reason I bring that up is that although.
[00:04:02.730]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: you're thinking about the lens of farm and agriculture, there are times, where you'll be working with families where it might transcend that and there might be a time in a place for mediation to.
[00:04:14.190]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: be offered to somebody because of other issues that they're facing that might be making the farm transition or the farm succession difficult because, as we know.
[00:04:25.710]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Farming is a unique unique industry in that you know, like most of us when we're done with our day we're done with our day at five o'clock.
[00:04:34.800]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Our farmers do we know done with their day at five o'clock.
[00:04:38.280]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Their kitchen table serves as you know, their dinner plays their business transactions their child care Center everything and so that is what makes the transition process complicated.
[00:04:53.010]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So let's let's talk, first of all I know, we have some mediators in this session so bear with me as I get through this, but what is mediation, the key takeaway to thinking about is that mediation is a process where we serve as the facilitators.
[00:05:11.580]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Not necessarily to who decide like right versus wrong win and lose we're here to facilitate conversations, so the mediator serves as the neutral.
[00:05:25.440]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And we help them with the process we own the process that they own the outcome and that's what makes it different from some other processes, because if.
[00:05:35.370]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: If a farmer has a data credit issue and it needs to go to the court system, then it's the judge who makes that decision.
[00:05:42.960]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Or if they're an arbitration it's whoever is rendering that decision gets to make the final decision, the beauty of mediation is that they are there.
[00:05:54.300]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: In a voluntary capacity in terms of reaching an agreement or not, and so that's really important.
[00:06:01.650]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: To do make the distinction from other forms of alternative dispute resolution because really we're there to empower decision making.
[00:06:10.350]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so, in a lot of ways it's very similar to you all, if your coordinators we've talked about this a lot you've been in my training here joy say this, a lot that.
[00:06:20.250]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Our job is to drive the process for foreign succession planning, but it's their job to be responsible to the outcomes and to.
[00:06:31.470]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: whatever they want to see come to fruition and sometimes That means we might not agree with with the choices that they're making, and we see that in farm transitions we also see it in mediation and so it's really important that we use the lens of neutrality.
[00:06:49.560]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: To to know that.
[00:06:52.050]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: They are the best experts of the life that they're living, they are the best experts of the farm environment that they're in and so we're there, hopefully, to help them chart that course and, at the end.
[00:07:05.430]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: The difference between like mediation per se and perhaps the farm succession planning is the goal of mediation is to reach a memorialized agreement that really kind of button things up, and we know that in the transition planning that's not always the case, it can be ongoing.
[00:07:26.370]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: i'm working right now with the family that were several months in and and I first be that I will be working with them, possibly for.
[00:07:36.390]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: months, if not years, and that's the lens mediation is supposed to be a short term intervention, where farm succession planning is clearly going to be more long term and so when you're dealing with the family, then you're trying to decide okay what service do they need.
[00:07:59.130]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: it's important to be thinking, what do we expect in mediation that most mediation sessions are going to be a couple of hours.
[00:08:07.860]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Specifically in in far mediation because traditionally if you were to speak to most of the aggregators who are in this session, they will tell you that the vast majority of our work revolves around that are creditor issues.
[00:08:23.700]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And that can look like livestock grain homestead issues there also could be legal issues water rights, but these are going to be somewhat more transactional in nature.
[00:08:39.750]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: As opposed to the farm transition transition is going to have components of that but it's also going to have intergenerational the familial stuff and that's the stuff that's going to take to take.
[00:08:52.590]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: More time but like fun succession planning, we want to get information from them, we want to get the documents we're going to start with ground rules and opening statements we're going to give participants, the opportunity to talk using open ended.
[00:09:09.360]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Questions we want there to be joint conversations, sometimes, though, we will use a process it's called caucusing and coppicing means that we're going to break them out privately, because we know there are oftentimes where we need to let people.
[00:09:28.020]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Talk about things privately and if you've been in our farm succession planning session join we'll talk about that, like the risks of having people speak either Lee and that is something that mediators way as well.
[00:09:44.970]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: How do you decide conversations that need to be had as a collective group.
[00:09:49.530]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And when do you decide that you need to have private conversations and then, how do you communicate that to the parties that are there so that's the same kind of work that we're doing.
[00:09:59.820]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: In mediation is to decide and the ethics that are involved in that, and our responsibility to do the process.
[00:10:10.800]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Okay.
[00:10:12.270]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So as we're deciding if mediation is a good fit for this scenario we're going to be asking questions like.
[00:10:20.460]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Are there financial components to this what losses are involved do they have cash flows balance sheet accounting documents.
[00:10:30.000]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Is this a legal situation, at least in the state of iowa, I can tell you that the vast majority of our mediation cases that are debtor creditor.
[00:10:40.800]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Have attorneys present and that might sound counterintuitive because people are thinking well the whole the whole point in mediation is to avoid.
[00:10:48.930]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: litigation, but those attorneys will tell you that to that their job is to facilitate conversation oh.
[00:10:56.040]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: attorneys are trained to also be thinking of worst case scenarios to protect their clients, which is their job, and so it is not uncommon for.
[00:11:05.220]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Lawyers to sit in on both sides, so the farmer and maybe the banker, and sometimes we have to remind the attorneys that we are in charge of the process, and they can be in charge of what they need to on their end, and so a skilled mediator will know how to handle that.
[00:11:24.540]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: But there's the emotional part that we're looking at and and I apologize that I don't know what other people have spoken in the last couple of days, but I hope that they've highlighted that.
[00:11:34.770]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Farming is is stressful and as a result, the CDC has really highlighted the mental stress the high suicide rates.
[00:11:45.060]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so mediators are really in tune to that they're tuning to it in any environment, because we know that if people are coming to us.
[00:11:53.280]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: they're they're having some kind of dispute or conflict that needs to be resolved and for most people that's stressful.
[00:12:00.090]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: When you add the fact that in the farming industry, they already have pervasive stress in other areas, we really want to be in tune to see their emotional capacity and what needs might need to be there as well.
[00:12:16.530]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so, this question, we ask a family members, you should be asking as farm succession planners as well, have you talked to your spouse's.
[00:12:25.530]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Have you talked to other family members don't make assumptions that they have, because we know that that is not always the case within our families So what do you wish to accomplish.
[00:12:36.750]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And you know, we need to be talking about what kind of proposals should be made are they realistic so when we have that information, then we can decide does mediation fit.
[00:12:50.550]Okay.
[00:12:52.770]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So.
[00:12:54.630]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Once we have this information, we can be looking at several different lenses so i'm going to depart a little bit just from the mediation hat.
[00:13:01.620]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: But we need to be thinking about what is the appropriate service most of you who are helping farmers probably have other areas of expertise as well, is that the case joy, if I can put you on the spot okay.
[00:13:15.840]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So just like myself, I have a background in human resources and also work for IMS and so i'm a certified mediator i'm also a farm succession coordinator, so I will have to decide and a life coach so I could decide.
[00:13:34.680]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: What role makes sense, and so a good mediator will know when they need to bow out because it is not a fit so when you've asked all those previous questions that i've talked about, then you might say, well.
[00:13:48.900]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Is that a farm succession coordinator is that a mediator, is it a coach or perhaps it's even a trainer.
[00:13:58.380]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: But it also might be they need some outside intervention, they may actually just need to go to a lawyer for that thing or an accountant.
[00:14:08.220]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: They might need a psychologist or a pastor, and so our Our responsibility is to make sure that if their goal is to reach an intended outcome that we are.
[00:14:21.330]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: humble enough astute enough and observant enough to know that there can be different people that can meet those needs, and sometimes it's the case where all of those services could be needed.
[00:14:34.050]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So you could come in as the farm succession coordinator and then it might reveal itself along the way, that oh this particular component needs mediation.
[00:14:45.930]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so you might tell them hey i'm going to help coordinate this and then this particular piece, I think you need to see a mediator have them work their way through that.
[00:14:56.640]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Or it might be that their emotional state is such that they might need to get innovative counseling or a doctor a psychologist and we are not intended to be everything for all people, at all times, and so it is important to be aware of that.
[00:15:18.120]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So i'm calling this enjoy this is new to you i'm calling this the practitioner paradigm.
[00:15:23.640]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because if you've been in our training, you will know that we talked a lot about what are we wearing.
[00:15:28.920]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And we asked our families to think about this right now, are you, the father, are you the operator, are you.
[00:15:37.170]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: You know, whatever whatever it is, and that's become more and more complicated, as we have more generations on the farm and also, as we have more people working off the farm they might work for.
[00:15:50.610]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: You know, a seed company during the day, and they might do fire me and they might also be a parent it's no different for us so it's the practitioner paradigm.
[00:16:03.450]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And it is what is your role, because you might start I don't know if we have attorneys in the room, you might initially be hired as an attorney because they have a State planning.
[00:16:16.170]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And then, it comes to fruition, that what they really need as well is is some farm succession planning and then you have to ask yourself okay well what is my role.
[00:16:26.670]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because you cannot serve two masters and so it's the same with the practitioner paradigm, that it is not.
[00:16:37.140]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: ethically prudent for us to wear multiple hats at a time, so I would tell somebody, it is not a good practice to serve as both their attorney.
[00:16:48.540]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And as their farm succession coordinator same as mediators i'm working with a farm family right now that I think we're in our fourth or fifth session and they initially hired us for mediation.
[00:17:01.440]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And then it quickly became obvious that what they needed was farm succession coordination, and so I had to tell them, I can do this.
[00:17:09.780]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because we weren't so far in but you need to know that my current role as a mediator, no longer applies and so now, this is the role that I will be in so you need to be asking yourself what role currently in.
[00:17:25.920]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And is there a better role, to which I could be serving and then the question is, how will people know about the role that you're serving.
[00:17:34.710]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Are you letting them know the capacity that you're in and also, are you letting them know what they can expect now that you're in that role.
[00:17:44.010]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because I call this kind of the the expert fallacy of believing that people always know what we do and this you'll see this when people use jargon that's common for you it's not for them.
[00:17:59.520]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: it's it's assuming that people know all the tasks that are involved, so I could gloss over and say oh i'm a mediator and assume that people know what it means to actually mediate.
[00:18:11.310]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so, this is especially important, if you are a person that hangs your shingle up as a sole practitioner, maybe like you're an attorney or you're an accountant.
[00:18:21.360]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: If you're going to shift into a farm succession role it's important that they know that you're doing that and that you have their collective buy in and that they also know what those expectations are.
[00:18:33.810]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: and happy considered the risks and rewards of your role because remember they own the outcome so it's important to know Okay, if you hire kindly the mediator here's what xyz might happen.
[00:18:46.980]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: If you hire kylie as a farm succession coordinator here's what X, Y Z might happen and then let them decide.
[00:18:56.220]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: What makes sense, how will they be impacted and then ethical considerations, because if, as we know, if you're hired as a doctor, there are hipaa laws right if you're hired.
[00:19:09.810]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: As an attorney their attorney client privileges, and so there can be different ethical responsibilities just by the capacity and the role that you're in and you need to make sure that they are aware of that.
[00:19:22.110]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: same goes with mediation, there are certain things that even if people wanted to subpoena a mediator later down the line, they wouldn't be able to do that.
[00:19:33.300]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because we have confidentiality laws that protect us it's important that they know that it's important that they know that if they call you as a farm succession coordinator and complain about their their brother is that going to be shared with the brother okay.
[00:19:53.010]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So then, once you've decided what lane you're going to be in.
[00:19:57.000]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: If they've hired us as a mediator, we need to know what that plan is going to look like if they've hired you as the farm succession coordinator, what is that plan going to look like.
[00:20:07.050]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So at this point, you might want to talk about who are the practitioners, who are involved in those services and then.
[00:20:14.520]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Which individuals should be involved is the participants, so, in other words if you're a farm succession coordinator and you hire a mediator, all of the people that you have in the farm succession plan might not be involved in the mediation depending on what's going on.
[00:20:31.890]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: No different than if somebody needs counseling services, not the entire family might go to the the counseling session they might but they might not so we need to have discussions about who needs to be involved.
[00:20:45.510]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And then the cost and contracts associated, we should never blindside people with costs afterwards mediation not free bottom succession planning is is not free and then make sure that they know that the role that you're in.
[00:21:01.680]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: What documents are going to be required meeting times and spaces, we talked about a lot this a lot about this in the coordination training probably not a good idea to meet at the farm table if you can help it no different than.
[00:21:16.110]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: us as mediators we're going to try to find neutral spaces we're going to try to find conducive times is there going to be pre or post homework required of them.
[00:21:27.510]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Also, what are the expectations of them and of yourself and this part lays into the ground rules, so this might be rules of please turn off your cell phone we do this and mediation.
[00:21:40.740]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: can't have you recording this session i'm even talking about like how our breaks, going to be handled, how are we going to speak to each other.
[00:21:50.520]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And with the farm family that can even be i'm even like what titles are going to be used.
[00:21:57.720]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: I work with my mom a lot and quite a few people in the room, actually know my mom because she worked for I was stayed extension and there have been times, where i've had to hire her when i'll hire her, she is beth flooding.
[00:22:11.670]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: When we go out to dinner she's mom okay.
[00:22:17.280]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And we do that some of the paradigm part and also to help differentiate roles to create professionalism, you might want to be thinking about within your your farm families, the best ways to do that.
[00:22:31.590]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Mediation very similar to farm succession, in that we want to know what the benchmarks are going to be, how do we know when we have achieved intended outcome.
[00:22:41.640]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so along the way, how are you going to measure that and then with mediation like I talked about the agreement at the end, we want something that is tangible for them this doesn't always happen, but obviously it's our goal.
[00:22:57.450]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: it's a goal and farm succession planning to to have documents created along the way, if it makes sense, right now, i'm working with the farm family where their.
[00:23:06.990]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: homework is creating job descriptions, so that is going to be one of the documents that they're actually going to create.
[00:23:14.220]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: There are times that our create documents times they will, but again we're going to try really hard not to make assumptions and make sure that everybody knows what their roles are.
[00:23:26.220]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And then, what i'd like to just talk in our last you know eight or nine minutes before I throw it out for some questions is that a reminder that agriculture is unique and so when we train our ag mediators we tell them that we really want them to have this critical mindset of flexibility.
[00:23:50.100]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because farm conditions could change overnight.
[00:23:53.880]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: We saw this in the Midwest when the trade show went through which is something that we hadn't seen really in forever.
[00:24:01.440]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: That can change things overnight somebody in our breakout session talked about the fact that they're in North Dakota is 100 degree heat in June.
[00:24:11.130]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so I heard him say i'm not going to go out on the breakout session because I need to be mindful and respectful to the conditions that are out there, we need to pay the same respect to farmers who might have to cancel a meeting on us because something pops up and to try to be.
[00:24:33.030]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: realistic and hold them accountable as mediators, we do tell people stress always comes up, and so you have to be equipped with that, but also to make sure.
[00:24:44.760]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: That we are empathetic so that's what it is i'm trying to create understanding that it's difficult for these families to separate the business paradigm from the family paradigm, so what we train about.
[00:25:00.690]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: makes sense, in theory, which is always treat the business, like the business always treat family like family, you know we want that, in the mediation world as well.
[00:25:09.570]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: When we work in debtor creditor things it'd be easy to say always replace pay your loan well no duh right don't, we all know that it's like me saying don't smoke it's bad for your lungs.
[00:25:21.960]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: that's not a new concept right, and if it were so easy to just stop smoking we'd have no smokers right.
[00:25:29.130]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And if it were so easy for families and businesses to just totally fraction eight those we wouldn't have you know any family business disputes so understand that the nature of their work is is very different than what most of us deal with, day in and day out in our business world.
[00:25:49.890]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And then, our mindset in terms of agriculture really needs to focus on clarity, because for a lot of people this process is new to them.
[00:26:01.890]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Even the process of farm succession planning is relatively new because if you look at generations past people didn't live long enough to have four generations on the farm.
[00:26:15.000]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And if they did it wasn't necessarily a formalized strategic plan because technology has changed.
[00:26:23.040]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Prices have changed competition has changed, so we need to make sure that we are very clear about what this formalized strategic planning is going to look like and not make assumptions.
[00:26:36.570]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: That that they are comfortable with it or familiar with it and to try to put them at ease and as mediators that's what we tried to do.
[00:26:45.900]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And we really tried to empower them along the way, and I talked about this, but really to have empathy.
[00:26:53.340]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Farming some of the highest rates of stress mental illness and suicide when I say mental illness i'm talking about Depression and anxiety specifically.
[00:27:01.530]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And so to try to empathize that their feelings their perspectives are very are very real are very valid and can be very concerning at times and to really dial and to really dial into that.
[00:27:16.560]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: So when everybody stays in their lane it helps create success because it is important to remind ourselves Our job is to help them map their journey their job is to determine and own the outcomes.
[00:27:31.740]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And sometimes I think it's when the best of intentions, we want so badly for good things to flow, we want these farmers to be successful.
[00:27:41.640]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: We want people who are in dispute to resolve it, we want people that are mentally anguishing to feel free from that that it's from a good place.
[00:27:53.880]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And yet it is also our responsibility to honor the process it's kind of like you hear like love with limits love with boundaries.
[00:28:04.800]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because the best way for us to empower people is for them to own that and that doesn't mean that we.
[00:28:12.510]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: You know, leave them out there without a life best clearly we're going to get people the experts that they need it still on them, though, to decide if they're going to utilize those experts are they going to utilize the plans.
[00:28:26.460]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: That they put in place, it is frustrating when you give people goals and homework and they may be, take longer than we want or they may be don't do it, or there may be dismissive.
[00:28:38.250]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: When we can really try to divorce ourselves, though, from that personal feeling to say not my circus not my monkeys.
[00:28:47.550]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Because my best way is to care about them is to not care so much that I get into those weeds so really it is from a place of caring care enough not to care if that makes any sense.
[00:29:02.220]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And that's what mediators have to do, because at the end we love seeing the agreements.
[00:29:09.120]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And, not because we want the stats to be there, but it's because we want we're first servers of people right and every one of you in this room.
[00:29:16.920]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: wants to serve people well and so just to remind yourself that the best way to serve people is to allow them to serve themselves so in a lot of ways mediation imparts succession planning are very, very similar and that's why you've heard being kind of toggle back and forth.
[00:29:34.350]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: You know the distinction, there is that hopefully find succession coordination isn't a matter of.
[00:29:41.490]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: Resolving and managing conflict in dispute the entire way through, but you will learn that it's it is part of life mediation is predicated on the idea.
[00:29:52.500]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: That we're helping them manage and have those difficult times so as you work with family just be thinking like could mediation fit in there, because all.
[00:30:03.810]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: All states how mediators that are there 42 of the 50 states have mediation organizations that are similar to IMS that work with the Federal usda to ensure that there are certified mediators.
[00:30:18.330]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: That really have their handle on ag mediations, and so I would encourage you in your fate be looking are we one of those dates and you can look at the organization of Camp the coalition of agricultural mediation program and on there, it will list the 42.
[00:30:38.490]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: statewide organizations and their executive directors, because although all mediators can serve dispute you do want somebody that understands the unique facets of agriculture who've been certified that's recognized by by the usda okay so.
[00:31:00.480]Darlene Livingston: We have about one minute left.
[00:31:02.310]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: yeah okay sorry it's the last is my contact information I know a lot of information it's hard for me to get it all in and half an hour, hopefully, you found this helpful any quick questions for me.
[00:31:21.240]Joy Kirkpatrick: I will say quickly the last part that kylie kind of emphasized of that empathy but also.
[00:31:29.760]Joy Kirkpatrick: not getting so involved, we have we've actually done a training with some of our colleagues that we call you can't want it more than they do.
[00:31:36.720]Joy Kirkpatrick: So, because that's we see that happen right, we might be working with one of the.
[00:31:45.300]Joy Kirkpatrick: generations and see that they're very motivated, but that other generation might not be as much so, you have to be taking that all in context and know that they're not maybe up going at it at the same time, in the same pace, so making sure that you.
[00:32:01.350]Joy Kirkpatrick: As kylie said, you have the framework for them to be able to work through but not making the decisions for them.
[00:32:09.240]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: And in our world is they don't work harder than them.
[00:32:12.300]Joy Kirkpatrick: yeah.
[00:32:13.230]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: kind of the same same concept.
[00:32:15.060]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: yeah yep.
[00:32:17.670]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: I know this is a lot of information go ahead.
[00:32:20.550]Allan Vyhnalek: No i'm sorry go ahead.
[00:32:23.700]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: No, I was just going to say my email was on there because I knew it would be hard to do a lot of Q amp a but, but if we have a couple of seconds if there's anybody who does have one.
[00:32:33.900]Kiley - Iowa Mediation Service: thing.
[00:32:34.500]I think we better.
[00:32:37.230]Allan Vyhnalek: I think we better keep going or otherwise, going to be related with everything I don't want to keep people too much past 11 and we gotta get going on the business being too, so I apologize kylie I do feel bad about that.
[00:32:47.160]Allan Vyhnalek: I got two.
[00:32:48.120]Allan Vyhnalek: very quick I got two very quick announcements to make before kylie you're just so our last speaker.
[00:32:53.010]Allan Vyhnalek: One reminder is that if you are a few you should have an email from us give get the link to the business meeting.
[00:32:59.400]Allan Vyhnalek: If you joined if you didn't join and Watson intend to join, while trust you send me your email via chat and I will get to the email, so you can join to this thing and we'll figure out how to get you paid later, on the other thing quickly for everyone.
[00:33:14.040]Allan Vyhnalek: If you have ideas for topics that we did not cover in this year's conference just send them via the chat either to me or to everyone and we'll take we'll we'll record those two and a new board will decide.
[00:33:26.640]Allan Vyhnalek: How to put next year's conference together, so I think I think that'd be kind of cool just if you got ideas well here's what we didn't get to know we're not going to take offense on that just understand that will use that as a base for next setting up next year's conference okay.
[00:33:42.210]Allan Vyhnalek: i'll start introducing Thank you Kelly great job joy.
[00:33:45.000]Allan Vyhnalek: Keep introducing sorry.
[00:33:46.050]Joy Kirkpatrick: Okay, so our last speaker for the conference is Jim persuade build and he works with us here in Wisconsin as an agricultural extension educator for walworth county, which is in the south east corner of the state.
[00:34:00.450]Joy Kirkpatrick: He works, mostly in human resource management firm safety and health and animal well being he began extension and.
[00:34:09.570]Joy Kirkpatrick: But he has past experience in the private sector and dairy genetics and reproduction.
[00:34:14.460]Joy Kirkpatrick: agribusiness and human resources management, he has a bachelor's degree in animal science from cornell and a masters of science in occupational safety from.
[00:34:24.060]Joy Kirkpatrick: University of Wisconsin white water and I just want to say that I really enjoyed Jim being on our farm management team, and I think he brings a lot of.
[00:34:35.670]Joy Kirkpatrick: Such good experience to our extension educated education and i'm happy that we were able to get him here today and i'm excited to see what he has to say about your HR strategy for smooth farm transition.
[00:34:52.890]Jim Versweyveld: Thank you joy, I appreciate the kind introduction and good morning everyone happy to be with you this morning.
[00:35:02.190]Jim Versweyveld: I think, as practitioners of farm succession, we are all familiar with the challenges that fine family dynamics can play.
[00:35:11.340]Jim Versweyveld: In farm succession, but this morning i'd like to focus on a group that sometimes gets overlooked during the farm transition and that's the employees so we're going to talk a little bit about how we as practitioners can support an HR strategy and lead farm teams through times of change.
[00:35:34.650]Jim Versweyveld: So what I hope to cover is how we can introduce the concept of change management to the farms that we're working with talk to them a little bit about defining their organizational structure.
[00:35:49.890]Jim Versweyveld: we'll talk about the value of job descriptions some communication considerations that I think are key for employees during these stressful times, and then the value of reinforcing positive farm culture.
[00:36:04.140]Jim Versweyveld: So what is change management exactly that may be a concept that is not familiar to a lot of the farms that we're working with.
[00:36:12.570]Jim Versweyveld: But change management is basically formalizing the change process so putting a plan in writing getting people to commit to a timeline that really talks about what's going to be happening to the farm and and how it affects all of them.
[00:36:31.290]Jim Versweyveld: I think it's important to touch on why employees fear change change is stressful, we know that in the groups that we work with but there's a number of things that are.
[00:36:44.520]Jim Versweyveld: I think particular to employees during these times, one is loss of status or job security, so they may feel particularly those employees that have been with the farm for a while.
[00:36:56.670]Jim Versweyveld: That they have really got a solid place and they've got they're an important part of the team when leadership changes that all feels a little shaky and uncertain.
[00:37:07.920]Jim Versweyveld: there's a surprise and just the fear of the unknown, they may not have seen a transition coming they may not have understood exactly why the transition is happening.
[00:37:18.810]Jim Versweyveld: So there's fear sometimes there's peer pressure, so we can go into a change feeling okay about it, you know feeling like yeah this could work, but then other naysayers.
[00:37:33.180]Jim Versweyveld: Sometimes, our co workers will change that feeling for us so some peer pressure that makes us think that wow maybe this isn't going to be a good thing at all.
[00:37:45.270]Jim Versweyveld: Sometimes there's a climate of mistrust, you know in all organizations.
[00:37:50.520]Jim Versweyveld: we're going to talk a little bit later about the the value of culture, and I think some farms have an us against them kind of a mentality and so there may be some mistrust within the organization.
[00:38:02.670]Jim Versweyveld: organizational politics we've all seen it it happens in virtually every organization that there are you know, sometimes people with powerful influences that will kind of discredit the whole process or or make us fear uncomfortable with the change and then fear of failure.
[00:38:25.650]Jim Versweyveld: Many times employees will feel as very strong allegiance to that owner generation, and so they may view the successor generation as.
[00:38:36.690]Jim Versweyveld: I don't know if they're going to be able to do this, I don't I don't know if this is going to work, so there may be a fear of failure.
[00:38:44.670]Jim Versweyveld: So when you're working with farms on change management try to introduce these four concepts to them.
[00:38:51.570]Jim Versweyveld: As a way to make sure that the changes successful first step is simply awareness, make sure the employees know what's happening, and that includes all employees all shifts just so they know they know what the plan change is.
[00:39:07.800]Jim Versweyveld: it's always a good idea to try to do this in a really tight timeframe, so that different groups aren't hearing different messages and then creating a rumor mill that can be very disruptive also it's a great idea to pull your leadership team together prior to the announcement.
[00:39:28.320]Jim Versweyveld: brief them on what you're going to say so that they fully understand what's happening and then that leadership team can then in turn field questions from the employees as they come up.
[00:39:40.680]Jim Versweyveld: next phase in the change management process is knowledge, so this is where you actually explain, who, what, when exactly what's going to happen.
[00:39:51.540]Jim Versweyveld: A timeline is critical in this piece, so that they understand you know what's going to happen next with the process.
[00:39:58.380]Jim Versweyveld: Then we move into ability ability is all about identifying any skill gaps that may have occurred so in the leadership transition it's very likely that.
[00:40:11.370]Jim Versweyveld: That owner generation, maybe we'll call it tribal knowledge that they had that nobody else seems to know consider all aspects that aren't written down somewhere.
[00:40:23.820]Jim Versweyveld: That could possibly be lost and make sure that you train to those skill gaps and then lastly reinforcement, this is the type of messaging that you have to say it say it again say it again.
[00:40:39.660]Jim Versweyveld: And that can be through meetings update meetings newsletters if the farm uses a newsletter encourage them to include it there could be postings in the break room.
[00:40:52.050]Jim Versweyveld: While you want to encourage questions and open dialogue, you want to try to avoid a lot of one off conversations.
[00:40:59.370]Jim Versweyveld: Where people know something that the rest of the group doesn't know because that's what can create conflict and anxiety so try to make sure that you're delivering the same message consistently across the groups.
[00:41:14.250]Jim Versweyveld: Okay now let's shift gears a little bit and talk about org structures so during times of transition it's really important that farms put down to paper exactly who reports to who and in the case of a farm transition, you know, this could be new leadership, this could be new.
[00:41:32.700]Jim Versweyveld: middle managers, it could be new team leads in some place but certainly that top layer of management is going to be different during a farm transition.
[00:41:44.370]Jim Versweyveld: Why our farm organizational structures confusing to employees, I think you know as kylie mentioned earlier there's aspects of farms that are unique and Arc structures are certainly.
[00:41:57.240]Jim Versweyveld: One thing that we see kind of some characteristics about farms that make them interesting.
[00:42:04.080]Jim Versweyveld: One is lack of definition, so, in some cases farms don't have an org structure they've never actually determined it they're basing a lot on assumptions and they're not really.
[00:42:14.910]Jim Versweyveld: documenting or defining what the org structure looks like sometimes there's gaps in onboarding so maybe an org structure actually does exist.
[00:42:24.510]Jim Versweyveld: But as people are brought on as new hires are brought into the organization it's not fully explained to them, we see this a lot with part timers transitioning to full time.
[00:42:35.670]Jim Versweyveld: So, because they've been working on the farm and a part time capacity there's assumptions may that they've been fully trained and on boarded and sometimes that isn't the case at all.
[00:42:46.260]Jim Versweyveld: there's blended roles on many of our farms so there's a dairy farm here and walworth county where the calf manager also does payroll.
[00:42:55.800]Jim Versweyveld: Why does the caf manager do payroll well, simply because she's good at the software that they use to do payroll so blended roles are not uncommon on farms.
[00:43:06.870]Jim Versweyveld: Many farms are 24 seven operations so sometimes what we see is a clearly defined organizational structure of who reports to who, during the day shift, but on nights and weekends it's less clear who exactly is in charge.
[00:43:24.450]Jim Versweyveld: Seasonal demands are something we see on our farm so during planting and harvest it's all hands on deck I visited with a large dairy farm recently the spring and.
[00:43:37.560]Jim Versweyveld: it's a son Father uncle partnership, and so the sun was explaining to me his role on the farm and he said i'm in charge of everything with a pulse so calves cows and people, and then you pause for a second, he said, but today i'm planting corn.
[00:43:56.310]Jim Versweyveld: So that's what we see how many of our farms that seasonal demands come up and people are pulled into different capacities and then.
[00:44:05.430]Jim Versweyveld: I think that I find fascinating about farms is the implied hierarchy of family members.
[00:44:11.670]Jim Versweyveld: So many times on farms, we see a blended workforce of family members and non family members and it's confusing for people that come into that organization so like uncle billy has the same last name as the owner, does that mean uncle billy's my boss to.
[00:44:29.730]Jim Versweyveld: My just a quick story, so my sister and brother in law have a you pick.
[00:44:36.870]Jim Versweyveld: Fruit and Vegetable operation in the Hudson valley of New York state they run about 15 to 20 employees seasonally and Chris my brother in law, said to me recently that his best employees his go to people are his two nephews.
[00:44:55.200]Jim Versweyveld: And you know, I have no doubt that Greg and josh are excellent employees, but I wonder what that feels like, given that the fact that they're 19 and 17 years old, to the other employees that actually work there that are non family members, we see that a lot on farms.
[00:45:12.570]Jim Versweyveld: we're going to talk briefly about the value of job descriptions and kylie mentioned this in her talk as well.
[00:45:19.200]Jim Versweyveld: job descriptions during times of transition, are particularly valuable I mean we all know the value of job descriptions in.
[00:45:27.120]Jim Versweyveld: hiring the right person attracting candidates to the position they typically become a job posting when we're when we have vacancies.
[00:45:35.760]Jim Versweyveld: They described major areas of accountability, hopefully, there are a reference point for compensation so, for example.
[00:45:44.970]Jim Versweyveld: If your maintenance crew if you're saying that welding is a function of that job, remember that welding is a skill that should drive higher compensation.
[00:45:57.750]Jim Versweyveld: And then, while job descriptions are certainly not a legal document, they can, in some cases to defend or guard against unfair hiring practices, so if the farm was say faced with a wrongful discharge lawsuit it's valuable to have job descriptions on hand.
[00:46:20.400]Jim Versweyveld: And a couple other things on job descriptions so during times of transitions it's valuable valuable to have those standard operating procedures as part of your.
[00:46:33.000]Jim Versweyveld: job descriptions, it can.
[00:46:36.510]Jim Versweyveld: As leadership changes on a farm, we often see employees start to cherry pick.
[00:46:43.500]Jim Versweyveld: The aspects of the job that they like to do versus the aspects of the jobs that they need to do and we're all guilty of it, I think we all, when we have a tasks, the list of tasks to do.
[00:46:53.700]Jim Versweyveld: We pick off the ones that we want to do first, and I think that's just human nature, it also avoids the possibility of people saying not my job, because when it's documented then it's hard to argue what exactly is your job.
[00:47:14.820]Jim Versweyveld: Okay, so if you as a practitioner are sitting down with a farm that doesn't have job descriptions there's a few things key things that you'll want to take note of.
[00:47:25.560]Jim Versweyveld: What are the what's the purpose of the job, what are the responsibilities, what are some of the methods so, for example, if one of the tools that this particular job would use would be a skid steer then hopefully there's skid steer training as part of the.
[00:47:42.690]Jim Versweyveld: onboarding for the person to that job the chain of command relationship to other positions with at the farm.
[00:47:50.640]Jim Versweyveld: qualifications, you know, say, the position requires.
[00:47:55.200]Jim Versweyveld: A CDA well it's important that that be spelled out and documented in the job description.
[00:48:03.090]Jim Versweyveld: During challenge of farm transition it's particularly important that we account for technology future trends and the needs of the farm.
[00:48:13.590]Jim Versweyveld: it's very common that the successor generation will have some ideas of different ways to do things that maybe haven't been done in the past, and all of those new technologies and skills should really be defined.
[00:48:30.570]Jim Versweyveld: In the job description.
[00:48:34.920]Jim Versweyveld: Our discussion on job descriptions leads us nicely into.
[00:48:40.860]Jim Versweyveld: career path thing so career path thing again maybe a concept that many of you farms that you're working with are not familiar with.
[00:48:48.390]Jim Versweyveld: But basically, it acknowledges that employees may have different interests and seek new challenges.
[00:48:54.630]Jim Versweyveld: We see some farms, sometimes say well you know I need a milk or i'm going to hire a milk or well some people will be fine with that and will be a milk or for many, many years.
[00:49:06.810]Jim Versweyveld: But other employees won't be okay with that and they're going to want to seek out other opportunities within the farm, so that they can grow and change and develop within the farm career paths allow the employee to grow and expand and pursue new interest that they may have.
[00:49:24.480]Jim Versweyveld: during times of transition, having career paths available on your farm are particularly important, because that can actually help employees view the change whenever the changes that's taking place on the farm as an opportunity versus a threat because they may see doors opening for them.
[00:49:44.040]Jim Versweyveld: As far as new careers, that they can.
[00:49:48.420]Jim Versweyveld: be involved in on the farm.
[00:49:51.480]Jim Versweyveld: A couple communication considerations that i'd like to call to your attention and, and this is something that I think we all know, kylie mentioned it in her talk, but on a farm many decisions are made at the kitchen table.
[00:50:07.080]Jim Versweyveld: that's normal that's natural, many of them are farm family businesses so it's it's not unusual for decisions to be made at the at the kitchen table the problem with that is your employees are at the kitchen table so they're not hearing what's happening during those discussions.
[00:50:26.160]Jim Versweyveld: There is a dairy farm very close by to where I live, about six miles away, they have the senior generation is approaching retirement age.
[00:50:39.120]Jim Versweyveld: They have one daughter, and while she's active on the farm she's not interested in having that be her primary vocation, so the family at the kitchen table decided to disperse the hurt they're selling their cows.
[00:50:53.970]Jim Versweyveld: Their herdsmen who's been with them for over 20 years heard that they were selling the cows from a neighbor while shopping at tractor supply.
[00:51:05.250]Jim Versweyveld: So, nobody told the herdsman that they were dispersing the herd, so you know here's an example of why it's important to have business meetings on your farm and to discuss openly the things you can discuss openly with the employees so they're not caught off guard.
[00:51:25.680]Jim Versweyveld: Change creates communication challenges, we know that anytime there is a significant organizational change communication becomes a challenge.
[00:51:38.400]Jim Versweyveld: The bottom line here is that you cannot over communicate to your employees during times of organizational change communicate consistently frequently use multiple channels, sometimes multiple languages, depending on the nature of your workforce.
[00:51:56.010]Jim Versweyveld: communicate all you know about the change obviously there's legal and financial aspects of a farm succession that won't be shared broadly with the employees, but share what you can, particularly the timeline and will, and what it means for them.
[00:52:11.100]Jim Versweyveld: Allow questions encourage dialogue.
[00:52:14.760]Jim Versweyveld: Go back to the vision and mission of your farm succession so to keep reminding them of why this is happening communicate the reasons for the change if the owner generation is simply wanting to.
[00:52:28.830]Jim Versweyveld: take some time off and relax tell them that otherwise they could you know assume the worst and think someone is ill.
[00:52:38.220]Jim Versweyveld: Listen, the old adage two ears one mouth is important during these times of change avoid being defensive.
[00:52:48.480]Jim Versweyveld: And remember, there are some other key non employees that should be involved in the communication strategy, this could be heard, veterinarians nutritionist key suppliers that deserve to know kind of some of the changes that are taking place at the farm.
[00:53:08.940]Jim Versweyveld: rumors are inevitable whenever change of this magnitude happens prepare the farm team farm leadership team for rumor mill because it's it's going to take place, the leaders of the farm should really address those rumors directly don't pretend that they're going to go away or that.
[00:53:29.490]Jim Versweyveld: You know they're just so ridiculous who could ever think that well somebody thinks that or the rumor wouldn't have started so try to address those issues directly as soon as they happen.
[00:53:40.890]Jim Versweyveld: prepare for conflict so conflict is very likely to raise its ugly head we've all seen it with family members, but it actually happens with employees as well.
[00:53:50.940]Jim Versweyveld: It usually has to do with power struggles, where people see an opportunity to kind of insert themselves into a role that maybe they weren't in before.
[00:54:01.710]Jim Versweyveld: Sometimes employees will view the change as an unmanageable workload, maybe the conflict is about having to take on too many tasks or more tasks tasks as that owner generation exits the business.
[00:54:17.910]Jim Versweyveld: during times of transition, we often see opportunities for people in regards of promotions, but remember every time you make a promotion you've disappointed the other people who thought the promotion was coming their way.
[00:54:33.510]Jim Versweyveld: So again, this is going to create conflict within the employee team.
[00:54:38.730]Jim Versweyveld: And then, sometimes, as I mentioned earlier there's loyalty to pay asked so many times employees feel very connected to that owner generation.
[00:54:49.110]Jim Versweyveld: And they really will be quick to say things like boy that's not the way bill if I did things you know we we see that often and that's something that should be addressed by the successor generation, so the employees are confident that.
[00:55:08.070]Jim Versweyveld: The ship is in good hands.
[00:55:13.560]Jim Versweyveld: there's a strong case for business workplace culture during times of transition, we work with farms quite a bit on improving their workplace culture.
[00:55:25.080]Jim Versweyveld: Building positive workplace culture is definitely a competitive advantage for farms, it helps them recruit it helps them retain.
[00:55:33.000]Jim Versweyveld: Every farm has a culture, it may not be the culture that they want to have but they certainly have one.
[00:55:40.080]Jim Versweyveld: So we encourage farm owners and managers to be intentional intentional about the type of culture that they want to build so really make an effort to.
[00:55:52.320]Jim Versweyveld: Have a positive culture that attracts employees and makes them feel part of the team and makes them feel like they are valued and respected.
[00:56:03.420]Jim Versweyveld: during times of farms transition this business culture is is increasingly critical if the culture on the farm is a very positive one.
[00:56:14.010]Jim Versweyveld: it's really critical to maintain that culture, through the transition if the culture on the farm is not so positive the transition is actually an opportunity to make a change to actually make some changes and and work on make efforts to improve the culture of the farm.
[00:56:35.310]Jim Versweyveld: So, in summary, I just want to remind you, as practitioners in farm transition that devoting upfront planning to employee communication is really critical and should be part of the change management process.
[00:56:55.230]Jim Versweyveld: Nothing can scuttle a business initiative faster than an unhappy workforce, so you can have all your ducks in a row.
[00:57:03.390]Jim Versweyveld: For the farm transition, you can have family members coming to a table and agreeing on things, but if you find that your workforce is resigning left and right because of the change it's going to be different, difficult to have any kind of business continuity.
[00:57:23.670]Jim Versweyveld: So that's my summary I guess on the value of employee communication and i'll open it up to any questions.
[00:57:35.490]Joy Kirkpatrick: And there's a question in the chat that i'll read out to you if that's okay great Thank you Okay, can you address the situation where competent key employees advise you that the child successor is not competent to move into a management position.
[00:57:51.150]Jim Versweyveld: yeah we've definitely seen that situation where there are naysayers in the workforce, I think that's a great time for.
[00:58:03.000]Jim Versweyveld: kind of a mediation sessions so sit the two of them down and really get to you know set some ground rules as to here's what we're going to talk about here's what we're not going to talk about.
[00:58:14.940]Jim Versweyveld: And we're really going to get this out on the table and we're going to say okay So what are the concerns and how will those be addressed, because if a key leader within the farm really feel strongly that this isn't the right move.
[00:58:29.460]Jim Versweyveld: Those things perpetuate through the workforce those things will will definitely follow through so it's it's it's you can't ignore it, you can't pretend it's going to go away, you have to address it directly and I would suggest addressing it directly with the two individuals involved.
[00:58:48.690]Joy Kirkpatrick: yeah other questions you can unmute yourself and ask or type them into the chat we have just.
[00:58:54.900]Joy Kirkpatrick: Three more minutes or so.
[00:59:18.210]Joy Kirkpatrick: Well, I want to thank Jim and I didn't get a chance to think kylie I don't know if she's still on but I appreciate, both you guys been able to.
[00:59:26.670]Joy Kirkpatrick: Speak to these topics.
[00:59:30.270]Joy Kirkpatrick: I think it's.
[00:59:32.730]Joy Kirkpatrick: Very important to think about that your.
[00:59:36.870]Joy Kirkpatrick: Your staff, as well as your family members so.
[00:59:45.450]Joy Kirkpatrick: i'm going to turn it over.
[00:59:47.010]Allan Vyhnalek: To still type into chat and i'll give them a chance to ask you another question, this is a reminder, if you have topics that we didn't cover that you want next year's conference to cover.
[00:59:55.410]Allan Vyhnalek: throw them in the chat room said one of us on the board that email I don't care how you handle that.
[00:59:59.610]Allan Vyhnalek: And we're in a world will end it we're going to stop the recording and end this session here in a couple minutes a couple three minutes.
[01:00:06.030]Allan Vyhnalek: Whatever it takes and then we're going to take like a one or two minute break and we'll start the business meeting.
[01:00:10.500]Allan Vyhnalek: And that will be for the people that have full memberships if you want a membership if you're going to join and you didn't join yet or don't have that second email to get on that.
[01:00:18.990]Allan Vyhnalek: you're welcome to send me a note and i'll get you that link to that this this presentation will trust you to pay your dues so to be a part of the organization.
[01:00:32.880]Allan Vyhnalek: Jim thanks great job I appreciate it very much.
[01:00:48.750]Allan Vyhnalek: Anything else anything else cause joy I can't believe we're done a minute early that's just crazy to me I figured we'd be three or four minutes late.
[01:00:57.630]Allan Vyhnalek: Right.
[01:00:59.160]Allan Vyhnalek: I will i'm going to stop the recording thanks everybody, and thanks for being a part of our conferences year and Oh, by the way, a quick reminder that.
[01:01:08.310]Allan Vyhnalek: The link smaller recordings will be for the three days will be sent to you.
[01:01:12.840]Allan Vyhnalek: Hopefully, tomorrow, no later than Monday, if I can get pulled off and we'll we'll kind of go from there, so thanks i'm gonna stop the recording where to stop this and it will get on your other link and we'll be right with you alright have a great day.
[01:01:27.180]Joy Kirkpatrick: Thanks Alan seeing a little bit.
[01:01:29.190]yeah.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

IFTN 2021 Virtual Conference Day 3

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments