Trevor Dickinson

Are you a consultant or other outsider trying to help a farmer hand over to the next generation? If so, you’re probably meeting with resistance! Trevor Dickinson suggests ways in which to bring about change.

To understand why the members of a family business might be reluctant to initiate succession planning, it’s important to consider the family’s life stage at the time of succession, writes Trevor Dickinson.

These three groups of people often struggle, for different reasons, to come to terms with succession planning. Their reluctance, writes Trevor Dickinson, may reinforce the founder’s reluctance to take the process seriously.

Lack of succession planning is one of the key reasons why so many family agribusinesses fail to last, writes Trevor Dickinson. Very few businesses that are simply ‘handed over’ in an informal manner will survive.

The owners of the most successful family agribusinesses understand that their enterprise is not a possession. Instead, it’s a legacy they are obliged to take care of for future generations, says Trevor Dickinson.

Disagreements on operational matters need not be a problem for a family agribusiness. On the contrary, if members work together to solve their problems, the solutions will be that much better, says Trevor Dickinson.

It stands to reason that without marriages, family businesses cannot continue. But the integration of in-laws into the business introduces complex dynamics. Trevor Dickinson suggests ways in which new spouses and family businesses can cope effectively.

It is critically important to address common problems before you get down to the business of succession planning. Addressing these challenges proactively and in a positive way will enhance a family agribusiness’s chances of enjoying continued success and prosperity, says Trevor Dickinson.

Multi-generational business families remain a powerful economic force in numerous industries worldwide. Trevor Dickinson looks at the lessons that family-run farms can learn from these success stories.

Handing a family agribusiness over to the next generation involves financial as well as personal decisions. And personal decisions with financial implications are the most difficult of all!

For many families, succession planning seems too treacherous a journey to undertake, so they simply opt not to set off on it. As a result, they forgo a critical opportunity to shape their future for the better.

Leading any business is tough. Leading a family business can be considerably more difficult. Family business leaders have to deal with relationships and emotions that simply are not present in an ordinary business set-up. And this is in addition to the normal stresses of running a company. Under these circumstances, establishing or continuing a legacy for generations to come can seem like an impossible dream, says Trevor Dickinson.

‘People-pleasers’ and ‘injustice collectors’ tend to suffer from the same basic problem: a lack of self-esteem. Trevor Dickinson explains these different personality types and how they fit into the larger family business.

A critical juncture in the life of the family agribusiness is the transition from one generation to the next. One of the reasons for this, explains Trevor Dickinson, is that the capacity of the business to pay any form of remuneration has to be balanced with the requirements of the individuals who own and operate it.

Most volatile family agribusiness disputes have deep-rooted causes that stem from secrecy, distrust and avoidance. By confronting these issues early on, conflict can be avoided, says Trevor Dickinson.

The most successful agribusiness families understand that their enterprises are not possessions; instead, they are legacies that they are obliged to take care of for future generations, writes Trevor Dickinson.