Good Family Communications by Rich Merk

Maine Woodland Owners is committed to helping small woodland owners develop succession plans so they can know their life’s work will be passed on to someone who will continue their stewardship efforts. Here’s another topic to stimulate landowner efforts to develop and improve their plans.

Good family communications are essential to planning and implementing a good succession plan. Without it, there are many stumbling blocks in the way of a smooth transition and continued good feelings among family members. But the process of succession planning may result in better family communications. Here are some ideas of how to achieve this.

1.   Because family members have history with each other, remind everyone to put the past in the past and listen to others with no preconceived opinions. Ask them to all start fresh.

2.  Don’t be afraid to discuss your dreams for the future with your children.

3.  Create environments, if possible, where no one has the upper ground. Have discussions in neutral environments – either at the farm or away from a setting that gives one family member more comfort than another.

4.  Find out if there are issues or conflicts that need to be resolved before you can start with a new inter-relationship. See if you or others can help resolve the old issues.

5.  Create social gatherings for all the family to create an environment in which everyone can talk. For example, host Thanksgiving each year, have picnics or go to a Seadogs game together.

6.  Provide a courteous environment that allows everyone to speak and be heard, and where people can disagree with each other without being disagreeable.

7.  When meeting as a group, have a prepared, written agenda that has been distributed to everyone ahead of time. Be clear about what you want to accomplish. Consider keeping notes to show what was decided and who was to do what.

8.  Try to find the common thread that keeps family members talking with each other.