VISUALIZE SUCCESS

Sullivan advocates developing a vision for your progress over the next few years. He encourages entrepreneurs to consider the following question: "If we're sitting here three years from now, looking back over that three years, what would have to have happened for you to feel good about your personal and business progress?"

We've all heard that writing down your goals portends some level of success in their accomplishment. In this case, visualizing and writing down "what has to happen for you to feel good about your progress" achieves a similar result. Imagining those results helps keep your mind's eye focused on the future, both consciously and subconsciously. The imagined future pulls you into those more difficult family conversations or ambiguous succession discussions. And even if you don't achieve all your benchmarks, there is a high degree of probability you will make significant progress.

START WITH GRATITUDE

A growing body of research and literature is focusing on gratitude and its positive effects. For example, the "Harvard Mental Health Letter: In Praise of Gratitude" (http://bit.ly/…) notes: "Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity and build strong relationships." If you start your communication and planning efforts and meetings with a focus on those things for which you are thankful, the chances are that you'll not only feel better, but you will make more progress. Consider such expressions of gratitude a "warm-up" exercise to your meetings over the next year. And if one of your goals is improving a relationship with someone, mentioning why you are grateful for them is likely to open a whole new direction for your discussion.

TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME

Family business communication, including discussions involving succession and estate planning, elicit deeply rooted feelings. The emotional ties to the land, the sense of obligation to one's vocation to feed others, the transition into retirement and the course of your family's history create, at times, some incredibly unpredictable conversations.

The key to progress in the soft areas is not that you accomplish a checklist of activities, but that you keep moving forward. It is hard to map out which issues you'll tackle three meetings from now, as much could change, including your feelings and ideas based on other family member responses. Instead, make a promise to meet again. Keep talking. Commit to an ongoing dialogue and through the process you will gain clarity about the next step.

FIND AN ACOUNTABILITY PARTNER

Several family business partners I know ask their close friends or business associates to "nag" them about their communication and planning efforts. An even better idea is to find someone who is also going through similar family endeavors, and agree to hold each other accountable to staying the course. Commit to talk monthly about what is working, where you are struggling, and what your next step should be. A business owner or family friend that you trust can often provide as much accountability, if not more, than your professional advisers. With mobile phones, email and text messages, an accountability partner can easily nudge you to keep moving.

Improving relationships, defining the contours of your future management and ownership transitions and capturing elements of your legacy can undoubtedly feel overwhelming. But some simple habits, practiced over days, weeks and months, can create momentum and lead to significant progress in your family business improvement efforts over the next year.

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Editor's Note: Lance Woodbury is a Garden City, Kansas, author, consultant and professional mediator with more than 20 years' experience specializing in agriculture and closely-held businesses. Email questions for this column to Lance@agprogress.com. For more on this topic, see DTN's Minding Ag's Business blog. Find Woodbury's past columns online at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

(MZT/AG)

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