My recent blog covering the concept of a family advisory board created a very strong response and started many conversations. I was asked “what is a board’s mission?”. 

Simply put, a board doesn't need to know, “it needs to know that it is known”.

You may be wondering ‘how can an advisory board help my farming business?’

An effective family advisory board asks four questions:

1. What does success look like? Explore, and explore again.

2. What do we do well? What is your sustainable and unique competitive advantage? Do more of it. 

3. What are you going to stop doing? This one is the definition of insanity, continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result. For Christ’s sake, if it’s not working, stop, check and reposition. 

4. What resources do we need? A plan without resources is just an apparition. A board’s job is to identify the appropriate resources and help make the plan a reality to create a successful outcome. 

A great chair I worked with always closed a meeting with this simple question, “have we done what we need to do to help our CEO succeed?”

This is a reflection that the board's role is to serve. To serve in the interest of your family farming business to achieve great outcomes. 

The decision to enact a family board with the ability to facilitate effective decision making is a powerful one. Chairing family advisory boards is one of my key service offerings. Keep the conversation going by getting in touch.