# 196 - The Power of Aligning Your Family to a Clear, Common Goal, with FOA Coaches Elle Webb & Kerrie Smith

Elle, I think you've onboarded a host of new members recently, and you've started working with some new members.

What would your comment be, having kicked them off and, and moved through alignment meetings with them? What would you say the quality of the plans are that you're seeing farming families start with when they start with us?

It's a very, very few have a written down business plan.

Don't get me wrong, there is the superstars, like I have some members who did a, a course with Farm Owners Academy three years ago, and they've been using our template since then, and so they came with their full plan and been using that, and obviously getting into implementation in Platinum Mastermind has been, yeah, really straightforward.

But for most members, they don't have a written down plan, and so, uh, that's part of, that's part of our onboarding process, is sort of understanding, you know, where they're at, what's in their head.

But then there's obviously a whole host of work that they do to get even clearer on where they're at and where they're headed as well.

And Elle, what can go wrong, or what plays out for farming families, in your experience, if they are operating with no plan or that plan that is only in their heads?

heads?Yeah.

Well, I, I think it can manifest in different ways, but, you know, we are dealing with family businesses here and different individuals with different ideas and aspirations often.

And so the plans that are in the head, uh, don't always align.

And so I think that is the key with the business plan, is having those conversations and actually making some business decisions about where we're headed and what makes the most sense for the business.

Thanks, Elle.

Kerry, what's your view on what can go wrong or, or what plays out for families that aren't aligned to a common direction?

That's a great question.

There's, uh, there's a lot of things that could happen.

Mostly it comes down to a communication breakdown.

So if there isn't a plan that everyone is on the same page with, and there's, as Elle mentioned, there's no alignment, then what happens if there's an information gap? Then people will utilize their resources, their experiences, their story that they're telling themselves and fill that gap.

So then when you actually get into a round table situation or even in the paddock, everyone's coming from a different angle and a different expectations, and so that just allows or creates quite a, a situation where it could be quite negative or quite destructive because people are coming from different angles.

Whereas if there's a clear plan and everyone's, everyone's aligned and on the same page, then there's no information gap.

So then we don't have to fill it with our own thoughts and, and stories.

Kerry, you talked about feeling like you were being reactive rather than proactive.

I think that's one key construct.

Another one I often see is you see people procrastinating, families being quite indecisive, moving quite slowly and being quite inefficient, the conversations being protracted and, as you say, there being conflict in and around them because there isn't a common goal that they've got motivated and focused around.

So there can be lots of overwhelm and lots of confusion.

Would you agree, Kerry?

Elle, I think you've onboarded a host of new members recently, and you've started working with some new members.

What would your comment be, having kicked them off and, and moved through alignment meetings with them? What would you say the quality of the plans are that you're seeing farming families start with when they start with us?

It's a very, very few have a written down business plan.

Don't get me wrong, there is the superstars, like I have some members who did a, a course with Farm Owners Academy three years ago, and they've been using our template since then, and so they came with their full plan and been using that, and obviously getting into implementation in Platinum Mastermind has been, yeah, really straightforward.

But for most members, they don't have a written down plan, and so, uh, that's part of, that's part of our onboarding process, is sort of understanding, you know, where they're at, what's in their head.

But then there's obviously a whole host of work that they do to get even clearer on where they're at and where they're headed as well.

And Elle, what can go wrong, or what plays out for farming families, in your experience, if they are operating with no plan or that plan that is only in their heads?

heads?Yeah.

Well, I, I think it can manifest in different ways, but, you know, we are dealing with family businesses here and different individuals with different ideas and aspirations often.

And so the plans that are in the head, uh, don't always align.

And so I think that is the key with the business plan, is having those conversations and actually making some business decisions about where we're headed and what makes the most sense for the business.

Thanks, Elle.

Kerry, what's your view on what can go wrong or, or what plays out for families that aren't aligned to a common direction?

That's a great question.

There's, uh, there's a lot of things that could happen.

Mostly it comes down to a communication breakdown.

So if there isn't a plan that everyone is on the same page with, and there's, as Elle mentioned, there's no alignment, then what happens if there's an information gap? Then people will utilize their resources, their experiences, their story that they're telling themselves and fill that gap.

So then when you actually get into a round table situation or even in the paddock, everyone's coming from a different angle and a different expectations, and so that just allows or creates quite a, a situation where it could be quite negative or quite destructive because people are coming from different angles.

Whereas if there's a clear plan and everyone's, everyone's aligned and on the same page, then there's no information gap.

So then we don't have to fill it with our own thoughts and, and stories.

Kerry, you talked about feeling like you were being reactive rather than proactive.

I think that's one key construct.

Another one I often see is you see people procrastinating, families being quite indecisive, moving quite slowly and being quite inefficient, the conversations being protracted and, as you say, there being conflict in and around them because there isn't a common goal that they've got motivated and focused around.

So there can be lots of overwhelm and lots of confusion.

Would you agree, Kerry?