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Smooth out decision-making with process and a plan

The Smith family is known in their neighbourhood as resourceful and progressive. Gill is the patriarch of the family farm that includes all three of his adult children: Susan, Andy and Larry. His children share Gill’s drive to grow and diversify the operation, and they make a formidable team.
 
Gill and Larry focus on crop production, Susan oversees the beef feedlot and Andy looks after marketing, bookkeeping and human resources. They get along very well, but all four are high energy, independent and maybe a bit impulsive. They all enjoy the division of responsibilities and decision-making autonomy.
 
The operation is very successful, but as the crop, beef and the new trucking operation grow, more problems arise due to a lack of communication and planning. It all came to a head when a perfect storm of mix-ups made it obvious they needed to change the way they worked and made decisions.
 
Missed communication
 
Larry was at an auction sale and spotted a loader tractor in decent shape with low hours. He knew Susan was looking for a second loader tractor to move bales. He called but couldn’t reach her. He ended up buying the tractor thinking it would be perfect for her, and he could use it as an auger tractor when required.
 
Larry sent a picture of the tractor to Susan with the good news that he had bought it, only to get a call telling him she had already bought a used one online. The tractor Larry found wouldn’t work for her anyway. It had a cab, and she needed an open-station tractor to move bales into and out of low-overhead buildings. The discussion got heated in a hurry.

 

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