Tim Schaefer on Muck Rack

Tim Schaefer

Morris
As seen in: Wiley Online Library, VentureBeat, MinnPost, Duluth News Tribune, St. Cloud Times, Delta Farm Press, Farm Futures, Farm Progress, Southeast Farm Press, Southwest Farm Press and
Strategic business coaching, facilitation, and transition planning. Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member SIPC sipc.org
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Articles by Tim Schaefer

Skip the formal review: How to address farm employee issues today

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Feedback is not an employee review. It’s different. This article is not about employee reviews. This is about feedback to an employee who needs corrective action and can’t wait for a full employee review. It would be great if all employees “got it” and comprehended how their actions (or lack thereof) affected the rest of the farm and the team. It would be great if managers could have an annual employee review that would handle all the issues.
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Start farm succession planning without family fights

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
The secret to beginning transition planning isn’t in pushing for a solution, but in starting a conversation about the shared vision and family legacy. Leading the process isn’t much different than herding livestock. I’m not here to suggest your family is livestock, but hear me out! Just like you wouldn’t rush a cow or swine herd through a gate, don’t rush your family into transition talks. Push too hard, too early, and good luck getting the process back on track.
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The 5 leadership mindsets for successful farm owners

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
A leadership mindset sets successful farm owners apart and is crucial for the sustainability of family-owned farms. Mindsets are ways of looking at your farm, family and even the ag industry. They are fundamental to the decisions you’ll make and the results you’ll reap. But what are the mindsets of legacy-focused owners?
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The 5 leadership mindsets for successful farm owners

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By Tim Schaefer
| Tractor Report
Management Transitions and Strategies: Discover the five critical leadership mindsets that successful farm owners use to ensure sustainability, profitability and smooth succession planning for their family agricultural operations. Tim Schaefer, Founder, Encore Wealth Advisors A leadership mindset sets successful farm owners apart and is crucial for the sustainability of family-owned farms. Mindsets are ways of looking at your farm, family and even the ag industry.
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Balancing work ethic and engaging environments

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Editor’s note: This is the final column in a three-part series on family business dynamics. Family farms often begin with the relentless determination and unwavering spirit of their founders. These pioneers weathered harsh conditions to clear the land and establish their homesteads. The work was grueling and the comforts were few, but the farm prospered as the family worked together. However, over time, certain pitfalls of complacency emerged.
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Farm dangers both physical and mental

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Farms can be dangerous, and many of us know of someone who was injured or killed in a farm accident. When one happens, the rural community rallies around the family and provides support, leading many farms to focus on safety, especially before harvest. But farming is dangerous due to not only the physical risks of dealing with equipment, but also the mental health risks of dealing with multiple stressors in agriculture.
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8 ways next-gen farmers can build respect

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Sometimes, the next generation of family members or employees doesn’t feel they can earn credibility with the old guard or senior generation. The following eight tips are gleaned from the next generation who has broken through to earn credibility and respect. Transitioning a business from one generation to the next is not easy. One difficult area is how to bring the next generation on board.
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4 steps to improve farm communication

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
“I don’t care if he doesn’t understand everything about hogs or running a sow barn. I need someone who can communicate and understand people.” “We don’t really get along with each other. We quit talking years ago and just focus on work.” A lack of communication is a common complaint. One would think with all our options — email, instant messaging, texting and Slack channels — we would all be master communicators. But I fear the opposite is true in business, especially family businesses.
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Farm business vs. farm life

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Most families get along and enjoy working together the majority of the time. This leads the family to believe they’re in alignment on every important issue. But too often enough differences exist over fundamental principles that could lead to friction, which only gets worse over time. Yes. Alignment around these principles falls under an underused area of transition planning called “family governance.” This is critical in keeping the peace and creating a strong family farm.
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How to move the strategic plan from vision to reality

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By Sarah Cato, Jennifer M. Latzke Verified, Jennifer Carrico Verified, Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
This blog is part two in a series. Read part one and part two. “We’re family, and we work together every day. We know what each other wants.” This is often the unspoken thought for many farmers, and it’s logical reasoning. But this logic makes several assumptions that can lead to misaligned priorities, confused employees, and potential conflict. In part one and part two of this series, I outlined the benefits of strategic farming for your business.
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Get traction on farm transition

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
While many farmers are unsure, maybe nervous, about transition planning, not starting the process often makes things worse for everyone. That seems to be the default on most farms. Yes – getting started is often the hardest part. So what’s the secret? How do get transition traction, so your farm legacy moves forward? Getting unstuck Most of us have pulled out equipment that was stuck in the mud.
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How to assess your team’s performance

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Gone are the days when employees were cheap and easy to come by. Labor, including working with family, is always one of the top three concerns in our transition planning meetings. It’s hard to move ahead and transition the farm without a plan for both family and outside family labor. Owners’ time is precious, and we’ve found certain employee activities drain that time. Stack those time drains together, and leadership ends up managing the daily whirlwind of urgent but not necessarily critical tasks.
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How to handle emotional conversations

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Recently, my colleague Liz Griffith and I gave a presentation hosted by Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. It was a live-streamed conversation with farmers, and the topic was “How to Get Your Communication Unstuck.” We took questions from the audience, and one question stuck out: What do you do when someone has already jumped off the emotional ledge? We hear a version of this question often, so if you have it, you are not alone.
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Feedback helps build better farm operations

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Many farms want to scale up operations, and they need people to do the work. Ideally, you want great teams of employees. Great teams can problem solve and manage themselves, thus freeing up your time to focus on growing the farm. You will invest a lot of time and money building your team - hiring, training, and retaining employees. You don't want any of them repeating the same mistakes year after year. Employee feedback is essential for training and retaining great employees.
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Benefits of a farm debrief

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Many farms want to scale up their operations, and they need people to do the work. Ideally, you want great teams of employees. Great teams can problem-solve and manage themselves. It's probably your dream of having motivated and knowledgeable employees who look for solutions and hold each other accountable. Thus, freeing up your time to focus on growing the farm. You invest a lot of time and money building your team -- hiring, training, and retaining employees.
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Easy guide for employee reviews

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Have you been blindsided by a great employee leaving? They worked for you for a year or so, and it appeared everything was going great. They showed up on time, did the work, and didn't create problems. Yet here you are again -- a great employee is leaving and you have a slot to fill. Labor has always been tight, but finding and keeping top farm talent has reached a crisis point over the last couple years. Finding good team players is hard.
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Missing ingredient in transition planning? Communication

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
The transition plan had all but stopped, and unspoken issues were piling up. Both the employees and the next generation were frustrated. Everyone involved was frustrated, including the advisors and spouses. To be fair, this is a top-notch farm with really great people. Many good things are happening on this farm, so it's not like there are many major problems. But they do have a bunch of little ones that no one was talking about. Yet, there is one missing ingredient: Communication.
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Smooth farm transitions part one: Avoid stepping on toes

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Working together yet apart during your transition plan keeps the peace. Tim Schaefer | Jul 06, 2021 It was a fairly standard discussion around a pretty simple question. “Who is in charge of doing the books?” There was an awkward pause as both Mom and daughter look at each other but said nothing. After further discussion, it turns out there was a conflict because it wasn’t clear who was in charge of what inside the office. It wasn’t clear outside the office either.
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Smooth farm transitions, part two: Keeping everyone accountable

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
ThinkStock Who is in charge? It doesn't have to be confusing. Build Accountability Blueprints to manage your farm’s transition. Tim Schaefer | Jun 25, 2021 In part one of this series we explained how perks and pay can sometimes derail a decent farm transition plan. Another issue to watch: Who is accountable and for what? Unlike other businesses, farmers rarely hand over the keys to the next generation and walk away. Most of the time, the process is gradual for many reasons.
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Smooth farm transitions, part one: The peril of too many perks

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
The farm owns the homes. The farm buys the owner's personal vehicles. The farm buys gas in the bulk tank and everyone fills up their personal vehicles. The farm owns the lake home. And the boat. At first it was just good tax planning. But fast forward a couple of decades and these perks have multiplied and more generations are involved. Instead of one corporate-owned house, there are three. Instead of a couple of business-owned personal vehicles, there is a whole fleet.
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Perks and pay can derail your transition plan

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
The farm owns the homes. The farms buys the owner's personal vehicles. The farm buys gas in the bulk tank and everyone fills up their personal vehicles. The farm owns the lake home. And the boat. At first it was just good tax planning. But fast forward a couple of decades and these perks have multiplied and more generations are involved. Instead of one corporate-owned house, there are three. Instead of a couple of business-owned personal vehicles, there is a whole fleet.
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How to start the farm transition conversation

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Jupiterimages/ThinkstockPhotos Delaying the initial conversation is one reason why many farms don’t make a successful transition to new leadership. Tim Schaefer | Mar 10, 2021 Starting a transition plan isn’t easy. It’s not only hard to know where to begin, but how do you even begin the conversation? The stakes are high, and many farms don’t make a successful farm transition for many reasons. Delaying the initial transition conversation is one of them.
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Why you should manage each farm employee differently

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
iStock/Getty Images Each person on your farm team needs and deserves a unique management style. Tim Schaefer | Mar 04, 2021 "Plug and play" is what we all want with employees. Just hire them, put them in a cab, and don't worry about them. They'll do an expert job. Plug them in and turn them loose. In reality this management philosophy doesn't work. Plug and play is a myth when it comes to people management. People aren't machines, and employees require management for you to be satisfied.
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Sometimes ya gotta let go

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
iStock/Getty Images How can we grasp new opportunities if we cling to old or outdated thinking? Tim Schaefer | Feb 01, 2021 As business owners we are good at adding. Adding more acres, more sales, more landlords, and more employees. More is a sign of success; but at a certain point, more can limit new opportunities. Some opportunities may be growing the farm, succession planning, or building your employee team. There comes a time when you have to let go to get more of what you want.
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Do you have the right people on your bus?

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
iStock/Getty Images …and what is the condition of your bus? Tim Schaefer | Jan 11, 2021 You have probably heard the phrases, "we need the right people on the bus," and "we need the employees in the right seats" on that bus. These phrases imply we need to find the right people to join our farm operation and then make sure they are in the right spot. This sounds reasonable. But is there another question you need to ask?
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Keep Calm and Carry On

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Photo courtesy Tim Schaefer Lessons on resilience and hope from Great Britain,1939. Tim Schaefer | Nov 26, 2020 Keep Calm and Carry On. I saw this phrase several years ago and never paid much mind to it. What does it mean, and where did it come from? Does it apply to us today? The year was 1939. World War II was about to begin, and the horror of an invasion was on the doorstep of Great Britain. Great Britain was not prepared, and defeat seemed inevitable.
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New ventures must pass the ‘hedgehog’ test

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
How well do your farm talents translate to a new business? 3 Questions to ask yourself first. Tim Schaefer | Nov 04, 2020 Are you tempted to start an off-farm business to produce non-farm income? You are probably excellent at production ag, but how well do those talents translate to this new venture?
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'We have taught our employees not to think'

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
iStockphoto/Getty Images Bad habits tolerated today become accepted as part of the farm culture tomorrow. Tim Schaefer | Sep 29, 2020 “We have taught our employees not to think,”  a dairy farmer told me not long ago. While he didn’t want to admit it, and he certainly wasn’t proud of it, that comment was the beginning of a needed change. And that’s good news. Whether it’s careless employees, bad attitudes, or family fueds, problems don’t just happen overnight.
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Take advantage of uncertainty

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Ta Nu/iStock/Getty Images Profitable farms take advantage of economic weakness to strengthen their business. Here’s how. Tim Schaefer | Jun 16, 2020 Even with a poor farm economy, many farms are doing more than just okay. There is a big profitability spread between farms even if on the outside they look the same. The most profitable farms are taking advantage of the current economic weakness to strengthen their business in a couple key areas.
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How to lead your farm team through crisis

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Business disruptions can also create opportunities for great leaders. Tim Schaefer | Apr 15, 2020 Anyone can lead when the business environment is status quo. When things are calm we have great market prices, great weather, ample employees to get the work done, and good health. Sometimes things go completely off course, like the disruptions we all face during this pandemic. And that’s when your leadership is tested. Disruptions can create opportunities for those who lead well through a crisis.
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Why conflict can be a good thing

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
How family members can have tough conversations and still like each other. Tim Schaefer | Jan 29, 2020 Conflict is often viewed as negative but not having the right kind of conflict, often leads to bad conflict later. In an earlier article, we discussed the importance of having trust amount your leadership and owner team. Your farm team may be open and honest with each other, trusting, but do you talk about tough issues or dodge them?
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How to avoid repeating this year’s mistakes next year

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
A post season debrief helps ensure future success. Tim Schaefer | Dec 04, 2019 It doesn’t matter if the farm is in Alberta, Canada, the Great Plains or the South. The 2019 season was just plain tough. Some places were too dry, many were too wet, and farms had to learn new tricks on the fly. There were mistakes and some of them too costly to repeat next year. If there were any weaknesses in leadership, management, or processes, it showed up in 2019.
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What to do about free-range employees

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
How to correct team members who mismanage their time. Tim Schaefer | Nov 20, 2019 Have you ever wondered what an employee was thinking when they really messed up? Have you ever wondered how they spent their day? You sent them to do a simple task and they took a lot longer than you thought. What about the employees that never seem to pull together as a team? A farmer once told me that his employees would pile three deep in a pickup to go for parts; Others would clock out at the local bar and grill.
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3 reasons why farming families don’t get along: Part one in a series

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Recognize the differences in what creates a successful family and what creates a successful business. Tim Schaefer | Aug 26, 2016 Why can completely normal families who enjoy spending time with each other, and seem to get along, have such a tough time working together on the farm? Most likely you have observed a neighbor's family struggling with this. There is nothing you can put your finger on and yet it doesn't appear everyone is pulling in the same direction.
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Family and business conflict: How to bridge the divide

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Differences can be a true source of strength and resilience that can keep your family farm thriving for generations. Tim Schaefer | Sep 13, 2016 In the two previous posts we delved into the reasons why there are inherent differences between the goals of a family and goals for a business. This last installment details basic but powerful intial steps to bridge the divide between family and farm, resulting in a resilient Family Farm.
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What got Burt here won’t get Burt there

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Scaling up the farm needs subtraction, not multiplication Tim Schaefer | Sep 11, 2019 Burt and Reed are successful, exhausted, happy and stressed out. When the peer group visited their farm the signs of success were everywhere. Burt and Reed greet their employees by name and it was obvious they spent a lot of time working beside their employees. They like their employees and the employees like them.
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No experience? You’re hired

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Past work experience doesn’t always lead to success on your farm Tim Schaefer | Aug 08, 2019 If your farm is like many others, you don’t need just any employee. You need quality employees so you can delegate items off of your plate. You are not alone. If you skim any online ad, job search board or newspaper clipping you find phrases such as “Experienced operator needed…” “Skilled mechanic, etc.” It seems that employers are looking for experience as a main criteria to sort through applicants.
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A farm business case study: Is your farm stuck because of low trust?

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
Without high levels of trust, your family farm will lose traction and stall out Tim Schaefer | Jun 20, 2019 Trust. It’s a short, simple word, but also complex. Ask three different people what trust means and you will get three or four answers. The definition, as well as the outcomes of low trust, are hard to pin down. But one thing is certain: without high levels of trust on your family farm, you will lose traction and stall out.
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6 hard truths about succession planning

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
FreezeFrameStudio/Thinkstock Start the process now, even if you don’t execute the plan until later. Tim Schaefer | Feb 21, 2019 Farmers resist planning for succession because they just aren’t ready to quit. Planning seems final. More than a little scary. Even so, all great leaders and farmers plan for the inevitable succession that must occur. The odds are against a family farm passing into the next generation. Think about it.
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Do you know why people resist change?

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Progress Verified
matdesign24/iStock/GettyImagesPlus You may have some good ideas to implement in 2019 but you need to get everyone on board. How? Tim Schaefer | Feb 13, 2019 Based on my informal conversations with top-level producers from across the USA, Farm Futures Summit 2019 was a great success. I saw many farmers taking notes and talking with others about what they wanted to implement when they went home.
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Build a team of best friends

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
Think about it. If your best employees have a best friend at work, are they likely to stay? If your employee doesn’t have any social connection to the rest of your crew, will it be easier to leave? How important is it to enjoy the people they spend most of their waking hours with? The benefits of creating a team culture on your farm are many: Lower turnover, higher productivity, lower overall headcounts, more profits andfewer safetyincidents.
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Why Roger can’t quit farming

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
Roger is in his 60s, and he isn’t having fun farming. He isn’t making much money and he wants to hang it up. But there is a catch. A big catch that’s keeping him from transitioning out of farming when he wants to. The problem is the IRS often has a surprise waiting for farmers like Roger, and it’s a double-whammy: The last crop that is sold, and equipment depreciation that is recaptured. This twofold blow of income but no offsetting expenses and depreciation recapture leads to a nasty tax surprise.
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Statewide View: Save conservation fund to help protect Boundary Waters

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By Tim Schaefer
| Duluth News Tribune Verified
Rather, the Boundary Waters causes controversy because it isn't privately owned. That means, for now, it easily can be exploited. The fight to turn the Boundary Waters over to private hands is also a fight against history. Legislators from both parties have supported its preservation, protection, and even, sometimes, its expansion. Protecting the Boundary Waters ensures everyone can enjoy the wilderness.
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Don’t fix the blame; fix the problem

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
It was easy to see the problems the business was having and who was to blame. The whole town could see it. It was the alcoholic nephew. If only his behavior was in line, then all would be well with the business. In reality, it wasn’t so simple. Often we are quick to fix the blame on outrageous behavior because it’s easy to see. We tend to fix the blame on one person. That person then wears the scarlet letter of shame for all the ills of the family business.
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6 ways to thrive, despite tough times

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
It’s interesting that every time the farm economy softens, my phone starts ringing with farm executives wanting to talk about how to fix the challenges in their business. Yet, the seeds of today’s problems were planted in the best of times yesterday. The corollary to that is that you can do things today to position yourself for future success.
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Minnesota needs to further commit to renewable energy

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By Tim Schaefer
| St. Cloud Times Verified
Minnesota’s cities are leading the push towards 100 percent renewable energy — but its investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energyand Minnesota Power have some catching up to do. Smaller cities like St. Louis Park and Rochester have already committed to 100 percent renewable energy — St. Louis Park by 2030, and Rochester by 2031. These commitments are vital, and Environment Minnesota encourages St. Cloud to consider a similar commitment in 2019.
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What can shooting clays teach us about business?

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
The orange disk was a blur but then became clear. When we were able to focus our eyes on the clay disk we could see details. We saw the shadow from the sun form in the top of the clay pigeon, and the counterclockwiserotation. In reality,the disk was in the air just a short time but when we focused our eyes on the target, time itself seem to slow down. Then the orange disk disintegratedin a cloud of orange dusk accompanied by the crash of the shotgun.
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6 attributes of a professional farm

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
Early in his career, Kansas farmer Lon Frahm made a choice to make his operation as professional as possible. He saw the value in creating a professional farm that is run on business principles and strategies. And now, he’s seeing the benefits of running his farm that way. Some may dismiss Frahm as an aberration and believe the old familiar ways of leading a farm will always remain. Time will tell, but I believe the American farmer is at a turning point, and there is no going back.
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Communication triangles are deadly. What are they?

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
This week Tim Schaefer discusses the dangers of communication triangles, what to look for and how to fix them. Do you ever find you get into contentious discussions with other farm partners? Are people politicking outside of farm meetings to get their own way? Are some people quiet in meetings but talk around one-on-one? You may be part of communication triangle and danger lies ahead. Here is what you need to know to make your farm communication strategy even stronger. VIDEO
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The 7 steps to getting unstuck and focusing on your business

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By Tim Schaefer
| Farm Futures Verified
Dick was stuck. Not literally, but mentally stuck on how to manage his sprawling row crop and livestock operation. Things have changed, the farm has changed, and Dick’s farm needed to change but he wasn’t sure how to make that happen. He was mentally stuck in the old ways of doing things. He knew he needed to change but what needed changing? How was he going to change? The problem wasn’t that Dick doesn’t know how to run the farm operations. He does, and he is the envy of his neighbors.
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