Farm succession planning often stalls not only because of financial complexity, but because of the human complexity beneath it. Values, goals, and deeply held mental models shape how individuals interpret fairness, responsibility, legacy, and change. When these internal frameworks go unspoken, even families with shared visions can find themselves stuck, frustrated, or talking past one another. This interactive session helps participants understand and work with these underlying dynamics, skills that are just as essential in land access, business planning, conflict navigation, and everyday client conversations as they are in succession work. Participants will work through a fictional farm family scenario that includes operational, financial, and interpersonal context. Working in small groups, each team will receive direct quotes from one family member and use that character's perspective to identify the values, assumptions, and mental models driving their behavior. Groups will explore how these beliefs can create friction or misunderstanding, and how reframing can open pathways toward progress. The session culminates in a full room discussion where groups share insights, revealing the fuller system of perspectives within the fictional family at play. Facilitators will guide a conversation on how small shifts in language, curiosity, and reframing can help advisors and service providers move conversations from stuck to unstuck, whether in succession planning or any other high stakes decision making process.
Participants will leave with the ability to:
- Define values and mental models and recognize how they shape decision making in farm families
- Identify sources of friction or misunderstanding rooted in differing assumptions
- Practice perspective taking using real world succession dynamics
- Apply reframing strategies to facilitate more open, empathetic, and productive conversations
- Transfer these communication tools to other contexts, including land access, partnership formation, conflict resolution, and strategic planning
