A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 4, 1991
I
K
F
A
R
MANAGEMENT
WORKING TOWARD
FARM FAMILY
GOALS
Patricia L. Powley
Extension Home Economist
It is so true that no two people
spend their money in exactly the
same way.
The way you and your family
spend money depends upon the
way you want to live, the things
you want to do and have. Your
expenditures reflect your personal
attitudes, values what you con
sider to be most important. Setting
goals can help you get what you
want for your farm family.
What do you and your family
want to accomplish with your
lime, your talents, your money,
and your other resources in the
coming year? What is your answer
to such a question? Have you and
your family really thought about
this question recently? Where are
you heading, how are you going to
get there, and when will you reach
this target?
The answer to these questions
are a critical part of the manage
ment plan for your family. Without
clear future targets, families may
“wander” toward their goals in a
much less efficient way.
Setting goals and selecting
small steps to take in reaching
them can give a family a sense of
progress. These goals are so very
important in the management of
both home and farm business
operations.
Family members have goals for
themselves which are very indivi
dual. There arc also goals for the
family as a unit. Periodically, it is
essential that each family member
think about the aims or goals they
have for themselves. It is also
important to think about and dis
cuss what goals are held for the
family as a whole. The goals cho
sen can provide direction to your
work within the family and on the
farm.
Goals arc very personal. Each
family is different, so there is no
prescription of one “right” set of
goals. Each family has a differing
number of members, ages, inter
ests, abilities, needs, and wants. It
is therefore important that each
family set its own unique goals.
Values
For the individual, for the farm
family, values help provide direc
tion and meaning to life. They
influence our behavior in the sense
that they help give a basis by which
to make decisions, to choose goals
to work toward, and to make
choices about paths to a goal.
Shared values serve as a bond
among members of a lamily. They
help provide the family with a
direction and some com
mon goals.
What values do members of
your family hold 7 Ask these
questions:
• What do we believe is good
and right behavior? These values
such as respect for life, for truth,
for justice arc called moral
values.
• What is beautiful? That which
brings pleasure, joy, or meaning
into life because of its beauty is
called an aesthetic value.
• What is profitable? Those
things that save money or make
money represent economic values.
• What is useful? Practical val
ues arc reflected in those activities
or articles that have use.
• What makes us feel good?
Feeling values respond to the
experiences and thoughts.
• What is fashionable? Prestige
values arc expressed through pos
sessions and activities that have
high status in society. Owning or
doing the “in” thing reflects pre
stige values.
• What is beyond man? Spiritu
al values arc those expressed
through religion and activities that
give meaning m an individual’s
life.
What arc you family goals, your
personal goals, your household
goals?
Clearly establishing farm fami
ly goals can be a large challenge
because family, business, house
hold, and personal goals are all
rolled up together in the day-to
day life and decisions of your fam
ily. For example, farm families
may ask the goal question, “Shall
we roof the bam or the house this
year?" In the beginning it will be
useful to think of the family, busi
ness, household, and personal
categories separately, make some
, 1
Goals vary by how long it takes
to achieve them. Those that can be
attained in relatively short periods
of time are called short-term goals.
Short-term family goals might
include learning a new skill such as
rc-upholstcry of furniture, saving
for a trip to visit relatives, or
spending more time as “family
time.” A short-term goal for the
family might be that of working
out a plan to divide time between
parenting and farm work, and yet
finding time for you as a couple.
In farming, short-term goals
focus on hoped for achievements
such as renting additional land this
year or increasing dairy
production.
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lists of goals, and begin discussion.
Some of the goals will support
each other, others may be in con
flict Resolution and priority set
ting comes later.
Long- and
short-term goals
W*'
Goals that will be achieved over
many years, a decade, are called
long-term goals. Examples include
debt-free ownership of a farm,
addition of a family room, trans
ferring farm ownership to child
ren, and saving for adequate retire
ment income.
Experts recommend that in set
ting goals we consider the
following:
• Short-term goals should be
reachable. They should describe
situations that you believe arc pos
sible to achieve in the designated
time.
• Long-term goals should be
believable. They should describe
situations or conditions that you
think you can achieve over the
years. Avoid the “pie-in-the- sky“
goals that you neither believe in
nor find possible to achieve.
There are four steps to manag
ing with goals. These are 1) Decide
what you want or need. Set your
goals. 2) Plan ways to reach each