In this module, you’ll develop the skills and capabilities you’ll need to build a good understanding of WHERE you want to head with your farm business, and your life.  

The 'Now-Where-How-Review' Business Planning Cycle - find more detail on page 2 of the QuickPlan workbook. 

Once you’ve completed the activities in this module, you’ll be able to: 
  • Express a vision for your farm business and your life
  • Share the vision for the farm business with stakeholders  

The Our Farm, Our Plan program supports you to create your own business plan. One of the things that should be considered before writing your plan is what you really want for your business and your life – your vision for the future. Having a clear vision makes us more resilient and helps with the decisions we make, especially the important, high-stakes decisions.  

To complete the activities in this module, you'll need:

  • Your Our Farm, Our Plan (OFOP) Online Course Participant Guide
  • An A3 piece of paper (A4 will do if you can't get your hands on anything bigger)

What is a Vision?

In this section of the module, you’ll build an understanding of the link between your vision for the future and business planning.

Start by watching the clip below: 
 
 

Your Vision

Now it’s time for you to think about your own vision for the future of your farm business and your life. 

You’ll express your vision by drawing where you want to be in the future, say five or ten years from now.  
Use a blank piece of paper and whatever you want to use to draw with. You may feel a bit silly drawing a picture, but rest assured, that feeling will wear off once you get started. Once people give this a go, they usually find it to be really worthwhile. No one is expecting you to be a great artist. 
Make sure all the decision makers in your business draw their vision, then take some time to compare and discuss your drawings. Ultimately the aim of Our Farm, Our Plan is to develop the plan that will see you achieve your vision.    
Wondering what this is all about? A past participant in the OFOP program shares his experience of the Vision Drawing activity in this video:

 

 

It’s time to step away from your computer, go somewhere more comfortable and take some time to draw your vision. Once you’re done, come back to the course.  

The next step is to turn your vision drawing into a written statement. 

A good vision statement should be short, simple, specific to your  business, so that nothing is left to interpretation.  Your vision describes what you ultimately want to achieve. It will describe how you would like your life, farm and business to look in the future. It also describes why you are doing what you do. 


Take a few minutes to watch the video below. It features dairy consultant Mark Burgemeister talking through the benefits of having a clear vision.
 
 

Below are some examples of vision statements written by dairy farmers:





Make sure you share your vision with key people in your business.


This might be your partner, family members, business partners or your team. 

Extra activity: Your Values

Values provide us all with a framework to think and behave. 

Your values come from many different sources and are typically culturally acquired. We draw on them when making decisions and choices, which explains why we can find it difficult to understand the decisions and choices of people who have different values. They are difficult to measure but will play a key role in determining your goals.
Normally our values line up with the people that we develop relationships with, both personal and business. Similar values are what often makes us attracted to and compatible with other people. It is something we can take for granted and values can change over time, so it is worth checking in and discussing with the other people in your life and business. A shared sense of purpose for your business can be shaped by values and goals that are important to you and your family and business team. 
If you have some time, flick to page 12 of the OFOP QuickPlan booklet and complete the Values exercise - it’ll give you a deeper insight into what motivates you, your business partner/s and they reasons for the decisions you make together about your farm business. 

In Module Three, you expressed your vision for your farm business (and life!). 

You've covered how to: 

  • Express a vision for your farm business and your life 
  • Share the vision for the farm business with stakeholders 
Don't forget to attend the online workshop for this module! You'll be covering the following with a group of peers and the course facilitator:

  • Share your vision, either in picture or written form 
  • Reflect on whether this exercise has helped you to clarify and agree on the vision for you and your farm business

Last modified: Thursday, 12 November 2020, 2:00 PM