Discuss the Undiscussabull™

In many farm kitchens there’s a bull in the middle of the room – what Elaine Froese, a farm family coach, has termed as the 'Undiscussabull' – the thing no one is willing to talk about.

Most farming businesses know they need to talk about tough issues; they just don’t know how or where to get started.

In October 2024, we held a series of workshops to help farmers bring the people in their businesses – be it family members or other staff – to the table to start the conversation.

Workshops

As part of our Roots to Resilience programme, Elaine came to the UK in October 2024 to facilitate a series of five regional workshops around communication and planning transitions for farming businesses.

She shared simple, practical and actionable tools to help teams work together in harmony.

Elaine helped attendees explore the best methods of communication to not only work with their teams now but also prepare the farm for the future.

In the workshops we discussed:

How age impacts frustrations and communication styles
How to identify why people don’t want to talk about certain things
What your conflict style is – what do you do in a conflict situation that might set others off and what sets you off and why?
Key communication styles – what’s yours and what style do the people you’re talking to have? How do we use this information to communicate with most impact?
Key challenges for communicating effectively in your business and how to overcome these

Succession: Time to talk about the future

Watch the podcast extracts below for an insight into some of the things we covered at the events, as AHDB Senior Engagement Manager Amy Hughes chats to Lyn Sykes, a globally renowned succession expert.

They talk about covering the basics of starting difficult conversations, what it means to be good at communication, seeing things from both sides and how to talk about and address touchy situations early so they don’t become difficult in the future.

Elaine Froese

Elaine, Canada’s farm whisperer, is a coach and award-winning author with over 25 years' experience in working with farming businesses to improve the way people work and communicate with each other.

Specialising in farm business succession, she has influenced over nine million people throughout the course of her career.

Elaine delivers workshops that enable attendees to ask questions anonymously, so there’s no need to worry about airing your dirty laundry in public.

Find out more about Elaine Froese

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