Will Holmes: Succession allowing family to meet their goals

Will Holmes has been increasingly taking over the reigns of the Holmes Farms, Dorset, from his father, George. Together, they manage three dairy sites, totalling about 1,000 block calving milking cattle, plus another arable unit.

The farm operates across approximately 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres), although they don’t own any of that land. They do, however, own seven houses, used to home farm staff. The business has 17 staff and contract milkers working with and in partnership with Will and George; Will is a big believer in ensuring the business’ success works for the whole team.

He says: “Looking after people and sharing the pot is vital to succession planning and staff retention. So it's really important we’re working to make sure the pot is big enough in the first place”.

 

And the Holmes family have adopted the same approach to succession as they did with bringing two share milkers into the business - by identifying their goals and building a system that’s mutually beneficial. 

Will says: “The aim was to end up with a successful business in 30 years’ time as well as to allow everyone in the family to achieve their goals.”

 

Personal goals vital to succeeding with succession

This has proved to be a great starting point for their succession planning – as it’s really allowed them to plan their routes to their individual objectives.

George has managed to achieve his goal of becoming a member of the board at Arla while his wife, Dr Joanne, and daughter Katie, have both managed to maintain their roles as partners in the business while pursuing their own careers elsewhere as a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition at Bournemouth University and as Client Account lead at Jacobs respectively. 

Meanwhile, Will has seen his share in the business grow as a result of his continuing work in the company.

Will admits he’s been lucky in being able to get the succession planning process started formally, with little resistance from his dad.

He says: “Something that was talked about in the first meeting was this five-year timeline – so [after five years] I said to Dad, ‘We did speak about five years. Where’s your current thoughts at’? And Dad said, ‘I’m not really sure whether I’m ready to take that much of a step back just yet’, and that was fine, I just walked away from it at the time.

But then two weeks later he called me up and was like, ‘Actually, how about I just completely step back out of the business and you take the whole lot on? So it had obviously marinated in his brain for a couple of weeks and that was where he decided to go with it.”

 

George says: “It is a bit difficult because there is a tendency to let things drift a bit. 

“It’s surprising how five years can disappear quite quickly!

“You’ve got to remember as the older person in this equation that when you make these promises, you’ve got to be prepared to carry them out!”

 

Open communication allowing them to separate farm time from family time

Talking with Will and George, it’s clear to see they have a good relationship, with open communication a key part of that. And while they may have started some of their succession discussions while sitting down for dinner, they both admit things have changed as a result of their succession planning meetings.

Will says: “Me and dad were both on board, mum was keen as well and my sister was happy to be involved, too. And those were the four members at the first [formal] meeting.

“Everybody had valid points and it wasn’t just about the farm. It was also about the family and how the family would operate in the farming structure and how we needed to separate family time from farming time. We needed to enjoy both elements of it.” 

The Holmes family chose to bring in business management consultant Sian Bushell to help them with their succession planning meetings, and they clearly have no regrets about the decision.

Build a structure that helps everyone meet their personal goals 

George says Sian brought a good structure to their meetings and gave everyone the space to feed into the plans, allowing them all to better understand each other’s goals so they could build a system that worked for everyone.

And having that solid foundation in the early stages of planning has really helped them as their situation has changed. 

George says: “We have had reviews, just to follow where we were on track and also because Will then got engaged, so it was important to bring her into the process. Things change, or our aims change in the business too.” 

Will and his wife recently had a daughter, and he admits this has already made him think about the longer-term future of the business and how he might want to manage that next stage of succession when the time comes.

 

Of course, that means he’s working hard right now to drive the business forward so he can build his level of equity in the company. And despite the fact he has plenty of ideas about how to progress things, he’s adamant that he couldn’t do it without the support – and experience – of his father.

Will says: “I think a really valuable part of our relationship is the fact I’m still able to take a lot of advice off Dad and a lot of coaching.

“I know some families get themselves into a situation through succession where the son almost doesn’t want to take their dad’s opinion into account because they want to drive their own path – but that attitude is not necessarily that valuable because the dad’s got heaps of experience including new-learnt knowledge over the last few years that are worth bringing back into the business.”

George adds: “I think you need to give the younger person who really is going to drive that business forward – to give them their head and let them get on with it when they’re in their prime.” 

 

Playing on each other's strengths

By playing on each other’s strengths – George’s knowledge and expertise alongside Will’s youth, enthusiasm and energy – the family have created a system whereby they can really plan how to grow the business and ensure its continued success. And having periodic reviews of the succession plan, checking objectives and how they may have changed, is a vital part of that.

And by bringing the next generation into the business planning, by outlining how they may increase their equity in the business so they can own it themselves one day – motivating them further to drive things forward – farmers and growers can really help to mitigate recent changes in inheritance tax, too.

George says: “Simply leaving it until the eldest generation passes away is certainly not where you should be going now, so therefore you need to plan it.

“If you want your sons and daughters in your farm business to be motivated then you need to work with them and understand their needs – understand how that will work in terms of succession. I think if you’re the parents in the situation then you really need to plan this and talk to them."