DES MOINES, Iowa – A family can spend years preparing someone to take over a farm and still struggle when it is time to hand over control. According to Rena Striegel, President of Transition Point Business Advisors, the difficulty often comes down to questions that families have avoided answering: Who gets to make the decisions, when does that authority change, and what happens to the person who has always been in charge?
Striegel has spent more than twenty years helping agricultural families work through succession and leadership changes. She says that naming a successor is an important decision, but it does little to resolve the everyday challenges of transferring responsibility from one generation to another.
A son or daughter may already manage employees, oversee production, or handle significant parts of the operation. Yet when a major purchase needs approval or a difficult financial decision arises, the parent may still expect to have the final say. Over time, that arrangement can frustrate both generations.
“One of the hardest parts of a family leadership transition is learning how to work together differently,” Striegel said. “The next leader needs room to lead, and the outgoing leader needs a meaningful way to step back. Neither should have to guess what that looks like.”
A Successor Needs More Than a Title
Striegel often encourages families to look closely at the responsibilities their future leaders already have. Someone may have worked on the farm for fifteen or twenty years, but length of service alone doesn’t show whether that person is prepared to run the business.
A considerable difference exists between knowing how to operate a farm and being responsible for its financial future. A person might be excellent at managing production but have limited experience negotiating financing, evaluating major investments, or handling disagreements among employees and family members.
Those skills take time to develop, and Striegel believes families should make room for that development while the current generation is still available to help.
One practical approach is to identify decisions the successor can begin making independently. These might include supervising employees, managing an operating budget, or evaluating equipment needs. As the person gains experience, the family can review what works and decide whether to transfer additional responsibilities.
Everyone involved also needs to understand the arrangement. If employees are told the next generation is in charge but keep taking every important question to the previous owner, the successor has little opportunity to build credibility.
Striegel encourages families to discuss these situations directly rather than assuming a new title will automatically confer authority.
What Happens to the Person Stepping Back?
Much of the attention in succession planning goes toward preparing the next generation. Striegel believes families sometimes underestimate how much preparation the current leader also needs.
For someone who has spent forty years building and managing an agricultural business, stepping away can be unsettling. The farm may determine how that person spends each day, who they interact with, and how they measure their contribution to the family.
Retirement can also bring financial questions. An owner may want to reduce their workload but still depend on income from the operation, making it difficult to separate decisions about personal security from decisions about business management.
Striegel says these concerns deserve discussion before the family begins transferring authority. Otherwise, an owner who genuinely wants the next generation to succeed may keep getting involved in decisions simply because nobody has agreed on their new role.
There are several ways an outgoing leader might remain involved. Some families may benefit from having that person serve as a mentor or advisor, while others may agree that the current owner will keep certain responsibilities for a defined period.
The important consideration is whether the arrangement gives the successor enough independence to do the job.
For example, a parent might agree to advise on major equipment purchases while leaving the next leader the final operational decision within an approved budget. That gives the family access to years of experience without requiring the successor to seek permission for every choice.
Striegel believes these arrangements work best when both generations understand the boundaries and can revisit them as circumstances change.
When Business Disagreements Become Family Disagreements
Leadership transitions can expose tensions that have been building quietly for years. A disagreement about staffing or compensation may seem like a routine business issue, but it can carry deeper meaning within the family.
A parent might question a decision because they are concerned about the financial consequences. Their son or daughter, however, may interpret the same question as evidence that they are still not trusted to lead.
Siblings can face similar difficulties, especially when one works full-time in the operation and another owns a stake but isn’t involved in daily management.
Striegel encourages families to address these differences before they begin affecting the business. She believes regular conversations about expectations, responsibilities, and performance can help people raise concerns while there is still an opportunity to work through them constructively.
Those discussions are not always comfortable. A parent may need to explain why they are reluctant to give up a particular responsibility, while the next generation may need to acknowledge where additional experience or support would help.
The purpose is not to avoid every disagreement. It gives family members a way to discuss business decisions without letting unresolved personal concerns control the conversation.
Striegel also recommends being specific about accountability. If a successor manages an area of the operation, the family should agree on what successful performance looks like and how results will be reviewed.
Clear expectations can make difficult conversations more productive because they give everyone something concrete to discuss.
Giving the Transition a Practical Timeline
A leadership transition can lose momentum when the family agrees on the general direction but never establishes what needs to happen next.
Striegel has found that families often benefit from breaking the process into smaller decisions. Instead of trying to decide exactly when one generation will retire and another will assume complete control, they can start by identifying responsibilities that should shift over the coming months.
A family might decide that the successor will manage a particular budget, lead employee meetings, or take responsibility for a defined part of the business. They can then agree on when to review the arrangement and what additional experience may be needed.
These steps give the next generation a chance to demonstrate its capabilities while helping the current leader become more comfortable with a different level of involvement.
They also make it easier to recognize when progress has stalled. If responsibilities haven’t changed despite earlier agreements, the family can discuss why instead of continuing indefinitely with an arrangement that leaves everyone uncertain.
Through Transition Point Business Advisors, Striegel helps families work through these questions as part of their broader succession planning. Her approach considers the practical requirements of running the business alongside the relationships and expectations that shape decision-making.
Preparing the Family for a Different Way of Working
Raised on a dairy farm in Iowa, Striegel understands that leadership in agriculture often develops through years of working alongside family members. Responsibilities may be shared informally, with decisions shaped by experience, trust, and established routines.
Those arrangements can work for many years, but they may become difficult when the family begins preparing for a different generation to take charge.
Striegel believes the transition becomes more manageable when families recognize that both generations must adjust. The successor must become comfortable making decisions and accepting responsibility for the results, while the outgoing leader must learn when to offer guidance and when to allow someone else to decide.
For families considering a leadership change, she recommends beginning with a practical conversation about who currently makes important decisions and whether that arrangement reflects the responsibilities people are expected to carry.
The answers may reveal that a successor needs more experience, that the current leader needs greater clarity about their future involvement, or that the family has been operating with different assumptions about authority.
Addressing those questions before ownership changes can give the family more time to prepare. It can also help protect working relationships that will continue long after the formal transition.
More information about Striegel’s work is available through Transition Point Business Advisors, with additional insights shared on Instagram and YouTube.
About Rena Striegel
Rena Striegel is the President of Transition Point Business Advisors and an agricultural and family business succession planning specialist with more than twenty years of experience working with multi-generational families across the United States. Her work focuses on the family relationships, leadership challenges, and business decisions that influence how ownership and responsibility pass from one generation to the next.
Raised on a dairy farm in Iowa, Striegel brings firsthand knowledge of agricultural life to her consulting work. She holds an MBA from the University of Iowa and has built her career around helping families navigate difficult conversations, prepare future leaders, and decide on their businesses’ long-term direction.
She is the creator of The DIRTT Project®, a succession planning system developed for agriculture, and host of the Ag Inspo podcast. Through her advisory work and professional training, Striegel helps families and the professionals who serve them approach succession with greater understanding and practical preparation.
About Transition Point Business Advisors
Transition Point Business Advisors works with agricultural and family-owned businesses on succession planning, leadership development, strategic planning, and business continuity. The firm helps families address the decisions involved in transferring ownership and management while considering the financial and personal circumstances of those affected.
Its services include consulting and professional education designed to help families and advisors navigate generational transitions. The firm’s work emphasizes communication, decision-making responsibilities, and preparing family members for the changes that accompany succession.
