Salute Friend

If you’re like the many small business owners I know, you
probably apply a different set of criteria when running your
family versus when running your business. That’s fair. You could always get different colleagues or employees, but you’d like to keep your family together if you could! But that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t use some of the same techniques with your family that help you keep your business running smoothly especially in the area of people management.

The success of your family is very much dependent on how you
pull your family together as a team - much like the success of
your business depends on you and your employees working as a
team.

The keys to achieving this are as follows:

• Make sure everyone knows what they’re supposed to be
  doing on a daily basis. If you can, create a daily plan for
  each family member well in advance. The more notice you give
  the better. This is an often-overlooked first order of business for parents. As a manager, you make sure your employees know what they’re supposed to be doing don’t forget to do the same at home.
• Train your family members to follow the plan. This is
  going to be the hardest part, but trust me, it’s worth every
  bit of effort. This is like teaching someone to fish - versus
  giving them food. Once they get in the habit of following your
  plan, then you’ll be thankful for sticking to your guns on
  this issue.
• Continually reward and motivate. Once the system is in
  place, don’t take it for granted - or you risk losing them
  again. Keep the idea of following the plan fresh.

If this sounds daunting, don’t worry. You can find plenty of
sources for help. If you have a computer (and who doesn’t
these days), there is now a good choice of easy-to-use
software to help you with the planning, reminding, and
tracking. If you prefer other kind of help, you may want to
talk to a life or executive coach.

If you’re not comfortable with these, you could use a
traditional paper-based wall planner or any one of many “mom
organizers”.

© 2005 by Saro Saravanan.

Saro Saravanan is the Founder-CEO of Mediabee, which
makes Mediabee Family Dashboard, a free family
management tool built to address the needs of busy families
and their organizers. Be sure to read the rest of his articles
on Family, Time, and Small Business Management - especially
the companion article Run Your Business like You Run Your
Family. Download Mediabee Family Dashboard today at
http://mediabee.com and streamline your family life.