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Family Management Tip #1: Getting Your Family to Pitch In

Family life is busy. It's hard enough to manage your own time, but in a family you're responsible for managing everyone's time. And like any other team, your family cannot succeed without teamwork. Problem is, even though you may be close to your family members, they still tend to take a lot of things for granted. It's not like you're facing a competing team in a match everyday, so how do you rally the troops to keep your family running smoothly?

If you're like the typical household organizer, you're barely getting through a day without goading or reminding your spouse, the babysitter, or the kids several times about what chore or homework or sports activity they're supposed to be doing or not. And, on occasion, either you or your spouse ends up at wrong place or the wrong time, and there is enough frustration to go all around. Surely, there's got to be a better way!

There is. It's called family management. No doubt, love is the basis for a happy family. But a little management will go a long way in keeping that institution running smoothly.

Family Management ought to be taught in school. These days, there are some schools offering programs on family management, and that's a good thing. Most of us have never even thought of the term even though we may deal with the issues every day. Some of us are probably even good family managers!

If you take a step back and think about everyday life, it offers some of the same challenges any team of unconnected individuals will come to face if they need to live in close quarters and work towards some common goals. In other words, workgroups everywhere face almost exactly the same set of challenges that a family faces. Workgroups spend a lot of time and resources towards managing teamwork. Families generally don't, and they should.

The UCLA Center for Everyday Living noted in a recently concluded study that between two careers and parenting, there are three jobs, but only two people to run them. I'd add that there's a fourth job - household management. Keeping all these things running smoothly and retaining your sanity requires efficient management.

Whether you're running a busy household or managing a small team, what you need do to keep things running smoothly are the same:

• Make daily, weekly, and monthly to-do lists for everyone
• Set expectations
• Monitor progress and provide frequent feedback
• Continually educate, motivate, and inspire

Get yourself a good family organizer. There are several available. There are paper-based solutions and software-based solutions (like the one my company, Mediabee, makes). Whichever solution you pick, be sure that it meets all of the requirements above.

But before you implement the solution, remember, you must get your family's buy-in first. Not doing so would be to set yourself up for failure. It is human nature to concentrate on your own priorities, and your spouse and kids are human. (So are you as a matter of fact.) The other, often overlooked, fact is, men, women, and children are differently constructed and their priorities tend to be dramatically different. Hence the need for everyone to get on the same page as you start to put this solution into practice.

Here are the things to discuss as put this system in place:

• Why the system is needed. Emphasize the positive aspects of what you're trying to achieve: to be a healthy and happy family. You'd think this should be obvious, but, as I said, people think differently, even if they're your own family. Each family's situation is unique, so you'll have to discuss the situation appropriately. Bottomline: everybody has to do their part of the required chores, whether or not they think it is a priority for them, or the "family" isn't going to be happy. For example, the kids probably love take-out meals, but you're not happy when you can't give them healthy home-cooked meals. Everyone's basic needs have to be met for the family to be happy and healthy.
• What are the rewards for following the system. This is the neat part. If everyone pitches in even for things they don't consider a priority, then they're likely to get more time for what they'd rather be doing (within limits, of course).
• What is required of each person. This is the actual mechanics of splitting the tasks between people.

Your family organizer should allow you to easily delegate routine tasks to each member of your household. They should have a mechanism to indicate that they are doing their tasks on a regular basis. You can associate a reward system - whether it's allowance money or getting to watch their favorite show - with the amount of progress they're making.

Putting this system in place can be very rewarding, because it brings the family closer together as a team, and everyone understands each other better. Whether or not you actually stick with the system for the long haul will depend on how successful you were at getting your family's buy-in. So plan this carefully, and be sure to have a system that periodically rewards good behavior. It worked for my family and I'm sure it can for yours too.

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 from this series on Family Management. Download Mediabee Family Dashboard today at http://mediabee.com and streamline your family life.

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