Mind Your Business: 14 Executive Tactics for a Smooth-Running Home
Think of your household as a small business – and you are its managing director. A few tips from the corporate world could save your sanity
I’ve always likened the task of running a household to that of CEO of a small company – the job description is uncannily similar. Chances are most home managers could describe their duties in identical terms: ‘Assure a smoothly functioning and efficient organisation’; ‘plan and meet deadlines’; ‘maintain a flexible work schedule’; ‘identify and address problems and opportunities’; and ‘build and manage team mentality’. Perhaps I should add that ‘the applicant should also be able to run the canteen, organise all travel and transport, mediate disputes, diagnose and treat minor illnesses, advise on fashion choices and ensure cleanliness of premises’. Throw in ‘hours may be long and irregular’ and you have one hell of a job. Get businesslike about the house with some sound strategies borrowed from famous people who know a thing or two about management.
2. Establish a positive company philosophy
Emphasise the values that you want your family to respect and that will make everyone’s life more enjoyable. Rather than ‘don’ts’, try ‘do’s’. Incorporate these values into how you approach life yourself and how you treat others, so that it’s not a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’.
Catchy slogans can be irritating – I think I’m over ‘because you’re worth it’, but I do love Nike’s ‘willpower trumps whining’!
Emphasise the values that you want your family to respect and that will make everyone’s life more enjoyable. Rather than ‘don’ts’, try ‘do’s’. Incorporate these values into how you approach life yourself and how you treat others, so that it’s not a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’.
Catchy slogans can be irritating – I think I’m over ‘because you’re worth it’, but I do love Nike’s ‘willpower trumps whining’!
3. Define work areas
“When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.” – Erma Bombeck, author of I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression
A home operates a little like an open-plan office, with a mix of ideas (and ideals) all crashing into each other in a shared space. But even open-plan areas need to have some separation within them. Carve out somewhere for you to plot tactics, clear your mind or just breathe deeply. Whereas a closed door may be too excluding, a visual ‘threshold’ (an area rug or change of floor surface, for example) can designate a space that is both private and available. It provides somewhere for intimate conversations and sharing concerns. It also gives you somewhere to ‘reward publicly, admonish privately’, a tactic adopted by many managers.
How to stake out your home office territory
“When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.” – Erma Bombeck, author of I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression
A home operates a little like an open-plan office, with a mix of ideas (and ideals) all crashing into each other in a shared space. But even open-plan areas need to have some separation within them. Carve out somewhere for you to plot tactics, clear your mind or just breathe deeply. Whereas a closed door may be too excluding, a visual ‘threshold’ (an area rug or change of floor surface, for example) can designate a space that is both private and available. It provides somewhere for intimate conversations and sharing concerns. It also gives you somewhere to ‘reward publicly, admonish privately’, a tactic adopted by many managers.
How to stake out your home office territory
Make sure other household members can also have their private time and space.
4. Organise yourself before you organise others
Manage the manager – don’t expect neat and tidy kids if you are all over the shop. Keep track of your personal chores, electronically or with a paper diary. Don’t commit important dates to memory, even if you think you won’t forget. Set alarms to remind you of your own appointment times and don’t overload your day or week with an unrealistic number of commitments. Once you feel in control of your personal tasks, you’ll feel much calmer when organising all the demands that come with a busy household.
List-making strategies to put you ahead of the game
Manage the manager – don’t expect neat and tidy kids if you are all over the shop. Keep track of your personal chores, electronically or with a paper diary. Don’t commit important dates to memory, even if you think you won’t forget. Set alarms to remind you of your own appointment times and don’t overload your day or week with an unrealistic number of commitments. Once you feel in control of your personal tasks, you’ll feel much calmer when organising all the demands that come with a busy household.
List-making strategies to put you ahead of the game
Once you’re in check, help your staff personnel to do the same by instilling some tidy habits, like putting clothes and toys away or making their bed. Give them responsibility for the care and order of their own possessions. Labelled drawers like this will save hours of searching and potential tantrums.
5. Encourage teamwork and cooperation
Team-building strategies are the linchpin of many successful businesses. There are constructive and fun ways to build trust and prepare kids for school and work situations: baking a cake together, writing a chapter each in a story, team scavenger hunts, creating and caring for a vegetable garden… Tell us some of your ideas in the Comments.
More: Let’s Play! Reconnect the Family With Indoor Games
Team-building strategies are the linchpin of many successful businesses. There are constructive and fun ways to build trust and prepare kids for school and work situations: baking a cake together, writing a chapter each in a story, team scavenger hunts, creating and caring for a vegetable garden… Tell us some of your ideas in the Comments.
More: Let’s Play! Reconnect the Family With Indoor Games
6. Make an attractive and stimulating environment for learning
Whether you have little computer whizzes or bookworms, putting learning tools at their disposal, with the likes of educational games and toys, will kindle their curiosity and willingness to learn, reinforce skills and improve ability to work and play by themselves and with others.
Whether you have little computer whizzes or bookworms, putting learning tools at their disposal, with the likes of educational games and toys, will kindle their curiosity and willingness to learn, reinforce skills and improve ability to work and play by themselves and with others.
Somewhere I heard the expression ‘today’s readers, tomorrow’s leaders’. I’ve also heard of a quaint and antiquated practice called ‘reading a bedtime story’. Does anyone still do this? There’s no nicer way for a child to fall asleep than to the sound of a parent’s voice quietly reading. Older children can be seconded to read to little ones. Fill your home with books and your kids will never be without something to do.
7. ‘Sharpen the saw’
Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, coined this phrase. It’s about maintaining your own physical and mental wellbeing through healthy eating, activity and stress management, in order to be more effective and focussed. It’s hard to steer the ship when you are tired and run-down – but it’s important to make your own wellness a top priority.
Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, coined this phrase. It’s about maintaining your own physical and mental wellbeing through healthy eating, activity and stress management, in order to be more effective and focussed. It’s hard to steer the ship when you are tired and run-down – but it’s important to make your own wellness a top priority.
Help your staff sharpen their own saws by encouraging physical activities. There are so many games and entertainment for kids these days that require nothing more than a few twitches of their fingers and a slack-jawed expression. Make healthy outdoor play a family affair and praise those starry kicks, well-caught balls and high jumps, as well as considerate sharing and teamwork.
More: 10 Backyard Additions for Active (and Not-So-Active) Kids
More: 10 Backyard Additions for Active (and Not-So-Active) Kids
Part of ensuring your little ones’ saws are sharp is good nutrition. Pickyness in three- to six-year-olds can drive you insane. It’s often not about food, but independence and power struggles, so don’t react to refusal too strongly. These tips might help: plan a period of quiet time before meals – don’t sit your littl’un at the table fresh from a tantrum; serve small and give more if they ask; hide vegies in food they like; let them see other kids tucking into an unfamiliar food – they might follow suit.
If all else fails, make a food game with a tray of different foods – challenge your picky one to eat something out of each section, or eat ‘red, yellow, green’ and so on. And know that they’ll become less fussy as they get older.
If all else fails, make a food game with a tray of different foods – challenge your picky one to eat something out of each section, or eat ‘red, yellow, green’ and so on. And know that they’ll become less fussy as they get older.
8. Be the Director of Fun
Into every life some fun must fall. Even the biggest businesses recognise that time-outs pay dividends in team-building, lowered stress and better interpersonal relationships. Surprise the troops every now and then with an out-of-the-blue, off-the-wall adventure – an impromptu picnic with silly games, a no-hands watermelon-eating competition, or hire a bouncy castle for the day.
Into every life some fun must fall. Even the biggest businesses recognise that time-outs pay dividends in team-building, lowered stress and better interpersonal relationships. Surprise the troops every now and then with an out-of-the-blue, off-the-wall adventure – an impromptu picnic with silly games, a no-hands watermelon-eating competition, or hire a bouncy castle for the day.
Businesses have their golf tournaments and team challenge excursions. Why not arrange ‘corporate days’ for bonding with other kids. Invite their friends and organise games. While they’re playing, meet with fellow ‘managers’ over a glass of wine to share the joys and challenges of the job.
9. Reward achievement
Celebrate small victories and praiseworthy effort. It doesn’t have to be with an expensive gift – we all know how good just a pat on the back or a surprise celebration can feel when we have worked hard at something.
Celebrate small victories and praiseworthy effort. It doesn’t have to be with an expensive gift – we all know how good just a pat on the back or a surprise celebration can feel when we have worked hard at something.
10. Be an expert delegator
Don’t waste time on tasks that can be (buzz word coming up) ‘outsourced’. A good manager knows how to delegate. Play to individuals’ strengths and interests, and fit jobs to the age and ability of the delegatee. A roster for setting the table, helping with dishes, pet care, shopping, basic cooking or tidying can free you for other things, especially if it’s put in place early in the parenting phase.
Bombeck says: “My second favourite household chore is ironing, my first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.” If you feel like this about housework, weigh up the cost of employing someone to help with it against how it would increase your productivity in other areas where you are indispensable.
Don’t waste time on tasks that can be (buzz word coming up) ‘outsourced’. A good manager knows how to delegate. Play to individuals’ strengths and interests, and fit jobs to the age and ability of the delegatee. A roster for setting the table, helping with dishes, pet care, shopping, basic cooking or tidying can free you for other things, especially if it’s put in place early in the parenting phase.
Bombeck says: “My second favourite household chore is ironing, my first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.” If you feel like this about housework, weigh up the cost of employing someone to help with it against how it would increase your productivity in other areas where you are indispensable.
11. Call staff meetings
When situations that involve the whole family arise, then it’s time for a board meeting. Inform everyone of the time and place to discuss important news, crises, big changes or problems. Foster listening skills by giving everyone a chance to participate. Enlist the wisdom of Winston Churchill: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Keep the setting informal and non-threatening – maybe move it outside to the garden, and provide snacks and drinks.
When situations that involve the whole family arise, then it’s time for a board meeting. Inform everyone of the time and place to discuss important news, crises, big changes or problems. Foster listening skills by giving everyone a chance to participate. Enlist the wisdom of Winston Churchill: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Keep the setting informal and non-threatening – maybe move it outside to the garden, and provide snacks and drinks.
One-on-ones are considered to be an extremely effective management tactic. They enable more frank discussion than in a group and facilitate getting to know and understand each other better.
12. Count to 10 … or 20
Another of Covey’s words of advice, and my personal favourite: “first seek to understand”. He suggests that “between stimulus and response, one has freedom to choose.” I take this to mean don’t explode until you have assessed the situation and know the facts. Although this can be difficult, it can have real benefits for both sides.
Another of Covey’s words of advice, and my personal favourite: “first seek to understand”. He suggests that “between stimulus and response, one has freedom to choose.” I take this to mean don’t explode until you have assessed the situation and know the facts. Although this can be difficult, it can have real benefits for both sides.
13. Be open all hours
Being available 24/7 comes with the job. If you can’t be, because of working away from home or other commitments, then make sure everyone knows who is ‘2IC’.
Being available 24/7 comes with the job. If you can’t be, because of working away from home or other commitments, then make sure everyone knows who is ‘2IC’.
14. Encourage creative thinking
Creativity sometimes – well ok, mostly – involves a little chaos. See mess for what it is – temporary, and the sign of an active and interested mind. Business guru Edward de Bono believes “without creativity there would be no progress” – it propels the universe and prevents stagnation. To end on a philosophical note, Friedrich Nietzsche put it beautifully: “You must … have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
May your home be full of dancing stars!
TELL US
Did some of these suggestions ring a bell with you? What is your best strategy for managing your household?
MORE
10 Organisation Habits to Establish This Year
Shared Kids Rooms: How to Turn Them Into Win-Win
6 Ways to Keep Your Teenagers Organised During the School Term
Creativity sometimes – well ok, mostly – involves a little chaos. See mess for what it is – temporary, and the sign of an active and interested mind. Business guru Edward de Bono believes “without creativity there would be no progress” – it propels the universe and prevents stagnation. To end on a philosophical note, Friedrich Nietzsche put it beautifully: “You must … have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
May your home be full of dancing stars!
TELL US
Did some of these suggestions ring a bell with you? What is your best strategy for managing your household?
MORE
10 Organisation Habits to Establish This Year
Shared Kids Rooms: How to Turn Them Into Win-Win
6 Ways to Keep Your Teenagers Organised During the School Term
“A good army without an able commander often becomes insolent and dangerous.” – Niccoló Machiavelli
Niccoló Machiavelli (1469-1527) wrote what was probably the first manual on leadership. More recently, Richard Branson stated: “I believe in benevolent dictatorship, provided I am the dictator.” What’s your management style? Maybe it’s to lead from the top: ‘I’m the parent, so do it’. Another strategy, which may require more patience, is ‘leading from behind’, using encouragement, rewards and consistency. Being the boss doesn’t preclude loving relationships but sound management can help organise chaos, develop positivity and encourage routine, teamwork and fun.