This month, we talked briefly about maintenance and upkeep of your primary investment, your home. Owning a home for many is a dream but along with the dream comes a responsibility to ensure that every member of the household is turned in to a successful product of your time and investments. However, in order to make the dream work, you first must employ some team work.  Have you ever considered running your home like a business?

One of the primary goals in any business is making certain that each member of the team is informed of the goal and mission of the organization.  What is the mission of your family? Some families have a simple goal of every child getting into college and graduating, if not college, possessing certified skill in which to make a living, because no parent wants to receive the call in the middle of the night to come to the local jail to pick up their investment.  Trust me, there is a major difference between putting money in your child’s account for text books and putting money on their account for the commissary.

But how does it all work?  The simple difference between your family and the one down the street that seem so happy and supportive of each other is communication. Running your home like a business begins with communication.

Let’s look at some of the things which happen in your place of business that you could employ in your home to make it work for you.

1. Weekly team meetings. You know, those meetings you hate to go to because Jeanie goes on way too long about her weekend, hitting your TMI button around 7 minutes into the meeting?  What if the face of Jeanie was replaced with the face of your daughter, that you seldom see any more because it is stuck to the screen of her phone or iPad. Weekly meetings would engage her into what is happening with you, in turn, encouraging her to share what is happening with her. I don’t know a parent who likes to find out what is going on with their child via Facebook.

According to an article on the Wall Street Journal’s webpage, “Having weekly family meetings increased communication, improved productivity, lowered stress and made everyone much happier to be part of the family team.”

2. Empower your children to make decisions. Decision making does not have to be life changing, but we as parents can teach our children life skills by giving them responsibility in our life.  If your teen daughter doesn’t want to eat what you are cooking, then fine.  Give her one week where she is in charge of the menu.  Allow her to plan the meals, provide a budget, and even take her to the store to shop.  If the grocery budget for the week is $100, empower her to understand the feeling of being $5 over and having to decide what has to be put back on the shelf. This miniscule act will be a foundation in her financial future when she wants to run up a credit card. Understanding money now is critical to their success as a citizen, as well as keeping them out of your pockets.

 3. Change your leadership model. The worst job in the world is working for a micro-manager who treat you like a child.  Why are you doing it to your family?  No one wants to work for or be around that guy! Stop being that guy. Effective teams work best when each member is comfortable to voice their opinion, even if it is unpopular.  If you promise that you are going to clean the gutters, then do it, don’t fob the work off on your son.  You hate this action when it is done to you by a supervisor, don’t do it to your family members.

4. Money, Money, Money.  In my kitchen is a chart for our vacation savings.  It shows the time lines, the profit lines and the targeted

goals.  Having something similar to this for the new flat screen for the family room, the new games Jr. wants, or even the new purse your daughter is dying to have, is a great idea of allowing your children to understand that not everything is instantaneous.  Some things you have to earn. Just as you go to work every day, every week, to earn that check, there is no reason why you should come home and dole it to people who won’t even take out the trash.  If I may quote Bobby Brown, “I made this money, you didn’t!”

5.Fun with conflict resolution.  If your kids are always arguing like monkeys over the last banana, then it is time to get creative with conflict resolution.  The best companies always have a company retreat or team building exercises, why can’t you?  It’s time for some paint ball or building a project in the back yard.

Working together and towards a common goal is how companies are successful.  It can also be the perfect model for your family.  Every member of the team is critical to the mission of the company, what is the your company’s mission?