Businesses begin with a vision. Their core values are intertwined throughout their vision. These cores values, along with their vision, help to define their mission and ultimately their business plan. The CEO of a company manages the overall operations and resources of the company and is the main point of communication with the board of directors and key stakeholders.
Have you ever considered that running a household is similar to running a business?
A household CEO helps their family define their mission, goals, budget, and plan of action. The CEO provides guidance throughout the process and makes decisions on how to accomplish success.
Do you have a vision for your home, for your family? Do you know where you want to be as family? All sizes of families, even families of one, should have a plan based on their mission. Don’t let this overwhelm you. It’s not hard!
Mission Statements
Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, stated “A family mission statement is a combined, unified expression from all family members of what your family is all about — what it is you really want to do and be — and the principles you choose to govern your family life.”
The point is that a mission statement should reflect your vision for life and direct what your family does.
Family Goals
The next component of a plan includes setting goals that will help you meet your mission in life. If the goal can’t be tied to your mission, you should question if it is necessary for your family. This approach will help to keep balance in your life and strategically reduce the chaos.
As with a business, communicating with board members and key stakeholders is extremely important. The board in a household would consist of you and your spouse/partner and key stakeholders would be your children and other family members that may live with you. Realizing their input helps them to know they are seen as part of the family team and helps to get their buy in. Your plan can be set from brainstorming done during a family meeting. Your goals should include the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the entire family. Of course, the board needs to be the team leaders and key decision makers. Meetings also help to keep the family plan on course and bring things back into line when they steer off course. Continued communication of your mission and goals are vitally important.
It is important to review and possibly revise your goals as circumstances change. Also, monitoring the results of your goals helps you to track progress. You may find you need to adjust your current process or implement a whole new one. The family plan is meant to be a fluid document, not a static one.
Family Budgets
As CEO you will determine the needs of your family and what is necessary to meet those needs. So, the development of a budget is only logical. You can review your historical spending by looking at bills, receipts, bank statements, and paychecks. You can create a budget using this information. Be sure to budget for any new goals you have for the year. For example, you know you will need to buy a new car in the not so distant future. You could put a line item in your budget to save for a down payment on the car. Your budget should include not only ongoing expenses, but also long-term needs such as college funds, retirement, etc.
Action Plan
Once you have your mission, goals, and budget in place; you need to determine how you are going to meet them. What action steps do you need to do to accomplish life with your family? As CEO you will oversee the daily operations of the household. I will delve deeper into actions items that are commonly part of a household operational plan in my next blog.
In the meantime, reach out if you have any questions about developing a mission statement, goals, or a budget for your household and feel free to share your personal or family vision and mission in the comments below!
Mission Statements
ting with board members and key stakeholders is extremely important. The board in a household would consist of you and your spouse/partner and key stakeholders would be your children and other family members that may live with you. Realizing their input helps them to know they are seen as part of the family team and helps to get their buy in. Your plan can be set from brainstorming done during a family meeting. Your goals should include the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the entire family. Of course, the board needs to be the team leaders and key decision makers. Meetings also help to keep the family plan on course and bring things back into line when they steer off course. Continued communication of your mission and goals are vitally important.
As CEO you will determine the needs of your family and what is necessary to meet those needs. So, the development of a budget is only logical. You can review your historical spending by looking at bills, receipts, bank statements, and paychecks. You can create a budget using this information. Be sure to budget for any new goals you have for the year. For example, you know you will need to buy a new car in the not so distant future. You could put a line item in your budget to save for a down payment on the car. Your budget should include not only ongoing expenses, but also long-term needs such as college funds, retirement, etc.
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