"Family management applies good business principles to the work of making a home a warm and welcoming, healthy, happy and productive place for you and your family to grow and be," says Kathy Peel. Here are 10 strategies to help you do that:Change your title and job description. Family Manager is a title that reflects the true nature of the full-time work that millions of American women (and some men) do every day, whether or not they have another full-time or part-time job outside the home.
Know your mission. A family needs to know its core values, what it stands for and what's most important.
Manage by departments. All of the responsibilities of Family Manager can be better managed when they are categorized into seven departments and supervised accordingly:
-- Home and property: overseeing the maintenance and care of all our tangible assets, including belongings, the house and its surroundings.
-- Food: efficiently, economically and creatively meeting the family's daily food and nutritional needs.
-- People: dealing with family life -- marriage and child-raising -- and other relationships -- extended family, friends and neighbors. Acting as teacher, nurse, counselor, mediator, social chairman.
-- Finances: managing planned spending, bill-paying, saving, investing and other money issues.
-- Special events: planning and coordinating large and small projects -- birthdays, holidays, vacations, garage sales, family reunions, weddings -- that fall outside the normal family routine.
-- Time: managing time and schedules; getting the right people to the right places at the right time, so our household can run smoothly.
-- Personal: growth and caring for oneself physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.
Be true to your own modus operandi. Each person has a unique operating style -- a certain energizing way of managing and accomplishing things. When we work in harmony with our personality, skills and talents, instead of trying to be like our mother, best friend or favorite organizational guru, we can manage our family better and feel good about ourselves.
Practice team-building. Family Management is about sharing responsibility, helping each person find a niche and empowering each to succeed.
Be a worthy leader. A good parent-leader strives to be fair, firm, affirming and fun.
The expression of these characteristics must be adapted to each individual child and lived out on a daily basis.
Use a daily hit list. Choose each day what you will do, what you will delete and what you will delegate. That's the only way to alleviate the stress and panic that excessive demands on our time and energy create.
Delegate wisely. Assign household tasks and responsibilities according to age and skill level, strengths and weaknesses and time availability, not according to gender.
Communicate and negotiate. Every family has its issues and conflicts. Just as in business, families must learn to communicate their feelings in honest but healthy ways, attacking the problem, not the person.
Increase productivity and enjoy more time off. Three simple tactics can help you accomplish more in less time, thus freeing up time and energy for the things that matter most to you and your family:
-- Multitasking: look for times when you can do two things at once.
-- The five-minute maxim: Break big jobs into five-minute segments.
-- Practice two-tense actions: get what needs to be done in the present, but always keep your eye on the future. What can you do now to get ready for the school carnival, a Scout campout or even a weekend?