When the word “management” is mentioned, the first thought that comes to mind is that of someone in a corporation entrusted to accomplish an assignment within a budget and a set time frame. While this concept is true and applies to business, the parents of the average family act in the same capacity as the project manager of a corporation.
A family with children require the parents to assume the leadership roles and put down the rules that help their children to learn responsibility. While company project managers need to work under time restrictions, managing a family has no time limits, though the job of parents can be as taxing as any business executive.
So it's necessary to apply many of the same rules that project managers of multi-million dollar corporations use to insure the success of their projects.
Customer Focus
In the business world, project managers need to be customer focused. In the family environment, the customers are the children. It's up the their parents to develop plans that benefit their children in some way. The end result is to raise them healthy, happy and productive.
Effective Operation
The project manager needs to have control over the assignment he is entrusted with. He needs to work independently without a lot of supervision from his peers. Similarly, in the family, both husband and wife need to work as a team, yet each requires some independence as each side has different viewpoints and methods to teach the children. A husband can't teach female concerns to his daughters as this is the job of the mother. And, of course, the reverse is equally true.
Understanding the Project
If neither side of the family knows what the goals are for their children, they can't organize the best activity that helps their children develop their particular skills. In business, a project manager would be ineffective and won't keep his job for long if he or she doesn't know what is required from him to complete a successful project. Unfortunately, many families have no organized plans and children grow up without a blueprint on how to become successful in their lives as they never learned such skills at home.
Understanding Staff Needs
The project manager needs to know how to coordinate and lead all the members and workers so the project moves along to a successful conclusion. In the family, that means being aware of the children's needs. It requires solving their problems and difficulties so they can grow up happy and fulfilled and willing to do what it takes to keep the family united.
The Need to Sacrifice
To advance in the business environment requires some sacrifice. So it is with parents. They have a great responsibility to act as leaders in the family, guiding their children to follow certain rules that help them build discipline and protect them from a world that too often leads many youth down the path to misery. Children demand a lot of time and patience and parents need to be willing to make sacrifices. Unfortunately, many families have no rules as children are allowed to do anything they wish.
Negotiation Skills
Project managers must deal with suppliers and workers on the project on a daily basis. They need the skills to motivate so the project moves along and gets accomplished with the time frame set for it. So it is with the family. Children love to play. They'd rather play computer games than be outside mowing the lawn or washing dishes. That's where parents need some negotiating skills. They need to use those skills to get their children to do those assignments as laid down and not submit to every whim of the children.
As is quite evident, the family unit runs much the same as a corporation. The end result reflects the success or failure of the parents on how they assumed their duties within the family. The best families are the happiest when the children grow up to be successful and productive members of society.
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