A Family Mission Statement

The Benefits of having a Family Mission Statement

Rebecca Kochenderfer, Co-Founder and Senior Editor of Homeschool.com, writes:

According to Dr. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, 

"Every decision we make is ultimately governed by some kind of interest or goal or objective or value or principle, whether we know it or not. A Family Mission Statement is an effort to bring to an explicit level what your goals and values are so that people are on the same page."

The process is as important as the final product, says Covey, since it is critical that every member of the family feels they contributed to the development for full buy-in.

The process involves a great deal of empathy, patience and time, Covey said. But it's a fun process and very powerful in getting everyone to emotionally connect to the values that are produced. It's important to make sure everyone feels their ideas are respected and honored.

Such an emotional buy-in and connection will create an almost self-governing family.

[This happens because] even though everyone is doing their own thing sometimes, there's something at the bottom that unites us. The culture of the family is very committed to a common vision and mission and set of values.

Covey explains that it works especially well when a Family Mission Statement is developed intergenerationally, so that the full family is using the same values in their relationships and actions.

As an example Dr. Covey shared the Mission Statement that his family developed:

To create a nurturing place of faith, order, truth, love, happiness and relaxation and to provide opportunity for every person to become responsibly independent and effectively inter-dependent in order to serve worthy purposes in society through understanding and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Main Elements of a Good Mission Statement

Dr. Covey's Mission Statement contains all the main elements of a good Mission Statement. Those parts include:

Characteristics of the home – nurturing, etc. 

Effect on individuals –independence and interdependence 

Effort to be a family of significance - service & contribution 

Source of the power 

The process for developing a Mission Statement can begin as simply as holding weekly family meetings and starting by asking open-ended questions. Parents should ask their children questions such as:

 "What kind of a home do you want to bring your friends home to?"  

 "What type of family do you want?" and 

 "What's important to you?" 

The answers to these questions will start to form an outline of important values for everyone in the family. Kids will gradually begin to see it taking shape and the buy-in will become stronger.

Most parents have not been told how to listen. Most people listen within their own frame of reference and are inwardly planning their reply. It's better to restate the other person's thought before you reply.

The more they sense you are listening they will communicate more authentically. When that happens there's a level of bonding that's almost indescribable."

Other families can use a more visual approach, using poster paper to list values or what makes them happy. Families with younger children might try creating a poster using magazine pictures to represent what is important to them.

The key is to not ignore the children's input and just present the Mission Statement to them. They must feel they helped to produce it.

Covey adds that you don't have to use the word values or mission statement. Some families call it a motto, or a creedo, or come up with their own tagline.

One of the benefits of the process is that everyone is involved and so a sense of interdependency develops. "The more you can get kids to buy into interdependency you have resolved 90% of the challenges and problems that come into a family," says Covey. "It creates a friendship between siblings that is emotionally generating. They begin to think of siblings as their best friend, and they support each other."

Using Your Family Mission Statement

Once the Mission Statement is generated, families must make an effort to follow it. This requires a lot of long range planning and calendaring.

"The key is to discuss them constantly (at least once a week) to see how well the family is living up to it (even the parents)," cautions Covey. "Everyone governs themselves by the mission statement if they feel genuinely involved."

It's also important for everyone in the family to prioritize and "put first things first." The items that the family has come up with in their mission statement and the goals that flow from them are the "first things."

"Most people put 2nd things first – for instance, work, even though they say they really value family," says Covey.

"They neglect health, neglect integrity (which should be first things.) They neglect their deepest values all in the name of social pressure. The ability to say no to the second things is the key to saying yes to the first things. You have to have a burning sense of yes about the first things to keep them first.

That's why there must be an emotional engagement over time in developing the value system of the family because those become first things. The family then gets social courage when they live that way so it's not hard to say no. They can say no pleasantly and cheerfully and smilingly. When someone hasn't decided what the first things are they can't say no to social situations."

The family members must do long term planning so that family comes first. For example, if health is a priority, schedule time to exercise with family. Use a calendar so family comes first and mean it.

Family meetings must be priority too. Members have to get permission from the group and must justify it to other members. Nothing should supersede the meeting; not homework, friends, or phone calls, etc.

Covey adds, "Little by little children grow up thinking ‘family is where it's at.'"

Read more at: http://www.homeschool.com/articles/Stephen_Covey/