When a family is formed, it is a blending of two sets of everything: personalities, upbringings, experiences, values, traditions, work ethics, role assignments, hopes and dreams.
All of this is combined with differing views on how to make a home, how to raise kids, how to manage money, and how you spend your time.
One of the biggest fights in Anderson history was over how I hung the stockings on our first Christmas together. It wasn’t at all like Adam’s mother had done it. Seems silly, but these things matter.
Much like the standard perception of America, families are often less of a melting pot and more like a soup. All the pieces float in there together, but never really become one.
How then can we – as BUSINESS OWNING FAMILIES – find the fuel and motivation to strive toward a common purpose when two individuals have differing agendas?
After many years of fighting each other like two magnetic ends of same pole, Adam and I decided we needed to realign our missions. We knew we couldn’t be as successful on these separate tracks. We are always better together.
We needed to decide where we are going, how we are going to get there, and who we are going to be along the way.
This is when we started to add (what would come to be known in the WLE methodology) as the VISION, VALUES, & GOALS Quarterly Check Ins to our then rudimentary Family Business Meeting.
Seems easy enough, right? You set them. Then you live them.
Well, implementing and tracking these things proved to be a little more challenging than we expected. Turns out that every business decision affected the family and every family decision affected the business.
The VV&Gs were THE tipping point for how every single decision was made across the board.
But they also they served as a point of reference; our North Star.
VV&Gs are common practice in the business world, but we’ve found that folks find it more difficult to apply this strategy to their home lives. Sometimes that’s because everybody is just in survival mode and they’re playing the cards they’ve been dealt. And sometimes it’s because we forget that we’re playing for the same team and everybody’s eyes are on their own glove and not the ball.
Everybody can be successful and satisfied with some intentional planning. AND you can do it together, without losing your integrity OR your mind.
There is some magic involved in the development and implementation of the Family Vision, Values, and Goals. But fear not! We’ve got you covered.
In this series we’ll go through each of them and share what we’ve learned. You don’t have to sacrifice your relationship to have a successful business and you don’t have to sacrifice your business to keep your partner. The path to success is all in the design.
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