How does this set of criteria match your idea
of "what's needed for an effective family meeting?" If you've tried such
meetings, how did they turn out? As you see, many factors determine how well
each person's needs get met. Where can average family adults learn these
factors?
Suggestion Checklist
Discuss these options, and select those you think would help your kids and
adults all get your needs met more often. Option: print this and use it
as a checklist...
_ 1)
Learn how to tell
when
are
your family adults. When they
are, your odds of
planning and facilitating effective family meetings go way up - and vice versa!
_ 2) Evolve agreement among your
members as to what constitutes an effective family meeting.
Then use it to monitor your effectiveness together, over
time.
Option: at the end of any meeting, ask each person to honestly grade
how useful it was to them - e.g. 1 to 10. Use high "grades" to affirm you all,
and low grades as motivation to improve ("What would have made this
meeting better / more useful / helpful / interesting for you?").
_ 3) If some adults or kids resist
family meetings, or come but don't participate, see that as a chance to
learn, not to blame them and/or avoid meeting. Their disinterest,
reluctance, or cynicism is probably some mix of barriers like
With
awareness, patience, and
empathy, each barrier can be reduced over time.
Note that evening meals
may serve as natural family-meeting times, if you don't overdo it. Option:
consider inviting "resistant" members to come as an "observer," so they "know what's
going on." Often - specially in meetings that affect them in/directly -
they'll join in...
_ 4)
Work
out some clear adult
criteria for when to have a
group meeting vs.
discussions with two or three members. The latter are usually a lot simpler!
_ 5) Learn the skill of
and
prioritizing together to determine clearly
-
what you and each other family member
need,
-
in what order, and...
-
who's really responsible for filling each
need. Also,...
-
break complex
problems into smaller "chunks" (goals).
These habits will
help you consistently set clear family-meeting agendas and provide a useful example for
your kids.
_ 6)
Make
(vs. "find") time to plan
important meetings and discussions
first. Consider things like...
-
who
should attend and
-
why (what type of meeting will it be - informational,
problem-solving, family-building, or enjoyment);
-
when and where to meet;
-
who should lead, and...
-
why;
-
who has the shortest attention span;
-
what specific outcome/s you want; and
-
limiting the agenda to just a few targets. A series of
short, focused, effective meetings is more nurturing to your family than
several long, boring, and/or complicated meetings.
_ 7)
Help all your adults and
kids learn to talk about
Such talk includes
learning how to say "I just got a '1-up' or '1-down' message from you."
Awareness of your R-messages and attitudes is vital to
in or out of a
family meeting!
_ 8) Explain what
conflicts,
conflicts, and
relationship
are to every adult and older child, and discuss your ideas on how best to spot and
resolve each
of these common family stressors. Option: interest kids in this by
inviting them to be a conflict and/or triangle "scout," and rewarding them
for spotting these problems. Make sure they don't feel
responsible for causing or resolving them!
Recall -
this is a checklist of suggestions for having effective family
meetings.
_ 9) Have
all your family adults read and discuss these ideas about improving
communication effectiveness with
adults and
kids.
Then teach all your family members:
-
the
we all try to
fill by communicating (even infants!), and
-
what happens when two
or more persons' communication needs
-
Develop a
("I think my
needs don't match yours right now - let's check, OK?") and...
-
Evolve a strategy that
any of your kids and adult can use if this need-conflict happens during a
conversation or family meeting.
Option: ask a child to be a "need-conflict"
scout in your homes. If you do this, let all family adults know
what you're doing and why...
_ 10)
Watch
for chances to affirm
individual and group successes as you all experiment with how to
meet, talk, and
effectively together. That can sound like
"Mike, you did a real nice
just now - way to go!"; or "I'm
appreciating that in the last 25 minutes no one interrupted anyone else.
Good for us!"; or "Alexa, I know you had to work hard to get
here on time - and you did. Thanks!"
_ 11) When you're meeting to solve
(someone's) problem, help everyone focus on identifying and ranking
"Problems"
ultimately turn out to be someone's unfilled needs - i.e. emotional, spiritual,
and/or physical discomforts.
_ 12) Help everyone learn and use the
difference between requests ("No," "Not now," and "I can't say" are
acceptable responses); and demands (These are not acceptable
responses).
_ 13) Since you all are evolving
family relationships and roles together, see how everyone feels about these
and
encourage each other to use them in confusing situations. Option: open any meeting
by reading these brief inspirations or something else to center everyone.
_ 14) Note your option of combining
"business" (information exchange, problem solving, family-building) with
some fun - like a game you all enjoy. The
Ungame
and
LifeStories
are two interesting, non-competitive board games for all ages that combine
fun and family-building.
_ 15) In long, complex, or important
family meetings, it can help if at the end, the
leader/s summarize:
-
who
called the meeting, and...
-
why (e.g. "Maria wanted us all to discuss whether
we should get a dog");
-
what key needs surfaced ("We discovered a
lot of mixed opinions on this"), and
-
who agreed to do what, by when (" We
agreed we're still too disorganized from moving in together, and that
Maria's responsible for calling us together again to decide about a dog in
early August."
_ 16)
Consider rotating the
meeting leadership role, so older kids get a chance to develop and practice
their "chairperson skills." Co-parents can act as coaches and consultants,
and retain ultimate responsibility for meeting process and outcomes.
_ 17) When important decisions were
reached, decide who will follow up to see if what was agreed on
actually happened. Otherwise cynics
will be justified in saying "Family meetings are a waste of time - they
don't work."
_ (add your own effective-meeting
suggestions)
Useful Family-meeting Topics
There are many subjects you adults can include in a family-member
meeting or discussion. You can focus on...
-
defining and
resolving a specific
role, relationship, or other family problem,
-
plan a celebration, vacation, reunion, or discuss a change;
-
education
- i.e. growing
family-member
and...
-
having fun together and growing your
"us-ness" (bonds).
Options
__ Use the
and
in this educational Web site as sources of useful topics.
__
Have a series of meetings to discuss and
practice the seven
communication
in Lesson 2.
__ Draw and discuss your family
tree,
genogram, and/or
structural map.
__ Discuss and draft a family
.
__ Review and celebrate your family
strengths, and work to improve them
together.
__ Define and discuss your
family identity.
__ Teach young people about their ancestors and
heritage, and encourage their curiosity.
__
__
__
Recap
This Lesson-5 article...
-
defines an
effective family meeting,
-
defines unique reasons stepfamily-members need to meet
-
offers
suggestions for successful outcomes, and...
-
illustrates useful meeting topics.
Pause, breathe, and recall why you read this article. Did you get what
you needed? If so, what do you need now? If not - what
you need?
Is there anyone you want to
discuss these ideas with? Who's answering these
questions - your wise resident
or
Learn something about yourself
with this
anonymous 1-question
.