- Emily Oster is an author, data economist, and professor of economics at Brown University.
- The following is an excerpt from her book “Family Business: A Data-Driven Guide for Better Preschool Decisions.”
- In it, Oster detailed an exercise that all nursing staff can take to help adjust family values and reduce daily stress.
- For more stories, please visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
The following is an excerpt from Emily Oster’s “Family Business: A Data-Driven Guide to Better Decision-Making in Preschool.”
In the negotiation class of business school, a common topic is “anchor theory”. Basically, the opening price in the negotiation “anchored” the price.
For the same reason, collective decision-making can be cancelled by having one person express their views publicly in the first place. If we as a company try to decide how much to bid for a company, and the first person to speak suggests 20 million US dollars (295 million rand), I might be embarrassed to say that I think it is only worth 2 million US dollars (295 million rand). special) ).
But knowing we disagree is valuable! One way to learn is to ask people to write down their valuations privately and then share them at the same time.
Take a similar approach with your family.
Start with all parenting stakeholders, whether you are a family member. Even if you are raising children alone, this exercise may be useful, but for different reasons. Everyone got a piece of paper and wrote:
- Your first family mission statement. whatever you want! In a word: What is your main goal for the family?
- Your child’s three main goals (big goals in life; not something like “better use of forks,” even if you want that very, very much).
- Three priorities, things you care about (may be work, exercise, meeting friends); what do you want to determine you Do you have time?
- Three activities in your opinion Must do On (most) working days. (For example, mine will be: 1) Eat at least one meal with the kids; 2) Finish some work; 3) Sleep there. If I get all three things in one day, I might be very happy. )
- Three activities in your opinion Must do On (most) weekends (for example, religious ceremonies, additional counseling, competitive sports, hiking, meeting with grandparents).
Then you exchange papers and discuss.
What is the result?
It depends on the situation. Maybe you are exactly the same, and the result is some touch points that you all agree on to develop your family schedule and principles. Or maybe you are not aligned. Maybe my ideal weekend is athletic sports and math tutoring, while your weekend is hiking the Appalachian Trail and camping. Just know now.
It may also reveal things that we care about and agree with but are different from what we are doing now. For example, this may indicate that I want to be a full-time parent. My partner may think this is a good idea, and even have some ideas on how to make it work financially. If we haven’t discussed it before, I might not know that my partner will support this. Or the other way around: Maybe I stay at home all the time, but I really want to go back to work and dare not mention it. For these reasons, it is important to be honest in these discussions, even if you think what you want cannot be achieved.
(Note: If you are raising children alone, I still think this is a valuable method, because in the chaos of parenting, you may not often stop and think about what you really want to do.)
There was no obvious end to this conversation. This is something you may have already started before reaching this point, and you will continue. But make the transition until you feel that you are consistent enough to put your mission statement into practice.
Writing down your goals for your family will not let you control. Control in family life is illusory-things happen in unexpected places, and the world throws a curve ball at you. There are not many notes and plans to avoid this situation. But not everything is unexpected. We can at least avoid a lot of daily stress by knowing our true hopes for the family.
from”Family Companies: A Data-Driven Guide to Better Decision-Making in the Early School Year” Author: Emily Oster, published by Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2021 Emily Oster.
