Aligning Expectations at Home: Morning Meeting
Huddles. Stand up meetings. Daily Scrum. If used intentionally, these meetings can have an effective impact on team communication and accountability. I’ve often wondered why we don’t implement similar best practices in our homes because home management is rather similar to business management.
A while back, my husband and I added our baby girl and my gram to our household. We love having gram with us. But it’s essential to keep clear lines of communication open to live peaceably and prioritize relationships over preferences.
To do this, we needed to implement a rhythmic system. MJ had listened to a podcast episode by Family Teams that mentioned adding a team meeting into their daily morning rhythm. So, we decided to try it. After consistently meeting for a year and a half now, I can honestly say it's been a game changer for us.
We keep meetings brief, maybe 10 minutes or less. Below is our agenda:
To-do lists
Errands and appointments
Dinner plans
Daily chore focus
Prayer
Here are a few outcomes of our meetings:
Everyone starts the day on the same page.
Going over to-do lists, errands, dinner plans, and appointments allows everyone to understand expectations for the day. Not only does this keep us informed on how to help each other, but it also allows us to quickly resolve conflicting plans.
We get to connect with each other before work.
The meeting allows us to connect as a family before getting caught up in the busyness of the day. We believe some of the most important work we do is within the walls of our home, and this small act of meeting as a family helps us keep that priority in alignment.
We have each other’s backs.
If my husband has a busy day ahead, I’m queued in on how to better serve him. If I want to enjoy time out with a friend, we can prepare for him to take our daughter’s bedtime routine. Communicating and preparing in advance has been helpful for staying on the same page.
We pray for each other.
This allows us to think of other family and friends. It also sets a tone of gratitude and grows our faith as we’re able to track answers.
Family morning meeting has been surprisingly effective for us. It’s helped multiple independent individuals learn to work better as a unit. It’s established a morning rhythm that each of us looks forward to. And it’s helping my husband and I learn to lead our family well.
That doesn’t mean it would benefit others in the same way. Its purpose in our home is for agenda harmony, connection, and clear lines of communication across multiple adults living in a shared space. We’ve landed on a rhythm that works for us in our current season.
What rhythm(s) have you considered implementing to align expectations in your home? Perhaps there may be something you could adapt from our experience to suit your needs and cultivate clear communication in your home as well.