I realize I’m speaking to a rather narrow slice of my audience today. And that’s the group of you who have children living at home with you.
I usually talk about things that help you succeed at work. Today’s topic may seem completely unrelated, but it’s not.
There’s an adage among coaches that “all coaching is life coaching.” That’s because any challenge in any area of life can impact your success at work.
Today I want to share an idea someone gave me years ago that I believe to be a huge contributor to my success. It has to do with the relationship I have with my kids, who are now adults.
The idea was to have regularly scheduled one-to-one dates with each of my children.
In the context of workplace leadership, we often talk about how crucial it is to establish regular one-to-one conversations with each of your direct reports. The value of those conversations is rarely seen in any individual meeting. Rather, it is the fact that they are scheduled, that they are predictable, and that they are reliably kept that gives them their value.
Just like your one-to-one meetings build relationships with your direct reports, one-to-one dates build relationships with your children.
When our three children ranged in age from elementary to middle school, we began a schedule of alternating months, where one month my wife would take each child out, and the next month I would. The child got to choose where to go, and often it was a local pancake or waffle place, a drive-in, or a donut shop, ice cream stand, or cafe. We’d talk about whatever they wanted to talk about, and then we’d return home.
This monthly date with Mom or Dad became a highlight for my kids. If I had known about the idea earlier, I would have started as soon as they were capable of holding conversation.
Sure, this isn’t my normal kind of message. But relationships are worth investing in. And if you have children living with you at home, the practice of building your relationship with them will likely have hidden benefits for your success at work, too.
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