De kerstdagen staan voor de deur. Vanaf een uur of half 5 gaan de lichtjes in de kerstbomen binnen en buiten aan. In sommige huizen is het Weihnachtsoratorium van Bach al te horen. Voorbereidingen voor kerstdiners zijn in volle gang.
In dat licht delen we graag een deel van een mooie blog van de Australische Philip Pryor, adviseur voor familiebedrijven. Hij geeft regels over wat je vooral wel en niet moet doen tijdens het kerstdiner. En hij benadrukt dat dit de tijd is om de mooie kanten van je familie te zien en alle irritaties terzijde te schuiven. Australiërs durven daar in hun taal net wat uitgesprokener over te zijn dan wij nuchtere Hollanders, dus daarom hebben we niet geprobeerd het te vertalen. We hopen dat dit u mooie inspiratie geeft voor de komende dagen.
INNOO wenst u hele mooie dagen met uw familie en alvast een heel gezond en goed 2019!
Five rules for families at Christmas
If you follow these rules, when Christmas day comes along, you should all be willing to sit down at the table and have a happy, wonderful, loving Christmas dinner filled with laughter.
- Talk about family and what’s going on with them — what the kids are up to, who’s studying what, who got what marks at school, what’s the next adventure, celebrate the year, the wins, the achievements, the near misses. Forget the business—keep business conversations and family conversations separate.
- Forget the arguments and disagreements you’ve had over the year, yes they might be important but this is Christmas dinner and right now, that is far more important.
- Remember, while some members of your family may irritate the heck out of you — you probably do the same to them. This is family—you know each other better than anyone else so be patient, be forgiving and be kind. Be aware and pay attention to emotions. Don’t say or do things that can’t be undone.
- Ok so your sister’s husband put petrol in the diesel ute…again… forget and forgive—it’s just not that important!
- Remember what the real priority is—your family. Every family says they’ll never let the business get in the way of the family. However, this can and does happen if you’re not careful, and it is a total and unmitigated disaster when it does—I know, I’ve seen it too many times. And Christmas becomes lonely and quiet.
It’s about now you need to recognise just how lucky you are to have your amazing family around you. Lean in and feel how much love there is around the table and how important you are to everyone.
Despite…..
- your Mum insisting that you do the paperwork the right way
- or your sister shooting down your latest investment idea that you knew was going to make a motza!
- or the knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out screaming match you had with your brother, ‘cause again, he’d screwed up the billing system that you had so painstakingly organised
……you are actually family. And there is nothing quite as important as family. You run a business to live your values and to provide a living for yourselves, your kids and your grandkids. But the business can never be allowed to get in the way of family relationships.
This is what the Christmas Dinner rules are all about.
