Let your journal be your mentor - family business journal

Nation's Business, Feb, 1990 by Clarice E. Cady

Let Your Journal Be Your Mentor

Keeping a daily journal of your family-owned business can serve you in many ways. It can be a stress reliever when tensions run high. It can serve as a record of decisions made. It can become a source of the facts in the event of a family disagreement. And it can even help you be a better manager.

The most practical form of journal is a loose-leaf notebook that holds pages that measure 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches. This size fits easily in a briefcase or pursue, and it doesn't become unwieldy if you want to write when you have a few minutes to spare as you wait for an appointment. As your notebook fills, the pages can be removed and stored in a separate, permanent binding.

Although time probably is a precious commodity to you, as it is to most business managers, you should set aside a specific time each day to help you acquire the habit of journal writing. The period just before you leave your office for the day will be the time that the information is freshest in your mind. But if writing while on the business premises proves to be unworkable, you may want to record the day's activities just before retiring for the night.

There is nothing quite so formidable as a blank piece of paper when you are ready to write. This blank-page phobia can be overcome by using the first page for stating your reasons for writing a journal and your objectives in keeping a history of your company.

To begin, write the history as you recall it. Tell when the company was begun, by whom, and how much money was invested. What methods were used to get it to the place it is today? What are your goals for it? What do you perceive to be the goals of other family members in the business? Are they in accord? If not, what must be done to gather family members into a more cohesive group?

Trade magazines contain a wealth of information on happenings in your industry. Your family-business journal is an excellent place to record significant industry events. Over a period of time, you will see industry trends evolving and can use this information in your own decision-making process. In the long term, you will have developed a substantial history of your industry that will prove to be informative to future generations in your business.

Your journal can become a means for testing ideas and even mentoring yourself. Written down, bad ideas will soon be recognized and discarded. Good ideas will take shape and become objectives that can be worked on.

Each evening, as you write your thoughts about the day, check your calendar for meetings to be held the following day. Write down what you expect to accomplish in each meeting, what objections you will have to overcome, and what you judge to be the best approach to take with each person. This exercise will let you know if you are prepared for each meeting or if you should do some last-minute homework.

By expressing your anger and frustrations in your journal, you may save yourself the trauma of a family quarrel. If, after reviewing a specific problem in writing, you find the issue must still be discussed, you will be in a more rational frame of mind. Problems then can be dealt with by using an issues approach, not an emotional one.

Best of all, your journal can become a knowledgeable history of the family business and a lasting legacy of family accomplishments.

Clarince E. Cady is a small-business management consultant and writer in Glenwood Springs, Colo.