I’m a big Patrick Lencioni fan. I read just about everything that the guy puts out. When his first non-business book, “The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family”, came out, though, I was more than a little bit skeptical. I mean, the guy has a lot of experience in leadership, business, management, etc. and HAS a family, but does that really qualify him to write a book ABOUT families? In spite of some of my initial leeriness towards the book, I picked it up anyway and was pleasantly surprised.

The book centers around the idea of the Family Scoreboard. It’s a simple tool that will help parents help their families identify what’s most important/needed in their world right now and come up with a great plan to get to where they need to go. Whether you are single, married, married with children, or empty-nesters this idea of Scoreboard can add so much value to the way that you live your life.

Here’s a summary from Pat’s website about how it all works:

1. What makes your family unique?

The answer to this question should be two or three sentences that describe how your family is different from any other family in the world. If you don’t know what differentiates your family from others, you won’t have a basis for making decisions, and you’ll try to be all things to all people.

2. What is your top priority— rallying cry — right now?

Rallying Cry: The rallying cry is a single, agreed-upon top priority for your family over the next two to six months. Without a top priority, everything becomes important and you end up reacting to whatever issues seem urgent that day.

Defining Objectives: Defining objectives are the basic categories of things you’ll have to do to achieve your rallying cry. Without identifying those categories, you’ll be left with nothing but a general statement—and no context for getting it done.

Standard Objectives: Standard objectives are simply those regular, perennial responsibilities that a family must pay attention to in order to keep its head above water. By acknowledging these ongoing responsibilities, families will avoid being distracted from what really matters.

3. How do you talk about and use the answers to these questions?

The most important thing a family has to do to keep its context alive is discuss it in regular meetings. If you answer the first two questions but don’t use those answers in daily, weekly and monthly decision-making, it will yield limited benefits. It can also be helpful to “score” your progress as demonstrated with the green, yellow, and red color key.

Click here if you would like to view one of the previous scoreboards that my wife and I have done.

Click here if you would like to learn more about the Frantic Family Model.

Do you have a plan for your own family? How are you helping the families in your church develop a plan that will work for them?

–Jeff