Cognition Builders’ Immersive Approach to Supporting Family Success

Knowing how to build a successful business doesn’t always mean that you know how to build a strong family dynamic. In fact, those two skills are often opposed to one another. Spending long hours building a business can sometimes mean that your family feels neglected. That’s where Cognition Builders can help. Cognition Builders has built a business around helping successful entrepreneurs and high-level executives foster the skills necessary to be as successful at home as they are in business.

What Cognition Builders Teaches

Cognition Builders teaches parents that to have a successful family, they need to be the CEO of their families, just like they are the CEO of their businesses. And just like in business, results aren’t apparent overnight. The company advises its clients to be intentional and effortful to create a family dynamic that works for all members. What this dynamic looks like is different for every family. However, the goal that Cognition Builders strives to build in each family is a dynamic with happy, healthy kids with whom the parents have a loving relationship.

How to Be the CEO of Your Family

What does being the CEO of your family mean? Cognition Builders offers some steps on how to get started:

Set goals. The first step to creating the family dynamic you want, according to Cognition Builders, is to define the goals that you want to set for your group. What’s important to you and your family? Is it family dinners? Is it being able to attend your kids’ sports and other extracurricular events? Is it sharing problems and encouraging them to share theirs? Whatever you choose to focus on, Cognition Builders is quick to point out that “respect goes both ways, and we can’t have deep, meaningful relationships without it.”
Create expectations. The next step is to discuss what everyone’s role is in the family and what others expect of them. For example, do you expect your teenage son to take out the trash every week without having to be reminded? The kids’ roles should be centered around learning, being social, and helping. A good way to think about this is similar to how you structure a role for your employees. Do you have a job description for your kids’ roles? Are there consequences for not doing what’s expected of them?
Identify your resources. Cognition Builders maintains that there are three main classes of resources – skill sets, money, and time. All of these resources are limited, so it’s important to define which ones you need to achieve the goals you’ve set. It’s okay to use money to hire help, such as a tutor or nanny, but you still need to be aware that you’re using one of your resources.
Allocate your resources. Once you’ve identified which resources you’re going to use to achieve your family goals, you need to set aside time, money, and skills to work on each goal. Perhaps that’s a weekly date night with your spouse or an hour every weekend to go to the park with your son to work on his baseball skills. Start with your biggest goals, and then work your other chores and daily activities around them.
Establish structure. Kids thrive in environments where they know what’s expected of them and what’s going to happen every day. Use a calendar to post the family schedule in multiple places around the house. You may have to make small changes to find a system that works for everyone in the family. Make sure that everyone knows that changes are discouraged and that they need to discuss it with the group if they can’t do a scheduled activity.
Prepare. One of the reasons that family goals and plans break down is that parents are tired at the end of the work day and don’t have the energy to execute the plan. Cognition Builders advises that good preparation can help you work through the tiredness. For example, if you want to have an engaging family dinner, think of questions and discussion topics ahead of time that you can draw on when you’re tired.
Follow through. The most critical part of your plan is the follow-through, according to Cognition Builders. Consistency is key, so you need to stick to your schedule every day for it to work. Make sure to check in on your goals periodically and see how you are doing. Make changes quarterly if necessary.

About Cognition Builders

Cognition Builders is a global company that “employs a specialized team to resolve the behavioral, intellectual, social, emotional, cognitive, and academic needs of individuals and families.” The team is available to its clients 24/7 in all time zones.