Welcome to the Family of Women! Whether you are new to the organization, or looking for a bit of a review, these essentials of the Family of Women have been gathered here for your convenience.

We are an international volunteer organization focused on women, families, and community . . . and beyond! We dare to go beyond the judgement and competition that is too often the norm between women. We are women who hold each other to higher standards of trust and acceptance. We are women who have the audacity to believe that we can live a life of passion and purpose and that another woman’s success does not impede our own.

The Family of Women is a purpose-driven organization whose members strive to support one another to have successful lives and relationships, and realize our Mission Statement. We meet weekly or monthly, and, in relationship, support one another to take our place as purposeful women in the world, and to have our dreams become reality.

We hold our Mission Statement/ Purpose to explain who we are to the world, to help center us and to help us choose what our organization should do and support with our time and energy.

We lead, inspire, and mentor women to embrace their power, purpose, and value, and to take responsibility for their relationships. We empower women to live the lives they love, igniting their passion to make a positive contribution in the world.

The Core Values of the Family of Women are Relationship, Service, Respect, Integrity and Trust. These core values guide our actions and our communities to be the best that we can be.

The Standards of the Family of Women are some specific behaviors that help us to operate as one team by the same guidelines and allow us to show respect to each other and our organization. They are the “glue” that bind us together.

The Family of Women vision:

We are passionately committed to the purpose of the Family of Women. We support women to take responsibility for successful relationships and to contribute to society by being leaders everywhere in the world.

A context is a statement of truth that helps to keep you on track. It is the paradigm that you hold or chose to live within. The Family of Women context: We are the women the world needs us to be.

Have you thought about who the world needs you to be? Who the people in your life need you to be?

The Family of Women also has a context for how we are being with the men in our associated men’s groups:  The success of our relationships with men determines our children’s future.

CPR (Context – Purpose – Results) is a time-honored Family of Women leadership tool that helps by clarifying, focusing, guiding and directing our efforts and intentions. It assists us to determine and define the what, why, and how we will achieve a desired solution.

• The Context is the HOW you will be to fulfill the purpose and obtain the results.
• The Purpose is the WHY or the reason you are doing something. The definition of Purpose is “the reason for being; the path, the direction.”
• The Results are the WHAT you will accomplish through achieving the purpose and holding the context. The definition of Results is “The tangible and intangible outcomes you want to occur.”

A CPR is a tool to use for a shorter-term, defined event or situation; something specific such as:

• A time-limited relationship,  such as one you might have with a mentor;
• A phone call with a challenging client;  or
• A meeting with your team

An Example of a CPR
Here is a CPR created for what you might want your holidays to be like this year.

• Results:
o Be loving and kind to myself and to my family in all situations
o Get along with and accept Uncle Harold for who he is and not try to change him.
o Extend a genuine invitation to cousin Freda to join us for holiday drinks on the 26th.
o To have a peaceful, loving celebration of family and friends throughout the holidays and deepen the connection among us.

• Purpose:
o To have a peaceful, loving celebration of family and friends throughout the holidays and deepen the connection among us.

• Context:
o My positive actions are the presents for us all.

An important aspect of the Family of Women is our attention to goals, which gives us a way to practice the discipline needed to do the work to achieve our dreams. We believe that setting and achieving realistic goals is a key to changing behavior patterns that no longer serve our lives or relationships. Achieving a goal requires a commitment to make a change.

One of the tools we can use for goal setting is SMART. This acronym stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, and Timely.

SMART goals:
Specific: What exactly will you accomplish?
Measurable: How will you know when you have reached this goal? What will happen when you achieve it?
Attainable/Achievable: Is achieving this goal realistic with effort and commitment? Do you have the resources to achieve this goal? If not, how will you get them?
Realistic/Relevant: Why is this goal significant to your life? Why do you want this goal?
Timely: When will you achieve this goal? Can you achieve it within this cycle?

Take action!
What specific steps do you need to take to achieve your goal? Goals without actions are just dreams.

Commitment
Once you have made a commitment, your decisions get much more clear. For example, once you have committed to exercising on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you no longer need to decide if you are going to the gym. You have already made the choice, you do not have to keep choosing it. There is freedom in commitment and in having no choice.

One of the essential parts of the Family of Women mission is the mentorship of women. It is in our Mission/ Purpose and weaves its way through most of what we do in the Family of Women. You might have a mentor to help you create a great marriage, or a mentor for a role in leadership in the Family of Women or in your professional life.

Mentoring is an ongoing relationship of learning dialogue and challenge. Every woman has something to give and something to learn. A mentorship tool kit is available here.

Everything is about you and you in relationship. How you are anywhere is how you are everywhere. If you do it here, you do it everywhere. What you do in your romantic relationships is likely what you do with your kids, is what you do at work. You can learn from all the interactions that you have everywhere in your life. In the Family of Women you can learn and practice skills/behaviors here on how to do what works and then take it out into the world.

In the Family of Women we value the lessons of leadership. It helps us to learn more about ourselves, how we are in relationship and how we are when leading women. This is a safe place to practice leadership skills (without experimenting with people in work/public). In the Family of Women, we are in an encouraging environment to develop and broaden our skills. Leadership can start easily wherever you are. Lead a phone call. Be an administrative assistant to a program leader or area/chapter leader. Ask the women you know and trust what they see as a good step into leadership for you given your goals and dreams.

To submit a statement or link to be added to this page please send your suggestion or info to Teddylove@comcast.net with FOW Essentials in the subject line.