By Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE
As a home care leader, you are, no doubt, managing the whirlwind of activity and solving immediate problems related to the disruption of COVID-19. Covering client needs, staff needs and your own personal and family needs. After all, you are a problem solver and pretty darn good at it.
While managing the tasks of the moment and the day, remember, also, to look and act beyond tasks getting done and checking off your to-do list. Right now, more than ever, it’s also about leadership!
Leadership is about influence and you are either influencing by accident or by design. In this series of ideas over the next three weeks, we are focusing on intentional leadership. Thinking, being and doing leadership. . . on purpose.
Everyone is unsettled and trying to figure out how to live and work differently today. As an owner or CEO, you are a leader, an influencer. You have personal and positional power, whether you acknowledge it or not. There’s never been a better time to up your game!
Here is the first in a series of ideas and best practices to help you focus on your team and yourself so you can all be most productive right now and plan for the future.
Stay connected!
Many of your team members are probably working from home. There’s little personal contact. To stay close, you are probably doing some one-on-one phone calls or video discussions. While there are many things to do and problems to solve, start conversations with team members with questions about themselves and their lives before you launch into what you need them to do. Human caring and engagement are paramount now.
Choose one or two of these sample questions to engage them and let them know you care about them personally. Ask a question and actively listen. Respond with ‘tell me more’ or ‘thanks for letting me know.’ Avoid injecting yourself and your own issues into the conversation. Make it totally about them!
- How are you doing personally? Your spouse (use their name), children? (if you know they have them)
- How are you staying physically healthy? (Check on exercise, diet, sleep, hydration, rest, eye strain from being online so much)
- What’s one good thing that’s come from this season for you?
- What’s been hard for you? How are you dealing with that?
- What personal routines have you set up that are working for you?
- When might you have flexibility in your schedule should a need arise to reach you?
- What can I do to serve you and make it easier for you now?
In our caring profession, let your team know how much you care about them individually. Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Your Journey: A Call to Action
- What questions will you use to open a conversation with your Care Team?
Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame is an Award-winning Keynote Speaker, Executive Leadership Coach and Author of What Exceptional Executives Need to Know. She is CEO of Executive Mastery … a Tweed Jeffries company.
