You would not think it is possible, but sometimes your employees are simply demonstrating DUMB. They “Don’t Understand My Business”. Understanding the business of home care is dramatically different from providing caregiving.
It is a mistake you have probably made before. You attended a seminar or conference all excited about a new strategy you want to implement, and your employees receive the idea with little or no enthusiasm. It makes perfect sense to you, but execution falls flat simply because of employees who exhibit D.U.M.B. Their understanding of the caregiving experience is dramatically different from that of the owner simply because they are NOT owners.
You call a team meeting and can’t wait to spread the joy. “Hey, gang, guess what? We’re going to start asking our clients or their families for Google reviews because I heard that’s important. Everyone got it?”
If you are paying attention, you can actually see your office manager roll her eyes into the back of her head and feel the heat of your lead supervisor’s laser-beam-eyes-hate-stare. After the huddle is over, your team reminds each other that you’ll forget this most recent conference-inspired idea in a few days and they can just get back to business as usual.
Sound familiar? Your new idea, while based on the best of intentions, has two major problems: (1) The logistics haven’t been thought out, and (2) There is no team buy-in.
A far better approach to instituting new ideas is to be more inclusive. How? First, call a meeting with the appropriate team members and identify the problem (e.g., competitive online visibility, building census, recruiting new caregiver talent, etc.) Ask them what they know about the problem and listen to their ideas. In almost every case, your agency will be better served when you listen to the people who are in the trenches. You will have a far better understanding of how to achieve buy-in from those who will have to execute for you.
Once you’ve collected some ideas, next ask your team how they would solve the problem. When you hear a solution that you and your team both like (which might coincidentally match what you wanted to accomplish in the first place), tweak the logistics as needed and then implement it using the expertise that you gained from your outside education experiences. The magical part is that your team will have automatic buy-in. They helped solve the problem, so they want to see the solutions succeed.
You’re still in charge, and you will lead your team through the process. But, you get to skip the part about being “the boss” and dictating policy that may not be followed.
While this process will work with almost any new strategy, the example used above about gathering Google reviews can be especially challenging in the home care environment. At Rowan Reputation Resources, we have built a cellphone-based system that makes it easy for older clients and younger family members who may be more technologically “with it” to literally dictate a Google review while it is on their mind.
Let us show you how. Let us book ten minutes on the phone to show you how it works. Click HERE.