In most cultures, caregiving is traditionally seen as a female’s role. We have expected, perceived & encouraged women to be the primary nurturers of an ecosystem.
When we are taking down life histories of a new lady elderly resident at our Epoch homes, the conversation stays focused on all that she has done for her family.
When managing a team, large or small, flexibility and processes are actually two sides of the same coin. An approach that has always worked for me, is to make my team understand what is the goal and mission...
For an entrepreneur, it is important to cultivate the ability to really understand people.
Doing social work or volunteering is not the only way in which you can contribute to the society.
Many a times I have observed even in my home, elders lead a quiet life, tucked away from the world outside of their room.
Meals for elders don’t have to be very different from our regular meals unless there is a very specific medical condition. The key (as with everything in life) is that it all needs to be had in moderation.
As a tiny startup struggling to break even- we have rarely had the luxury of splurging on expenses.
My team and I have almost grown up together... and I have come a long way in honing my people skills. Never a believer of hard-core management fundas (plus the lack of a formal management degree!), I have always figured out my own approach in managing my team and helping them remain motivated. Having had my fair share of struggles in managing team members early on, I quickly realized that there is no rule book. The only rule I have diligently followed all these years is to truly understand the person. When I conduct interviews, the most important answer that I look for is- why are you here? Is it the money, the social inclination, ambition or simply a parking space? And I do a deep dive on it. This helps me not only build their KPIs effectively but also truly help them flourish and grow- something that I am deeply passionate about. Every person is unique and so is their skill set and it is important to remember and honor that. Don’t try to push a numbers person to a people’s role and push a creative soul into the excel world. Another wonderful thing is to constantly discover new skill sets in team members. I once had a HR team member turn out to be one of the best salespersons and a Facility Manager- technically a nurse to be a great negotiator! One strategy doesn’t apply to all. I have to understand how a team member prefers to interact- some are motivated when I get to understand them personally, whilst some want the relationship to be at a professional level only. I adapt my ways of functioning and individualize my interactions with every person. I constantly fine tune my relationship with each of my team members. A critical piece is also to ensure that my team members have a clear understanding of my value systems and principles. So, on one hand, I am transparent with them, and on the other, they clearly know the ‘no-go’ areas. I believe that a ‘person relationship’ based approach works better than a ‘repartee-manager relationship’- any day.
In my earlier write-up, I have mentioned how interactions between younger kids and the elderly are co-beneficial to both generations.
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