Home care organizations are made up of two very different yet integral teams, clinicians and operators. We have explored the differences between the two teams in the first part of our series. To ensure long-term success, it is important for your organization to focus on healthy, satisfied clients, as well as opportunities and strategies to grow your organization, all while using scalable processes and procedures.
A successful marriage between these teams is like a pair of glasses. Each lens has a separate focus, but only when connected and working together can you achieve the shared vision of sustained success. We are going to review the keys to a successful marriage between the clinical and operational teams in home care.
Key to Success #1: Trust
- Start with an Expectation of Trust: A building block of any relationship is trust. Starting difficult conversations with an expectation of trust helps prevent negative reactions and drives solution-based conversations.
- Create Relationship-Building Opportunities: Building trust can be difficult, and it takes both time and effort. Creating opportunities, whether inside or outside of the office, to spend time together and build relationships is invaluable. Some relationship building ideas include fun challenge-based games in the office, taking personality tests, going on team excursions like an escape room, or even a simple lunch to get to know someone better.
Key to Success #2: Communication
- Set a Structured Rhythm: In any organization, if you don’t plan something, it won’t happen. There are so many pressing needs at any given moment that communication is something that is easily overlooked. Make sure to schedule dedicated, focused time for communicating. These communication sessions can be quick touchpoints at the beginning or end of the day or content-driven weekly meetings. Whatever the rhythm is, make sure it is structured.
- Maintain Constant Communication: Create a culture where no item is too small to be discussed. Things can often slip through the cracks in an office because someone deemed it unimportant. So much information in a home care organization is interconnected; what may seem minor to one person may have major implications for someone else.
Key to Success #3: Shared Vision
- Focus on the Shared Vision: At times, teams get so focused on what they are doing, it is easy to forget why they are doing it. Everyone got into the home care industry, whether in a clinical or operational role, to care for clients. Having events and opportunities to remember that is important. Celebrate milestones as a team, share exciting client success stories, and constantly remind your teams that they may have separate focus, but they all have a shared vision.
Leading two teams with very different functions can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Take the time to utilize these keys to a successful organization, and your teams will be able to work together seamlessly to provide excellent care. Axxess Home Care is a cloud-based home care software that enables your clinicians to document easier and your operators to handle administrative work more efficiently. Axxess integrates innovative features in the solution, helping your home care organization achieve the goal of sustained success.
