How to Lead an Amazing Team of Non-Medical Caregivers

Maybe you are a Home Care business owner who suddenly finds herself managing a team of Caregivers. Or, maybe you are an Administrator in a long-term care facility. In either case, you have a team of non-medical caregivers and they need a leader!

Chances are you didn’t spend your whole life dreaming about leading an “amazing team of non-medical caregivers!” In fact, it’s likely you never even thought about it until the duty landed on your plate in your current role.

Maybe you are a Home Care business owner who suddenly finds herself managing a team of Caregivers. Or, maybe you are an Administrator in a long-term care facility. In either case, you have a team of non-medical caregivers (CNAs, PCAa, HHAs and Caregivers) and they need a leader!

The best leaders understand there are two customers in every industry; the clients you serve and the employees who serve them.

Wait, what? Employees are customers? Yes. And if you don’t believe you need to care for your employees just as much as you care for your clients, then check out Glassdoor.com. Glassdoor publishes millions of company reviews shared by those who know a company best – the employees. It won’t take you long to pick out which companies care for their employees and which do not!

The way you lead your staff can MAKE or BREAK your company.

Here’s how you lead an amazing team of non-medical caregivers:

Keep Everyone Connected.

Caregivers usually get into the care giving field because they crave connections with other people. They are great at connecting with your clients. But they also need to feel connected to you and the rest of the team. How can you do that?

• Have regular (in-person) team meetings. Make them fun and energizing. Don’t just bark out new orders during your meetings. Teach something new. Praise someone (or the whole team) for something. Offer yummy snacks.
• Offer more than one option. It’s difficult to get the whole team together because everyone is on a different schedule. So, break the team into micro-teams. Group employees on similar schedules together and hold micro-meetings when it’s convenient for the smaller groups.
• Participate in team projects such as a Walk/Run for charity or a community service project. Getting together outside of work hours in pursuit of a common goal to help others is great way to bring teams closer together.

Emphasize Continuing Education.

Investing in continuing education lets your Caregivers know they are a vital part of the healthcare team.

• Subscribe to an e-learning service like the one offered by In the Know! You’ll get access to an entire library of courses that Caregivers can do anytime, anywhere! If your Caregivers can operate a smart phone, they can do the e-learning on In the Know!
• Intersperse your e-learning with live, instructor-led classes. For example, assign an e-learning topic every month for three months, then offer a live class. When you order materials to run a live, instructor-led course from In the Know, you’ll get everything you need to teach the class to your entire team, in person. Each topic comes with an instructor packet filled with group activities, discussion questions, printable material and more!

Create a Caregiver Mentor Program.

The best leaders know they can’t do it all alone. And that’s okay, because you are a LEADER! And you know how to recognize other experienced, natural leaders on your team that you can trust to help!

• The best advice on starting a Caregiver Mentor Program comes from the experts at Home Care Pulse. Check out their article, “Implementing a Caregiver Mentor Program” to get started!

Implementing one, or ALL of these ideas, will help you begin to build a strong, engaged and dedicated team of caregivers. By showing your caregivers that you value each one of them just as much as your value your clients, you’ll soon find yourself as the leader of an amazing team of non-medical caregivers!