Caregiver Leadership, A New Beginning

We have a few questions for you. Do you see yourself as a leader? Have you ever even thought about being a leader? Are you more of a follower? Do you think that you are neither? These are just a few of the questions that we begin to ask when we start thinking about leadership and our individual role in it. The truth is, often times, caregivers don’t see themselves as ‘leaders’ so much as they see themselves as people who ‘serve’ others. Caregivers work hard, no doubt, but all of that hard work is usually within the service of those they care for. Of course, this changes somewhat if we are talking about a sole proprietor, or private duty caregiver?

Why?

Because the private duty caregiver is working for themselves, and to this extent, the caregiver is ‘determining’ his or her own life as it relates to their sole proprietorship. The caregiver is making their own decisions about the clients they take on, the services they provide and so forth. But, such decisions do not necessarily equate to leadership in the traditional sense. That is, these decisions are made as a result of the ‘positioning’ of the caregiver as a private duty caregiver. Surely, going out and starting your own caregivers service business demonstrates a form of leadership; of self-initiative, and this is a part of leadership, but not everything to do with leadership. What we are driving at here is this.

Leadership is a broad term that encompasses more than just making a few decisions about what field of caregiving that you want to work in. Rather, leadership involves a number of different actions, behaviors and yes, decisions. Leadership means being proactive, taking charge, demonstrating a ‘certain’ character on a consistent basis. And, character, probably more than anything, is the most important element of your leadership because your character, and specifically, your ethics tell everyone what kind of person you are.

In the larger scope of things, we want yo to begin to think about how leadership can ‘lead’ you to bigger and better things in your life. That is, by taking control of the reigns of your life in a more concrete way, then channeling your energies and focus in the right direction you can in deed accomplish the goals that you set for yourself.  These topics and more, will be the focus of our next course, Certificate of Caregiver Leadership: Level 1, that is coming out very soon. So, look for the course and start thinking about the questions that we prompted you with at the beginning of this article.

In the mean time, if you need caregiver certification you can get that here. And, as always, don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.