You'd never treat your mom's care like a grocery list, would you?
Sure, there's series of tasks that need to be done, but her care is so much more than that, right?
The list of to-dos in mom's care plan is, well, a list of stuff. But it's the quirky things that make mom who she is.
Yes, I said quirky. Eccentric. Smart. Unique.
Our parents are much more than the sum of their parts. And, that's especially true of their care.
So, why do people still make senior care plans like they're grocery lists?
Because the list is easy to make and the story is hard to tell.
The list is pale, simple, and sterile. It's been scrubbed in so much antibacterial hand sanitizer that you could replace mom's name with Aunt Rita's. The list is just stuff without complication, distraction, or emotion.
The story is complicated. It's emotional, it's tiring, and it's painful to tell. It's the story of how your mother has reacted to aging. And, it's the most important part of her care plan.
So, how do you get the really important story across the sea of to-dos?
Context, not control
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give them orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
It's as if Antoine de Saint-Exupery was writing about caregiving in The Little Prince.
Caregiving isn't a command and control business. The list of orders just doesn't get to the heart of the matter.
In order to convey the most important and meaningful parts of mom's care, you've got to tell the story of mom. Tell as much of it as you're comfortable sharing. Remarkable senior caregivers will thrive on the nuances and details of her story.
Caregiving is a mission. Remarkable senior caregivers know this. They understand that instructions and to-do lists are functional means to reaching a more contextual end.
It's context that motivates caregivers.
You'll inevitably make a to-do list too. It's a functional way to answer the what and how of your mom's care.
Tell the story to teach your caregivers the most important question - why.
What's your senior care story?
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Thanks go to Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, whose presentation on corporate culture and responsibility inspired our thinking on contextual leadership.