It's not always easy to collaborate around the care of individuals. Parents, educators, children of older parents, colleagues, and community members all face this challenge at one time or another. Why is it so difficult to collaborate around caregiving?
Differing perspectives
When it comes to collaborative care, we all bring our unique individual experiences, expectations, knowledge, and dreams. That's why it's so essential to make time to talk about who you are, what you've experienced, what you expect, what you know, and your dreams for the situation. Without talking about the big ideas related to the caregiving, it's unlikely that your team will work as well as it can.
Yet, many are reluctant to make time to share these perspectives--many simply want to barrel ahead in their way or simply set aside and let others take the lead.
Changing nature of caregiving
To care well for another is a moving target. A person's needed care is always changing which requires regular review and revision. If you're working with a team that means the team needs to find a regular way to communicate to review the situation and update the collective caregiving in ways that matter.
Communication
If possible, it's great to agree on the frequency and type of communication the team expects. Similar to differing perspectives, people may disagree about communication patterns too. Discussing communication upfront will set the stage for greater success.
Mapping the caregiving path
While many don't want to look ahead when it comes to caregiving particularly when the caregiving is associated with end of life, if you do look ahead, you'll like work together in better ways. Mapping the path helps you to be ready for the events that may happen and includes the job list of necessary tasks that the team can work on throughout the caregiving days.
Flexibility and an open mind
Caregiving brings with it many unexpected twists and turns, and this is why you need to stay flexible and have an open mind. You never know what's around the corner with caregiving.
Emergency protocol
If your team is willing to sit down, discuss the situation, and map out the caregiving schedule and activities, then you'll probably want to discuss what to do in case of an emergency including who is called, who makes the decisions, and what decision makers need to consider with regard to funds, individual's wishes, and more.
It's not easy to collaborate around the care of another, and this is even more difficult when the caregiving includes tough decisions and emotional events and circumstances. Yet, caregiving is much better and doable when it is shared with others so working towards as good as possible collaboration is key. Onward.