Effective Communication between Nanny and Family
As an agency that engages with people to create harmonious working relationships, we sometimes see issues come up between a candidate and a client. Some of these issues can cause conflict in which can create uncomfortable situations mostly due to the difficulty of communicating.
Asking for a raise, not being happy, giving notice and even trying to let your client know you have to take time off due to personal reasons are challenging to bring up. How the communication is delivered will dictate how the end result will be.
Over the last 11.5 years, Seaside has always been reliably available to help foster the process of effective communication between both candidate and client. How can you or the client make sure both your needs are met if you cannot open up and discuss freely those uncomfortable subjects? Here are some tools for you incase you need to express yourself and find resolution in some of those difficult situations.
Time your conversation and do not rush through important issues you need to communicate. This is the first mistake many people make. If you or your employer do not have time for the conversation you need to have, then it will be ineffective. It is important that when communicating with your employer, both parties have time to say what they need to say, explain or ask questions.
Plan what you are going to say, speaking impulsively doesn’t help the situation, make sure your delivery is well thought out. Planning what you would like to say to your employer (and employee) is essential for multiple reasons. Planning will help you to choose the terminology in which you would like to use. Also, many times emotions run deep and to communicate effectively within your working environment, you must let go of the emotion. Crying is not an option, it makes both the parties uncomfortable and it only causes more upset for both parties involved. This is unproductive, unprofessional, and just spins up the environment
Consider both your employer/employee and both of your positions. If you disregard your employer’s/employee’s needs and expectations nothing will be resolved. Many times we have dealt with individuals that only consider their position in the scenario. It is easy to get caught up in “I need this” and “I want that”! Each party need to remember that the employee has been hired to meet the specific expectations of the employer and the employee also has specific expectations of their employer. Both parties will have a different take on the subject of conflict. Make sure to consider this possibility before having the conversation and be empathetic to one another’s ability to say what is needed to say.
Be straightforward with your expectations! Expecting either party to know what they are thinking is unrealistic! With ease, goals can get lost within conversations. When communicating effectively, be very clear with what your expected outcome is and be open to receive the opposing point of view. Sometimes being direct is the best way to approach the scenario and sometimes a soft approach is the way to go!
Know your value and be confident. Being arrogant, demanding and close-minded will only make matters worse and the employee may find that their approach to communication could result in loss of a job or the employer may find himself or herself without help. Speaking with someone in a position of hierarchy can be intimidating. It is difficult to express feelings or opinions but keep in mind that the working relationship started because both parties found value in having join forces. Just be aware that both the employer and employee have boundaries in which need to be respected.
~ Dara B. Green, President of Seaside Staffing Company Dara B. Green is a leading expert in the domestic staffing industry. She has created and developed Seaside Staffing Company on the basis of her personal experiences and her philosophy of what “service” should be. Over the last 30 years of her career in the field, she has created long-term relationships and has successfully connected hundreds of people with each other.
