ADAPTABILITY
As you know, you visit a wide variety of providers with many different personalities. On any given day you may encounter providers who are happy and providers who are depressed. You may visit homes that are displaying wonderful creative and age-appropriate activities to homes where the children spend a good part of the day in front of the TV. In addition, you visit providers who are very comfortable with technology and providers that do not know how to turn a computer on. Not to mention the vast array of cultures and cultural practices that you need to be aware of. Therefore, it is important that you are able to adapt and be effective in every situation.
Being adaptable means that you need to be prepared to think of different ways to interact with each individual person. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when dealing with individuals. You need to develop a deeper awareness of how your provider will react to your visit. Some things you can do to become more adaptable:
Know your providers and be aware of any change in their demeanor or environment.
For example: you visit a provider who has a very clean and orderly environment for the children. On one occasion you find her environment with trash over flowing, food and dishes in sink and total disarray. You need to be adaptable to change your message to address what you see and try to find out why the environment is in the condition it is. Then be flexible enough to address the problem.
Be open to learning new ways to approach problems.
Be prepared. Develop new solutions for problem-solving. Thinking about different situations you have faced or might face will help you to develop a plan for how you will handle this situation should it occur.
Set goals for yourself
Practice new interactive skills until they come easy to you.
Listen to and be aware of how providers are reacting to you when handling and issue.
Put yourself in the provider’s shoes and think about how you would react to how the provider is being treated during a problem.
Recognize where you may need to be more flexible and adaptable when problem-solving with a provider.
Be humble enough to change if you are contributing to the problem.
Being adaptable means being flexible or willing to change to accommodate a situation to achieve a solution. Talk to other monitors and ask them how they would handle a situation.
Listen to the feedback you receive from the provider or workmates and be willing to change your approach to problem-solving when needed.