December 17, 2013 | Company News
One of our founding philosophies here at Elder Care Guides is that every older adult, regardless of age or level of disability, has a uniqe set of internal strengths upon which we can draw. I was trained in the strengths-based model of social work practice, and am proud to have helped shape a company that incorporates this into everything we do.
When we meet a new client, our Care Managers are careful not to just notice deficits, but also to look for resources within them – and their support system – that can be used to build a care plan that is focused on their individual goals, brings meaningful activity to their days, and gives them a sense of purpose. This philosophy extends to our employees, as well, and we have committed ourselves to a process of identifying each staff member’s strengths, in order to understand best how we can engage in work that is meaningful to us individually, and how we can most effectively work together as a team.
To facilitate this, we use a tool called the Clifton StrengthsFinder, an assessment developed by Gallup that helps individuals uncover their strengths and talents. We ask every new employee to complete this assessment, and regularly meet to share our results, and discuss the ways in which the work we do at Elder Care Guides fits (or doesn’t fit) with our unique skill set. Having recently added some new members our team, we recently revisited our StrengthsFinder results and discussed them together, and were interested to see our numbers in aggregate. The strengths that appeared most frequently in the results were no big surprise to me, but nonetheless filled me with pride in the depth and quality of our team:
LEARNER “You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning.”
INPUT “You are inquisitive … And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity.”
ACHIEVER “You feel as if every day starts at zero … You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more … It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges.”
IDEATION “You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are. An idea is a connection … An idea is a new perspective on familiar challenges.”
MAXIMIZER “Excellence, not average, is your measure … Strengths, whether yours or someone else’s, fascinate you … And having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. You polish the pearl until it shines.”
(Source: http://businessjournal.gallup.com/)
At Elder Care Guides, we are proud of our collaborative approach. As I like to say: “When you work with one of us, you work with all of us.”