The Child Care Business Owner Institute

5 Ways to Negotiate Differences with Parents

It is very common to have differences with parents. In fact, differences with parents may occur when there is a lack of understanding, misunderstandings, lack of knowledge, culture differences or simply a difference in belief systems.

I remember when my daughter was in preschool and I was a full-time Registered Medical Assistant. I asked my childcare provider to wake-up my daughter at 2pm, because I thought nap-time was too long.

My provider explained to me that children needed to take a  nap everyday. I thought she wanted the kids to sleep 2-to 3 hours  because she needed a break.

It was a lack of knowledge on my part about how childcare was structured and my provider was willing to help me to understand why young children really needed. After all, she was the expert and I was very understanding of why kids needed to take a nap after she educated me on the importance of nap time.

In the event that you have a situation with a parent and you want to take an approach that will not offend the parent, try these 5 negotiation steps:

Step1… Reflect on what happened (“I see how upset you are about the situation”)

Step2…Explain (“Here’s what I think”)

Step3…Reason (I will give you a reason for what I think)

Step4…Understanding (Try to see the conflict from both point of views)

Step5…Negotiate (Begin to look for a solution when both parties are clear about the issues and our differing perspectives (What can we do about this situation?)

I hope that you have been compelled to handle differences with parents in a manner that ends in a mutually working relationship. Feel free to share a recent situation with a parent that involved negotiating differences.

3 Books that Every Employer Must Read

Do you have employees? Are you connecting with your employees? Do  you have trouble with supervising others? If so, there are three books that I recommend that you add to your professional development library and they are as follows:

• The 17 Indisputable Laws of Team Work
• Develop the Leader Within You
• Winning With People

My Story

In 2005, I noticed a spirit of gossip among my employees. It was so bad, that I was calling team meetings on a regular basis and I felt like I was a referee.

I decided to buy two books, “ The indisputable Laws of Team Work” and Winning with People by John C.  Maxwell.  Both of those books empowered me to build a positive team, connect with the problem employees and how to become a great Team Leader.

Also, the book, ” Develop the Leader Within You” empowered me to examine myself and my leadership style. Believe it or not, your leadership style affects how you lead others. As I read the book (Develop the Leader Within You), I discovered that most of the problems that derived from managing my employees; was a reflection of my level of leadership.

Thanks to the books that I recommend in this blog post, I am now more confident as a leader. Furthermore, leading others is no longer a frustration for me.

If you have been inspired to pick-up a copy of these three books, I want to inspire you take the next 90-days and read each one of the books listed above. Moreover, I believe that after reading the books, you will grow as a business leader and your employees will have great respect for your leadership.

To Your Success,

Shiketa

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