Who's the Boss?
"Because I said so." I hate saying those four little words almost as much as I hated hearing them! One of the most important facets of accepting different perspectives is understanding that the person in authority gets to decide whose perspective to act upon. But who's the boss?
In patient care, the client is the boss. You can share your wisdom and offer your expertise, but when push comes to shove, you can't push your perspective onto your client. We may assume our client would want to return to the same level of activity as we would. But the client may be at a stage in life where they are ready to slow down. I had a home health client who almost didn't even let me in his home to do the evaluation. After a few moments, the truth came out: the daughter had hounded this client's doctor into ordering the PT eval. She felt her daddy needed to be able to walk laps around the outside of his trailer. The client was content to walk from his lazy chair to his refrigerator to his commode, with an occasional trip around the inside of the trailer to locate a misplaced remote-goals he had already achieved. He'd worked hard his entire life, and he was ready to take a well-deserved rest. His daughter saw her daddy's actions as giving up. He just thought he was enjoying retirement. Ah, perspective!
Make sure the goals you write in your care plan are the client's goals. No matter how hard you try or how great a motivator you are, you'll never get a client to meet your goals. But if you encourage them to meet their goals, you may inspire them to set a new goal that was initially beyond their greatest dreams.
In the clinic, the supervisor is the boss. No matter how wonderful an employee's ideas are, the supervisor is the one who bears the ultimate responsibility for all decisions-good or bad. So share all of your insights. Be generous with recommendations. But don't be offended if the supervisor doesn't act on them.
In the home, the parent is the boss. Honestly, this is where I struggle the most. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am the boss. I hate saying, "No!" I especially hate saying it all day long! I enjoy giving my children good things, but to mold them into caring, responsible adults, I must exercise my authority and be willing to be the "bad guy" when necessary. We had a rough beginning of this week with parent-*** issues. I wasn't enjoying being a parent very much. Mid-week, my pre-teen looked at me and out of the blue said, "I love you infinity." I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She returned my expression with a sweet smile, "Most of the time I do!"
Whether you are the client, the supervisor, or the parent, how you exert authority will impact the outcome. You can give value to the other person's perspective while still insisting on compliance. As a subordinate, how you receive authority also affects the outcome. You can graciously submit to authority without being in agreement; you are simply acknowledging their right to make the final decision because they bear the ultimate responsibility for that decision. How you exert or receive authority may pave the way for others to accept your perspective later.