You’ve come to the right place for this.
Six ways to make your nanny be more productive include:
1. In Clear Terms, Spell Out Your Expectations
Getting satisfactory experience from your nanny will be near impossible if they don’t know how productive you expect her to be.
Therefore, take time, in the beginning, to discuss your overall expectations for the role and ask your nanny to share any expectations they may have.
You would be shooting yourself in the foot by assuming that your nanny will just know these things.
And when you have the talk with her, try to make it a conversation and not a sermon.
You want to encourage honest feedback and collaboration throughout this conversation.
Some of the things you may want to cover include in your chat with her include how you love your child to be taken care of, discipline philosophies, House rules, or pet peeves like no shoes in the house or TV before bedtime.
Also, discuss things like how far in advance you want to her put in notice for a sick or personal day, shared resources—will your nanny go on-off, use your detergent, enter your room, eat your food (as opposed to bringing their own), or access your Netflix account for the kids?
Clearly communicate the boundaries around each of these and your general expectations for upkeep.
2. Get To Know Each Other
It will feel evading or somewhat awkward inviting a stranger into your home.
The good news is that investing in developing a mutual relationship will make it feel like your nanny has always been in your life because you will be so used to her.
Make effort to get to know them and if you need to run some background checks and verification on your nanny or domestic staff, please contact POICHECK
An easy way to start is simply by listening while she speaks or watching her body language because you can pick some unspoken details about her.
Your nanny may open up to you on various aspects of her life (like talking about her own children, hobbies, or interests) and all you need to do is genuinely listen and ask inquiring questions.
Be humane to her and honestly curious; suspend judgment and make your own contributions when it makes sense.
It is likely that your nanny’s personality is probably one of the main reasons she appealed to you in the interview, so hopefully, this should feel natural and fun.
The more open you are in the beginning, and the more you feel like you know one another, the smoother everything will be.
And when this is so, you reap the benefits of increased productivity.
3. Get Out Of Her Way
By all means, give your nanny information about what you need them to do but also allow them some freedom to take initiative.
The result is that they may even figure out new ways to perform certain tasks more productively.
In fact, on some days, insist on them not going through or following your specific instructions, but realising a way of getting the job done outside the parameters you’ve set.
Don’t micromanage her.
Remember the reason you hired your nanny was for her expertise and insightful hands.
Therefore, ensure she has enough breathing space and perceived trust from you, to carry out the expected duties in her own way.
This does not in any way mean that you shouldn’t express what your priorities are, or share your child’s schedule (naps, activities, etc.) with her.
Just try to avoid telling her what to do for every minute of the day, or how to do it.
If you trust your nanny, you can trust in her judgment to get the job done right.
You’ll find that she’ll be more productive by so doing.
4. Help Your Nanny Stay Organised
Making use of a responsibilities chart can be an effective technique to ensure that your nanny stays well-organised and therefore, productive.
Consider hanging the chart/calendar in a visible area and write down the activities, play dates of your child, etc. on it. Now, this depends on her literacy level.
Have you read: How To Know It’s Time To Let Your Nanny Go
If she’s learned, fantastic! Then you can print her schedule and hand it over to her to always refer to it.
This way, you two can work on making an organised life for each other.
It would also help you avoid being a critic because you will see the most productive side of your nanny.
Most importantly, it is best to avoid speaking about minor points like going home a bit early, keeping lights on among others.
It is best to be less of a critic and more of making requests. This would make the maximum possible impact on the change you expect.
5. Speak Up When Something Is Really Bothering You
Does your nanny have the habit of being consistently late, impatient with your kids, overly judgmental or critical of you or your spouse, or never following through on important requests you’ve made?
Make a habit of speaking up when something is bothering you.
Avoid personal attacks and stick to the facts when talking about the issue and practical ways on how to prevent it from happening again.
A personal problem in her life could be causing her lateness or outbursts.
Speak to them about your issues but don’t make any assumptions.
6. Don’t Forget To Show Your Nanny Appreciation And Respect
If there’s something we all can agree on, it’s the fact that taking care of kids can be an extremely daunting, and monotonous task.
If your nanny handles all of this flawlessly and keeps your kids happy and safe, it’s not out of place to show them some appreciation from time to time.
Nearly every nanny will be motivated to be more productive when you show appreciation for their work.
Thankfully, you really do not have to break the bank to do this.
You can achieve this in small ways like keeping her favorite snacks in the fridge, or big ways by giving her a bonus, a gift card to a spa voucher.
Nonetheless, profess your appreciation out loud, on a regular basis.
“I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for helping me out. I appreciate you”!
Indeed, such statements would lift her spirit.
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