Child Management
Generally, working in children and families setting requires an individual to possess leadership abilities and competencies that would make management simple. A person should be able to understand various aspects like changes in behavior, stress, or any kind of strange activity. Furthermore, it needs strong communication skills that facilitate comprehension. It also involves having the capability to develop a good rapport, friendship, and trust amongst the parties involved. This essay paper will analyze critical concerns related to the leadership and management of children and families. In addition, it will elaborate on various skills, responsibilities, and strategies involved in the practice of managing kids and families.
Definitions of Management-related Terminologies
Trauma-Informed
This is the act of understanding that children and families may have changes in behavior due to the environment they are exposed to. As the leader, address and create awareness amongst the children about a possible shift in their response due to trauma experience (Sweeney et al., 2018). The manager should recognize in such a state of changes in action, a lot of support is necessary to aid the kids in overcoming the condition.
Feminist
This refers to promoting the aspect of equality amongst the people involved. The leader should not discriminate against any person because of their sex. Children and families should be treated with equal dignity irrespective of their social status. Furthermore, they should get the available resources alike to promote the essence of equivalent treatment within the environment (Woodiwiss, Smith, and Lockwood, 2017). To effectively manage the people, a fair coexistence and inclusivity facilitate peaceful conditions for the families and children.
Transformational
Working with children and families requires the ability to influence a change in the perception they have about reality. As a leader, it is appropriate to create goals and objectives and work together with the individuals to encourage them towards achieving the set aims. The main focus should be to make the people become different people that can survive in the outside world (Busari et al., 2019). Therefore, allowing kids to think and act on their own makes them stronger and more independent in understanding the social system.
Democratic
When it comes to handling children and families, the leader should engage them mostly in deciding on what to be done. The management should not make the overall decision in all matters in the institution (Fakhri et al., 2021). They have to participate in some roles to make them feel important and enhance their growth and development when it comes to managing critical issues. The leadership style facilitates effective collaboration, therefore, creating a sense of belonging amongst the individuals.
Bureaucratic
This form of management involves having strict regulations within the system to guide the conduct and actions of children and families. It allows the young ones to understand the importance of a hierarchical type of leadership where there is a person responsible for some roles. The leader is supposed to use the position to impact the development of the people around to improve their lives.
Servant
Within the settings, the management should ensure they serve the needs of both the children and families. The focus should be ensuring they attain what is best for their survival. In case of challenges or stress-related issues, the leader should ensure they find a possible way to help the individual overcome such problems. Furthermore, the management should encourage the culture of diversity and restrain from selfish minds.
Transactional
Having different people to work with can be so challenging since some individuals may tend to resist the change that is required. It is, therefore, necessary for the management to ensure they formulate ways of initiating progress amongst the children and families. A leader may choose to offer a reward for the kid who managed to perform the needed task effectively to influence others to act like that next time (Saravo, Netzel, and Kiesewetter, 2017). This would enhance the essence of commitment towards achieving the objective in the organization.
Core Strategies of Managers
Reflective Practice
As a manager, to remain effective and rational in handling the various activities in the organization, it is appropriate to go through the duties conducted during the day at the end of duty. When leaders reflect, they can easily detect areas that were not tackled accordingly and therefore suggest better ways to handle them next time (Lilienfeld and Basterfield, 2020). Self-reflection also allows managers to understand their weaknesses hence can work on them to better their managerial role (Mann and Walsh, 2017). The practice makes leaders know what did not go well and the reasons for the happening therefore prompting for a better solution.
Good Analysis
Another effective strategy managers require in child and family settings is good analysis. Leaders should dig deeper into finding proper solutions to possible challenges by asking themselves various questions to enhance proper insight on the matter. They should engage in research activities to help verify technical issues within the institution (Keping, 2018). Good analysis allows managers to be able to make informed decisions, therefore, encouraging a high level of accountability.
Collaboration and Goal Setting
To create a good environment for children, managers should ensure they include them in most of the activities performed in the organization. This will enhance a sense of belonging which is crucial for their overall well-being. Furthermore, they should set goals together and aim at achieving them together. If kids are actively engaged their focus increase as well as their personal growth (Geiger, Piel and Julien-Chinn, 2017). They also learn effectively if included in the team working on a given project.
Responsibilities of Managers
Ensure Child Safety, Report Concerns
In the institution, it is the role of the manager to ensure children and families are living in a conducive environment, accessing the necessary basic needs like food, clothes, medication, shelter, and education. They have to put all measures to make sure all the necessities including security are proper within the setting (Bouma et al., 2018). Furthermore, if any of the individuals are having emergency attention, it is upon managers to inform the relevant person for immediate intervention.
Promote Wellbeing, Emotional and Physical Support
The management should ensure children and families are exposed to the necessary facilities so that they do not feel excluded from other people. The level of respect and encouragement must be improved to allow for peaceful coexistence. Furthermore, managers must ensure they give periodic counseling to boost the emotional support for the people (Zuurmond et al., 2018). In addition, the leader has to organize how the people can receive coaching services to advance their development.
Follow Procedures, Guidance, and Legislation
It is necessary for the manager to ensure that within the setting the stated procedures are followed accordingly by the people involved. They should make sure the people are familiar with the legislation and guide them on how to operate within the rules (Tyler and Trinkner, 2017). To enhance the practice, they have to develop strict measures that prevent individuals from misconducts that can violate the policies within the institution.
Skills Involved in Managing or Leading Child and Family Settings
Child Focus
When dealing with kids, an individual must understand the limits and practices that can make them productive. The child focus technique will allow the managers to create a considerable amount of time for children to complete a given task. Furthermore, there should be break times between every session to ensure they relax and gain morale to resume (Adler, Salanterä, and Zumstein-Shaha, 2019). Duties can be broken into manageable levels to ensure they can manage.
Age Appropriate
Managers should be able to understand the various ages of children and the relevant activities associated with each stage. Kids have different abilities depending on their age therefore to facilitate their development, the management should group them based on their stages of growth (Cheraghi et al., 2021). Therefore, the institution should ensure they provide a kid-friendly environment to enhance their wellbeing. Having the ability to categorize children according would improve both their emotional and physical health.
Good Communication Skills
The success of management depends majorly on the effective level of communication. Children may not be able to understand complex terms therefore managers should ensure they use clear and simple terms when giving instructions (McCorry and Mason, 2020). Good communication skills would also leaders to have an open and logical mind that makes it easier to handle situations (Koprowska, 2020). It also conveys an element of respect which would families and the children to develop trust in the management.
Active Listening Skills
In the settings, different children may have various inabilities to communicate their views. It is therefore necessary for the leaders to have the ability to listen effectively to capture the information (Moreira and Montes, 2021). In addition, when managers give time to kids and families, they would share their opinions concerning the management of the institution and the status of the environment which can be used to benchmark the progress.
Application of Theoretical Knowledge in Situations found within Child and Family Settings
Signs of Safety (SOS)
This is the process of understanding the status of the kids by involving all the parties like families to ensure the safety is improved. During the analysis of SOS, the manager should question relevant stakeholders to verify underlying conditions that would affect the wellbeing of the child (Baginsky, Moriarty, and Manthorpe, 2019). Similarly, the management has to admit if in case there some crucial details they are lucking which can impact the process.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
MI is the processing of engaging individuals to focus on their motivation to enhance change. The process entails asking open questions so that the other party can give a wider perspective of the situation by evoking the response (Frost et al., 2018). It then follows with some element of affirmation to offer confidence to the person. In finalizing the MI, the leader should reflect on key issues and offer relevant plans to overcome the problem that was the concern.
Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
This approach allows the managers to focus majorly on the present issues and speculate future problems. During SFBT, the individual is allowed to formulate respective goals that would facilitate an easy process of arriving at the solution (De Shazer et al., 2021). The advisor does not look into the causes of the situation or the experience but instead focuses on helping the client to work on their issues with the available resources.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The leader should be able to identify changes in the kids thinking that can influence their overall behavior. Upon determining the distortions, proper strategies should be initiated to enable the child to cope up with the changes (David, Cristea, and Hofmann, 2018). CBT would also give an insight into understanding the problem; therefore, the institution can create awareness to other people by motivating them to discourage related thoughts that can tamper with their conduct.
Creative Approaches
Within the settings, children may tend to behave differently during some periods. The manager should formulate a routine that would enable the kids to have a plan on how they conduct themselves. The setting platform may help in discouraging some bad acts that can affect them (Henriksen, Richardson, and Mehta, 2017). Moreover, in case of problems the leader should be able to create a solution that not only solves but curb future related issues (Mitchell and Walinga, 2017). Similarly, the management can come up with ways to enhance innovation to better kidsâ cognitive development.
Analysis
Knowledge of analysis is important in enabling managers to understand complex scenarios by breaking them into simpler terms. For instance, if a child develops a sudden behavior change, the management can examine and figure out possible causes of the change (Chen et al., 2020). It is effective in facilitating understanding of emerging issues and developing relevant skills to manage future happenings. Furthermore, it limits irrational decisions when there are limited findings.
Reflective Supervision
Reflective supervision is effective in enabling the management team to overview the processes within the setting. The manager and other staff members can easily detect an issue that requires immediate attention and also come up with better ways of handling challenges (Susman-Stillman, Lim, Meuwissen, and Watson, 2020). The process allows supervisors to remain open and emotionally connected to the work. Sharing experience enhances their development and strengthens the relationship amongst them.
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