A team approach with everyone pulling together for a common cause and each contributing their own strength makes the effort successful
We are in the business of providing aging in place services, whether we are a contractor, therapist, designer, consultant, or other professional. We can choose to work mostly alone in finding, contacting, and engaging potential clients and then providing the improvements they are requesting and be relatively successful in completing our portion of the solution.
However, solutions are often multi-phased or multi-pronged approaches to an issue so we are much more effective in working with other qualified and capable professionals to achieve a team-effort for the client that represents the best work of more than one set of eyes, ears, and analysis.
People are often asked what they would be willing to do to be successful in their business, sport, or hobby – or to achieve a particular goal. A frequent response is that they are willing to do “whatever it takes.” They may not have any idea what they are committing to or what that expression actually means in terms of what they need to do or what will be required of them, but they are saying it anyway. If nothing else, it shares a feeling they have about how important it is for them to accomplish the task in front of them.
Still, most people really are not prepared or equipped to do literally everything that success requires of them. The long hours or practice or preparation, the commitment to learning all they can about their business or craft, and having tunnel-vision that keeps away distraction that could keep them away from what they are working to achieve demand a major dedication.
Saying that we are willing to do anything to accomplish what you are after is easy to verbalize but much harder to implement. Just exactly are we willing to do, and what it literally everything we can do? Do we really know what everything we can do to reach our goal is, or are we just very serious about making it happen? Likely we are more serious than prepared to do everything it takes to get the job done. Still, we can approach it another way and get closer.
When it comes to helping our clients identify what improvements might need to be done in their homes to help them age in place more safely and comfortably, and to help them remain in their homes long-term by implementing those changes, we can attempt to do the entire project ourselves – or we can create a team approach and enlist the help of other qualified and knowledgeable professionals.
This way we don’t have to have complete knowledge of how to approach a situation, know how to build a solution that will accommodate their needs, have an understanding of the physical or sensory needs of our client, know what products are available in the marketplace to use in the proposed renovation, or understand colors, patterns, and spatial relationships. We might be skilled in one or more of these areas, but it is unlikely that we are experts in all of them. Each team member that we assemble is its own specialty, and we can rely on them for their expertise and contribution to the overall effort.
Therefore, in order to be more than an average renovator or contractors for our clients, in order to do more than just provide a needs or safety assessment for them, and to do more than just have a discussion with them about what some possible solutions are for their concerns, we can provide an extraordinary team-approach and bring together the top talent in our area to work with us.
Now, as a team rather than just an individual, we can give meaning to the expression of whatever it takes. We know that we can work with our clients and offer them a comprehensive solution – beyond what we may be able to do or know completely about on our own. We don’t have to rely just on what we can provide for our clients, but we can bring them an entire team of outstanding professionals to address their needs and create the solution they seek.
Whatever it takes may seem like a good strategy to express our dedication when someone asks what we are willing to do to accomplish our goals or be the best in our profession, but it is hard to actually define. Nevertheless, when we admit that having the capable assistance of a professional aging in place services delivery team to work with us – supplying the knowledge, skills, and expertise that we don’t have and that we also don’t need to go out and acquire – we really will have taken a major step toward doing what it takes to be successful and a valuable resource for the clients that want to engage us.