Is your Team part of your ‘Why’ for doing what you do?
In the early days of building my ABA practice, when it was just me, my clients were 100% my ‘Why’. I was - and still am - passionate about giving kids a voice, shaping their independence, and helping them experience some degree of autonomy.
However, I knew that my ability to serve the kids & families in need in my community was limited if I stayed a solo-practicioner. So I advertised on Craig’s List (this was several years ago!) and met the brave applicants at a local coffee shop for interviews because I had no office. I even brought client intervention materials with me and ran brief hands-on training during the interviews to see how interviewees responded.
The first enthusiastic, kid-loving lady that survived this craziness became my first employee and helped me serve two more clients & families. Shortly after, a fresh-faced recent college graduate joined us and helped me serve two more clients & families. Just like that my team began to grow and I was in AWE.
I had a dream to provide high quality ABA intervention to the children in my community and now I had other people joining in to make my dream come true. They not only joined my team, they joined my dream.
This was a deeply humbling experience for me. It caused a shift in my ‘Why’ from 100% my clients to 50% my team members who were 100% there to serve the clients. I shifted part of my focus from serving clients to serving my team because I wanted to give back to them for what they were giving me in helping me realize my dream.
Over the years, as my team has grown, I continue to be amazed by the compassionate, dedicated folks who join me on this journey to serve others. Every day, I strive to meet their needs of having stable & meaningful work, good compensation in both pay & benefits, and opportunities for both professional & personal growth.
My team is absolutely a part of my ‘Why’.
How about you & your ‘Why’?
