Babysitting Teaches Ten Management Skills

As a teen, I was a babysitter.  Back then; this was simply a way to earn extra money.  I recently realized that a lot of what I learned babysitting (especially when working with multiple children), I also applied to working with business teams (as their leader) and with employees (as their manager). 

Below are the top 10 things I learned as a babysitter that also apply to management.

1. A safe environment should be maintained to avoid injuries, name-calling, and bad feelings.
2. Training is really necessary to move from a novice to a comfortable skill level on anything new to people.
3. Good time management skills and prioritization insures important things get done before time runs out.
4. It is best to match tasks and jobs to the experience and skills of each person in the group.
5. Having people work as a team often gets more done with better results.
6. You can save time if you have a more skilled person partner with a new (or younger) person to learn something new or difficult to understand.
7. A little healthy competition does not hurt, as long as it is done for fun.
8. Be prepared for quick problem-solving, as there may not be time to dilly-dally.
9. Always be prepared with a back-up plan or alternate idea, just in case things do not go as planned.
10. Explain expectations upfront and be willing to negotiate when necessary.

If you want another perspective on grown-up business applications for babysitting, check out 4 Ways Babysitting Prepared You to Kick Ass at Your Job Today.