Strong leadership is a proven factor in a successful operation of any kind. Leaders like Lee Iococca revived Chrysler from a sure death, just as leaders like Adolf Hitler changed the face of the globe.
In your organization, strong leadership is vital to success, too. But a strong leader knows to listen to his team and let their requests, ideas and suggestions guide his decisions, too.
When I left home to attend college in another state I needed a job. I knew that I could work with seniors (my parents owned senior care communities and everyone in our family helped out from time to time). So I applied at a nearby nursing home, and was hired on the spot.
I remember very little about that job, other than the lack of training and the physical intensity and intimacy of care that I was expected to give. I was 17 years old, and it was incredibly overwhelming.
I also remember the nurse who hired me. I remember telling her that I would work any and all evenings of the week if I could just have Friday nights off as often as possible. Being a college freshman, I wanted to join in the social life at school and feel a part of that environment, too.
I’ve never forgotten her response. Not the words she said, but the actions she took. Not once during the semester I worked there was I scheduled off on Friday night. Not one single time.
By the end of the five or six months, I was done.
My memory of those months has shaped my own management style in fundamental ways.
I remember what it was like to be thrown into something I wasn’t ready for, either in life maturity or in skills.
I remember what it was like to have the one thing I requested totally disregarded by management.
And so today I run a training company that helps prepare nursing assistants and caregivers to give incredibly challenging, intimate care.
I listen to my employees and give them as much flexibility in scheduling as possible.
I know that I would have stayed in that job, perhaps for my full four years at college if I had been adequately trained and respected. Instead, I left people whom I had genuinely learned to love in the care of others – and found a job where my needs were respected, too.
We’ve had crises in turnover in senior care, industry-wide. We’ve had PR disasters and plenty of census challenges, too.
At the end of the day, I believe that the strong leaders – those people who have led their organization to success – will be ones who know the value of their team, and who listen to them, train them and respect them.
Genuine leaders. Real success.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Leading with Laughter
One of our foundational concepts here at aQuire Training is that our work should be FUN. We’ve painted some key words on the wall in our conference room – and FUN is among them. Yes, we’ve got our serious words there: Passion, Integrity, Purpose and Profit.
But several years ago I realized that for all the hours we spend at work – and around our co-workers – if we aren’t having FUN, we’re missing something real that adds value to our lives. Along the way, I realized that when I’m having fun at work, I’m working harder, being more creative and making other people’s lives more enjoyable, too.
I’m not watching the clock, thinking about lunch, or counting the days until my next paycheck.
I’m being much more engaged in my work, and, as a consequence, I’m much more productive, too.
People around me respond in a different way, too. Others stop being territorial about their projects or ideas. Collaboration comes more naturally, as we laugh together and then – seriously – come up with imaginative solutions to challenging problems.
For a project at my church several years ago I researched the effect that laughing together has on building community. The results were amazing to me. When we laugh together, we connect on a level that instantly creates bonds. We lean in toward each other; sometimes we touch each other companionably on the arm, back or shoulder.
When I walked through my assisted living communities and saw caregivers laughing with residents, I saw an extraordinary amount of eye contact, hugging and playfulness occurring. I learned that this was one of my strongest indicators of a team that felt engaged, safe and confident.
They were not working out of fear of their supervisor catching them doing something wrong.
They were not watching the clock; or waiting for their next break, their lunch hour, quitting time.
They were acting out the reason they worked in this challenging memory care environment: because they loved their residents.
I could tell they felt empowered and supported by management; safe to express the love and the joy they felt in their hearts.
Clate Mask, CEO of a company called Infusionsoft says this about fun in the workplace:
After all, adding humor, laughter, and fun into your work environment...
• Helps relieve stress (and happy people tend to be more productive)
• Creates a stronger bond amongst you and your employees
• Has a positive impact on your customers (and attracts more of them)
• Improves the physical health of you and your employees
• Encourages more open and honest communication
• And so much more!
Jody Urquhart of weLead Online Magazine (www.leadingtoday.org) describes some of the specific benefits of fun in the workplace:
“Laughter releases endorphins (a chemical 10 times more powerful than the pain-relieving drug morphine) into the body with the same exhilarating effect as doing strenuous exercise. Laughing increases oxygen intake, thereby replenishing and invigorating cells. It also increases the pain threshold, boosts immunity, and relieves stress.
“Humor also levels the playing field to create an atmosphere that encourages honest dialogue, open communication, and increased risk taking. Creating more equality in power or control shows people respect and builds pride in their work.”
Most useful to me, however, are Ms. Urquhart’s “13 Steps to Creating a Fun Workplace.” Click here to check them out! http://www.leadingtoday.org/Onmag/feb03/ju-feb03.html
She suggests that, as managers, we create an environment where our employees have fun. We don’t need to come to work dressed as a clown, but we do need to set the tone that it’s OK to laugh and have fun at work. Most of all, though, we need to let our employees be creative – we need to get out of the way so they can bring more fun into the workplace.
As a manager, pay close attention to how you say things to your team, especially those ugly “disciplinary” things. If you hear yourself frequently making threats (“anyone with more than one tardy in the next pay period will be terminated”) stop for a minute and think of a way to say that with humor, and in a positive tone. Try something like this: “if you’ve got someplace more important to be than at work when you’re scheduled, we’re gonna let you be there all the time! We don’t want to get in the way of what you’re rather be doing!
Or here’s another one: “If you love this place so much you don’t want us to pay you, please don’t bother to fill out your timecard.”
You get the idea.
Now go have some fun today!
But several years ago I realized that for all the hours we spend at work – and around our co-workers – if we aren’t having FUN, we’re missing something real that adds value to our lives. Along the way, I realized that when I’m having fun at work, I’m working harder, being more creative and making other people’s lives more enjoyable, too.
I’m not watching the clock, thinking about lunch, or counting the days until my next paycheck.
I’m being much more engaged in my work, and, as a consequence, I’m much more productive, too.
People around me respond in a different way, too. Others stop being territorial about their projects or ideas. Collaboration comes more naturally, as we laugh together and then – seriously – come up with imaginative solutions to challenging problems.
For a project at my church several years ago I researched the effect that laughing together has on building community. The results were amazing to me. When we laugh together, we connect on a level that instantly creates bonds. We lean in toward each other; sometimes we touch each other companionably on the arm, back or shoulder.
When I walked through my assisted living communities and saw caregivers laughing with residents, I saw an extraordinary amount of eye contact, hugging and playfulness occurring. I learned that this was one of my strongest indicators of a team that felt engaged, safe and confident.
They were not working out of fear of their supervisor catching them doing something wrong.
They were not watching the clock; or waiting for their next break, their lunch hour, quitting time.
They were acting out the reason they worked in this challenging memory care environment: because they loved their residents.
I could tell they felt empowered and supported by management; safe to express the love and the joy they felt in their hearts.
Clate Mask, CEO of a company called Infusionsoft says this about fun in the workplace:
After all, adding humor, laughter, and fun into your work environment...
• Helps relieve stress (and happy people tend to be more productive)
• Creates a stronger bond amongst you and your employees
• Has a positive impact on your customers (and attracts more of them)
• Improves the physical health of you and your employees
• Encourages more open and honest communication
• And so much more!
Jody Urquhart of weLead Online Magazine (www.leadingtoday.org) describes some of the specific benefits of fun in the workplace:
“Laughter releases endorphins (a chemical 10 times more powerful than the pain-relieving drug morphine) into the body with the same exhilarating effect as doing strenuous exercise. Laughing increases oxygen intake, thereby replenishing and invigorating cells. It also increases the pain threshold, boosts immunity, and relieves stress.
“Humor also levels the playing field to create an atmosphere that encourages honest dialogue, open communication, and increased risk taking. Creating more equality in power or control shows people respect and builds pride in their work.”
Most useful to me, however, are Ms. Urquhart’s “13 Steps to Creating a Fun Workplace.” Click here to check them out! http://www.leadingtoday.org/Onmag/feb03/ju-feb03.html
She suggests that, as managers, we create an environment where our employees have fun. We don’t need to come to work dressed as a clown, but we do need to set the tone that it’s OK to laugh and have fun at work. Most of all, though, we need to let our employees be creative – we need to get out of the way so they can bring more fun into the workplace.
As a manager, pay close attention to how you say things to your team, especially those ugly “disciplinary” things. If you hear yourself frequently making threats (“anyone with more than one tardy in the next pay period will be terminated”) stop for a minute and think of a way to say that with humor, and in a positive tone. Try something like this: “if you’ve got someplace more important to be than at work when you’re scheduled, we’re gonna let you be there all the time! We don’t want to get in the way of what you’re rather be doing!
Or here’s another one: “If you love this place so much you don’t want us to pay you, please don’t bother to fill out your timecard.”
You get the idea.
Now go have some fun today!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Senior Care in Tough Times
I’d like to never again hear this phrase at the start of a sentence, especially spoken by the double-bass “voice of God”:
In these trying financial times…
They seem to be followed by words of advice or, really, a sales pitch.
During the years I operated our own group of assisted living communities I can’t remember a time that wasn’t “financially trying.”
Oh sure, there were weeks, months, and maybe even a year or two when all our administrators and executive directors stayed put and stayed on track, and when our nurses, caregivers and other staff were happy and productive.
But there were certainly days and months when it seemed like we were in an “all hands on deck” environment, trying to avoid some pitfall or another.
Start-up, my favorite part of ownership, was exciting – and stressful. If the fill-up rate didn’t match projections, we could quickly drift into “financially trying times.”
The ebb and flow of census, even though it seemed to be almost predictably cyclical, could give us moments of anxiety and worry.
I’m pretty sure you know what I’m talking about.
My point is that as a business owner and operator, we know trying times. We live them, breathe them, and know that, with focus and consistency we will survive them.
We’ll survive these times, too, at least most of us. Some of us will have built enough cushion to avoid sleepless nights entirely.
Others of us will see opportunities in the challenges and come out ahead.
Those of us who work hard to consolidate expenses, hire and train smarter and more effectively will see a major upside, not just a slow recovery.
We can learn from watching those in our industry who are plummeting publicly and brutally.
And we can grow stronger. Because tough times are no match for tough, determined people on a mission!
In these trying financial times…
They seem to be followed by words of advice or, really, a sales pitch.
During the years I operated our own group of assisted living communities I can’t remember a time that wasn’t “financially trying.”
Oh sure, there were weeks, months, and maybe even a year or two when all our administrators and executive directors stayed put and stayed on track, and when our nurses, caregivers and other staff were happy and productive.
But there were certainly days and months when it seemed like we were in an “all hands on deck” environment, trying to avoid some pitfall or another.
Start-up, my favorite part of ownership, was exciting – and stressful. If the fill-up rate didn’t match projections, we could quickly drift into “financially trying times.”
The ebb and flow of census, even though it seemed to be almost predictably cyclical, could give us moments of anxiety and worry.
I’m pretty sure you know what I’m talking about.
My point is that as a business owner and operator, we know trying times. We live them, breathe them, and know that, with focus and consistency we will survive them.
We’ll survive these times, too, at least most of us. Some of us will have built enough cushion to avoid sleepless nights entirely.
Others of us will see opportunities in the challenges and come out ahead.
Those of us who work hard to consolidate expenses, hire and train smarter and more effectively will see a major upside, not just a slow recovery.
We can learn from watching those in our industry who are plummeting publicly and brutally.
And we can grow stronger. Because tough times are no match for tough, determined people on a mission!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Building your Dream Team, Part 4
Adapted from Fred Lee's book, "If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently."
Building the perfect team isn’t a one-step job. It’s a process that takes time, focus and little incremental steps.
Let’s look at some other tips from Disney in building the dream team:
Building the perfect team isn’t a one-step job. It’s a process that takes time, focus and little incremental steps.
Let’s look at some other tips from Disney in building the dream team:
- Tapping into each person’s passion means knowing that person. As you get to know each employee better you’ll get a sense of whether he or she is in the right job – the job that truly fits. Are work assignments one that the person loves? Are they tasks the person feels he/she does well in? Researchers have found that the tasks we say we love are most likely the tasks we’re best at – so pay attention to those complaints and those success stories you hear about.
- Knowing your staff members also means knowing what will reward and motivate each of them, too. One manager tells a story about getting McDonald’s gift cards for everyone on staff and feeling proud that she had a great motivation/reward tool at her fingertips at all times. One problem – about half of her staff didn’t go to McDonalds. For those people, this was less a motivation and reward than a clear indicator that their boss didn’t know them very well.
- Make work fun. Yes, working at Disney seems like it would be fun anyway, until you think about the actual tasks involved. How fun would it be day after day helping people into and out of rides? Serving popcorn and soda pop? What makes it fun is the atmosphere. Is your work atmosphere fun? Do people laugh – or at least smile – throughout the day? Are you being a leader in creating a fun environment for work?
Monday, November 28, 2011
Building your Dream Team, Part 3
Adapted from Fred Lee's book, "If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently."
Last week we talked about the importance of sharing your dream with your team.
Let’s look at how we can develop a dream that the entire team is a part of creating. Here are some ideas to get you going:
Finish this sentence: “I dream of working on a team where ________________.” You might take a minute to answer this question yourself first. What’s important to you? You might list:
Ask your team to finish a couple more sentences, too, and see where that discussion leads. Here are some you might try:
I want to work for a manager who ________________.
I want to work with coworkers who ________________.
I enjoy my work most when ________________.
I wish there was more ________________ here at work.
Get the conversation going – engage your team in the journey and in reaching for the dream!
More next week!
Last week we talked about the importance of sharing your dream with your team.
Let’s look at how we can develop a dream that the entire team is a part of creating. Here are some ideas to get you going:
Finish this sentence: “I dream of working on a team where ________________.” You might take a minute to answer this question yourself first. What’s important to you? You might list:
- Everyone puts forth their best efforts.
- We reach – and exceed – our company goals.
- We have extremely satisfied clients.
- We all feel like good friends.
Ask your team to finish a couple more sentences, too, and see where that discussion leads. Here are some you might try:
I want to work for a manager who ________________.
I want to work with coworkers who ________________.
I enjoy my work most when ________________.
I wish there was more ________________ here at work.
Get the conversation going – engage your team in the journey and in reaching for the dream!
More next week!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Building your Dream Team, Part 2
Adapted from Fred Lee's book, "If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently."
One of the lessons we can learn from Disney in building the dream team of caregiving staff is simply this: Have a dream.
Before he was president, America would flock to listen to Barack Obama speak, because he so eloquently articulates a dream for this country. Whether you are a supporter or not, it’s hard not to feel the passion of his dream (check out this You Tube video titled “Yes We Can” if you haven’t experienced it yet).
In days past, Martin Luther King shared his “I have a Dream” speech – a speech that lifted our national discussion about race and relationships to an entirely new level.
Goals, objectives and mission statements don’t really motivate people to stretch outside their usual behaviors. Dreams do.
Some days, your dreams may simply include having every shift filled and never having to pull a night shift yourself again.
But to truly motivate your own team to work at their highest level, share the dreams you had when you first began in this field. Did you dream of creating a caring environment that felt like a home? A team that loved every single person in your care? A place where people came together to accomplish more than they could do on their own – and had fun, laughed and hugged freely?
In our office, we’ve written the dream on the wall – literally. Through an inexpensive website source we ordered vinyl lettering and carefully applied our dream (borrowing from the words of John Quincy Adams) on the wall: “If your words inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
It is our dream to become leaders by inspiring others to do all of those things.
What are your dreams? How do you share them with your team?
Next week, we’ll look at some additional, concrete steps you can use to help share your dream, and build your team.
One of the lessons we can learn from Disney in building the dream team of caregiving staff is simply this: Have a dream.
Before he was president, America would flock to listen to Barack Obama speak, because he so eloquently articulates a dream for this country. Whether you are a supporter or not, it’s hard not to feel the passion of his dream (check out this You Tube video titled “Yes We Can” if you haven’t experienced it yet).
In days past, Martin Luther King shared his “I have a Dream” speech – a speech that lifted our national discussion about race and relationships to an entirely new level.
Goals, objectives and mission statements don’t really motivate people to stretch outside their usual behaviors. Dreams do.
Some days, your dreams may simply include having every shift filled and never having to pull a night shift yourself again.
But to truly motivate your own team to work at their highest level, share the dreams you had when you first began in this field. Did you dream of creating a caring environment that felt like a home? A team that loved every single person in your care? A place where people came together to accomplish more than they could do on their own – and had fun, laughed and hugged freely?
In our office, we’ve written the dream on the wall – literally. Through an inexpensive website source we ordered vinyl lettering and carefully applied our dream (borrowing from the words of John Quincy Adams) on the wall: “If your words inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
It is our dream to become leaders by inspiring others to do all of those things.
What are your dreams? How do you share them with your team?
Next week, we’ll look at some additional, concrete steps you can use to help share your dream, and build your team.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Building your Dream Team, Part 1
One of my favorite books is Fred Lee’s “If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 ½ Things You Would Do Differently.”
I heard Lee speak at a conference a few years ago, and was completely sold. If we could capture the team – the energy – the enthusiasm of Disney in our building, people would not only want to live there, people would want to work there, too – in droves. What a nice mental picture that makes!
In the conclusion of the book, Lee poses this question:
“Have you ever worked very hard along side other people and absolutely loved every minute of it, even though you were physically exhausted at the end of the day? Is so, what made it so enjoyable?”
Lee goes on to answer the question for himself, sharing a story of backbreaking work side by side with family members, repairing his mother-in-law's house. Using precious vacation time to do it, too. And loving every minute of the work.
At the end of the story, Lee remarks,
“…I would describe the perfect work environment as finding an unsurpassed level of joy in hard work with good friends, doing something important for someone else who cannot do it for themselves. What comes closer to this picture than being a caregiver in a hospital [or senior care community]? The question is, how does one create such a team, and maintain such a spirit?”
Lee goes on to review some of the ways he believes this can happen. We’ll continue next week with some of his concrete ideas to make this happen for you!
I heard Lee speak at a conference a few years ago, and was completely sold. If we could capture the team – the energy – the enthusiasm of Disney in our building, people would not only want to live there, people would want to work there, too – in droves. What a nice mental picture that makes!
In the conclusion of the book, Lee poses this question:
“Have you ever worked very hard along side other people and absolutely loved every minute of it, even though you were physically exhausted at the end of the day? Is so, what made it so enjoyable?”
Lee goes on to answer the question for himself, sharing a story of backbreaking work side by side with family members, repairing his mother-in-law's house. Using precious vacation time to do it, too. And loving every minute of the work.
At the end of the story, Lee remarks,
“…I would describe the perfect work environment as finding an unsurpassed level of joy in hard work with good friends, doing something important for someone else who cannot do it for themselves. What comes closer to this picture than being a caregiver in a hospital [or senior care community]? The question is, how does one create such a team, and maintain such a spirit?”
Lee goes on to review some of the ways he believes this can happen. We’ll continue next week with some of his concrete ideas to make this happen for you!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Top Ways to Build your Team with Fun
Do your staff meetings go something like this?
And on and on… not really a whole lot of fun, is it?
What if, instead of lecturing on the need to be more careful with residents’ clothing, you pulled two people aside ahead of time and planned a little skit:
Actor #1 (playing the part of the family member): “Darn it, my dad’s sweater is missing AGAIN. Can’t you guys EVER get the clothes straight around here?”
Actor #2 (playing the part of the manager): “I’ll be happy to try to find your dad’s sweater. Let me ask around and see if we can get it back to him today.”
Actor #1: “I’m just sick and tired of my dad’s clothes missing. What kind of place are you running, anyway?”
Actor #2, gathering a group of employees together): “OK you guys, we’ve GOT to find Mr. Marcus’s sweater RIGHT NOW. His family is throwing a fit and yelling at me. GET BUSY – and FIND THAT SWEATER!!”
Actor #1, standing by the front door when a visitor (Actor #3) walks in: “I hope you’re not thinking of moving someone here – they can’t keep track of anything!”
Actor #3 to manager: “I think I’ll come back another time. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea for my mom…”
Do you think your team would remember this better than the monthly lecture? Try it – I’d bet you’ll be surprised!
If you like some more ideas for fun team-building activities (modify them to fit your needs, obviously), check out this great resource-packed website: http://wilderdom.com/games/InitiativeGames.html
Have fun – and build your team!
“Could everyone please sit down and stop talking? We’ve got a lot to cover today and you guys need to get back out there as quickly as possible, so let’s get going."
“We’re having problems getting laundry to the right person. Mr. Marcus’ family is complaining again that his sweater is missing – has anyone seen it?”
And on and on… not really a whole lot of fun, is it?
What if, instead of lecturing on the need to be more careful with residents’ clothing, you pulled two people aside ahead of time and planned a little skit:
Actor #1 (playing the part of the family member): “Darn it, my dad’s sweater is missing AGAIN. Can’t you guys EVER get the clothes straight around here?”
Actor #2 (playing the part of the manager): “I’ll be happy to try to find your dad’s sweater. Let me ask around and see if we can get it back to him today.”
Actor #1: “I’m just sick and tired of my dad’s clothes missing. What kind of place are you running, anyway?”
Actor #2, gathering a group of employees together): “OK you guys, we’ve GOT to find Mr. Marcus’s sweater RIGHT NOW. His family is throwing a fit and yelling at me. GET BUSY – and FIND THAT SWEATER!!”
Actor #1, standing by the front door when a visitor (Actor #3) walks in: “I hope you’re not thinking of moving someone here – they can’t keep track of anything!”
Actor #3 to manager: “I think I’ll come back another time. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea for my mom…”
Do you think your team would remember this better than the monthly lecture? Try it – I’d bet you’ll be surprised!
If you like some more ideas for fun team-building activities (modify them to fit your needs, obviously), check out this great resource-packed website: http://wilderdom.com/games/InitiativeGames.html
Have fun – and build your team!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Teaching Employees the Most Important Skill of All: Getting to Know their Clients
We were discussing the objectives of our training program, especially the caregiving training program. Our newest team member, Ken, asked, “What behavior do you want to see in a well-trained caregiver?”
The first thing that came to my mind was excellent observation skills. A good caregiver – a well-trained caregiver – should be able to walk into a room first thing in the morning and say, “Good morning, Mrs. Smith.”
A good caregiver should stop and listen for a response, and instantly identify the well-being of the client.
She should notice the slightly slurred words, and take the time to ask another question: “Did you sleep well last night?” and listen for the response. Maybe the person is in pain – ask a probing question. Maybe the person is ill – check her temperature and pulse.
In short, a good caregiver should know her clients so well that she can instantly tell when something isn’t quite right – and take the appropriate follow-up action.
Ken, our newest employee, looked up at me abruptly and said, “That really hits home.” He shared the experience of visiting the hospital to see his mother-in-law. His wife asked the nurse, “How’s my mom today?”
The nurse responded, “She’s doing fine.”
As they walked into the room, his wife said, “Good morning, mom,” and heard her garbled response. She was clearly not “fine;” in fact, she died a short while later.
At my book club, we were discussing the current dire state of healthcare in America. One of my neighbors had been talking with a British friend who said, “The trouble with you Americans is that you do too many tests. Doctors, nurses and caregivers are no longer trained to really listen to the person and observe. Just send out for another test – that’ll tell you what’s wrong.”
Another neighbor shared, with passion, her experience during the last few hours of her mother’s life. During that final hour, three specialists had come into the room, each reporting, “Good news!” One specialist reported that her mother’s blood work was good – “Do you have any questions for me?” An internist reported that a bone scan looked good – “That’s great news.”
All the time, the family knew their mother was dying, as she lay unresponsive in the hospital bed. They felt angered and frustrated that so many people looked at only a part of their mother’s condition; not one of the physicians involved looked at their mother as a whole person.
When I think of a caregiver I’d like to clone, I think of Dianne. She only had a high school education, but had worked as a caregiver for her entire career. When she worked for us, we promoted her, ultimately (after about 12 years) to Resident Care Manager for one simple reason: Dianne knew her residents. She knew exactly what was “normal” for each of them, and her observation skills were second to none.
Dianne could tell, in just a couple of minutes, when someone what not quite right. She knew when to probe with more questions, with a touch or quick vitals check, and when to call the doctor, nurse or family and say, “Something isn’t right. You’d better come right away.”
She knew that family members felt guilt and anxiety, especially initially. She would often call just to say, “Your mom had a really good day today.”
Dianne would sit and comfort the dying person; she’d stay and comfort the grieving family, too, sometimes well into the night. She would never, ever leave a dying resident in the care of a lesser-trained caregiver.
She wasn’t a trained nurse, but she was the best I’ve ever seen at knowing her residents and making sure they got the very best care possible, from every single member of the team. When my own mother was in acute care, I often wished for a nurse, a caregiver, or anyone as compassionate as Dianne.
Dianne was certainly an extraordinary caregiver by nature. Her commitment and dedication was intrinsic to her personality; and that’s not something that we can train into people.
But her focus on knowing each person in her care, as well as she could possibly know them, is something we can do a better job training into caregivers. Her keen sense of observation and her skill in communication – these are the traits I believe we can train.
Training to grow the very best caregiver possible isn’t a one-time shot. It’s a process that continues throughout the person’s career. We can start it with our online courses, but it takes ongoing supervision and training to really strengthen these skills.
The first thing that came to my mind was excellent observation skills. A good caregiver – a well-trained caregiver – should be able to walk into a room first thing in the morning and say, “Good morning, Mrs. Smith.”
A good caregiver should stop and listen for a response, and instantly identify the well-being of the client.
She should notice the slightly slurred words, and take the time to ask another question: “Did you sleep well last night?” and listen for the response. Maybe the person is in pain – ask a probing question. Maybe the person is ill – check her temperature and pulse.
In short, a good caregiver should know her clients so well that she can instantly tell when something isn’t quite right – and take the appropriate follow-up action.
Ken, our newest employee, looked up at me abruptly and said, “That really hits home.” He shared the experience of visiting the hospital to see his mother-in-law. His wife asked the nurse, “How’s my mom today?”
The nurse responded, “She’s doing fine.”
As they walked into the room, his wife said, “Good morning, mom,” and heard her garbled response. She was clearly not “fine;” in fact, she died a short while later.
At my book club, we were discussing the current dire state of healthcare in America. One of my neighbors had been talking with a British friend who said, “The trouble with you Americans is that you do too many tests. Doctors, nurses and caregivers are no longer trained to really listen to the person and observe. Just send out for another test – that’ll tell you what’s wrong.”
Another neighbor shared, with passion, her experience during the last few hours of her mother’s life. During that final hour, three specialists had come into the room, each reporting, “Good news!” One specialist reported that her mother’s blood work was good – “Do you have any questions for me?” An internist reported that a bone scan looked good – “That’s great news.”
All the time, the family knew their mother was dying, as she lay unresponsive in the hospital bed. They felt angered and frustrated that so many people looked at only a part of their mother’s condition; not one of the physicians involved looked at their mother as a whole person.
When I think of a caregiver I’d like to clone, I think of Dianne. She only had a high school education, but had worked as a caregiver for her entire career. When she worked for us, we promoted her, ultimately (after about 12 years) to Resident Care Manager for one simple reason: Dianne knew her residents. She knew exactly what was “normal” for each of them, and her observation skills were second to none.
Dianne could tell, in just a couple of minutes, when someone what not quite right. She knew when to probe with more questions, with a touch or quick vitals check, and when to call the doctor, nurse or family and say, “Something isn’t right. You’d better come right away.”
She knew that family members felt guilt and anxiety, especially initially. She would often call just to say, “Your mom had a really good day today.”
Dianne would sit and comfort the dying person; she’d stay and comfort the grieving family, too, sometimes well into the night. She would never, ever leave a dying resident in the care of a lesser-trained caregiver.
She wasn’t a trained nurse, but she was the best I’ve ever seen at knowing her residents and making sure they got the very best care possible, from every single member of the team. When my own mother was in acute care, I often wished for a nurse, a caregiver, or anyone as compassionate as Dianne.
Dianne was certainly an extraordinary caregiver by nature. Her commitment and dedication was intrinsic to her personality; and that’s not something that we can train into people.
But her focus on knowing each person in her care, as well as she could possibly know them, is something we can do a better job training into caregivers. Her keen sense of observation and her skill in communication – these are the traits I believe we can train.
Training to grow the very best caregiver possible isn’t a one-time shot. It’s a process that continues throughout the person’s career. We can start it with our online courses, but it takes ongoing supervision and training to really strengthen these skills.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Census and the Economy
From the word on the street, if your census is strong consider yourself lucky.
It’s not enough that the economy and poor housing market is driving people to care for their own family members rather than seek care elsewhere. We’re also caring for a market sector that has other inherent issues, namely longevity. Not to be indelicate, but our residents are vulnerable. And, it seems, we lose them in groups.
My mother-in-law had excellent end-of-life care in a brand new assisted living community. She was the first person in the apartment, and the caregivers were incredibly kind and attentive. They only had a few residents – how few I don’t really know. What I do know is that on the day my mother-in-law died, two other residents also passed. I’m guessing that may have constituted as much as 25% of their occupancy, in one fell swoop.
In this situation, it’s the small details that count. For our family, the attention to detail was incredible. The staff not only were attentive and caring, they openly grieved with us at the loss of our mother. One of the employees even gave the eulogy at the memorial service – and it was absolutely pitch perfect.
Were we satisfied customer? Absolutely. We’ll tell everyone we can about the fabulous care provided to our family. We’ll tell you what a great company Leisure Care is, and how happy we are with the care provided by their team.
We’ve had other experiences with our family elders. We’ll tell you about those, too – and warn you away from some communities that didn’t meet our basic expectations, let alone exceed them.
Benjamin Pearce, author of the excellent book “Senior Living Communities: Operations Management and Marketing for Assisted Living, Congregate, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities” (and a member of our instructor team) developed a course on Customer Service for managers for CEU credit. Ben says, “Quality is simply the difference between what you expect and what you get. When you get more than you expect, you perceive that you’ve gotten something of value.”
If you feel you or your managers could use a little tuning up in this area, check out this course on our EasyCEU website.
With everything else working against us having a strong census today, customer service is one area we can control and improve.
It’s not enough that the economy and poor housing market is driving people to care for their own family members rather than seek care elsewhere. We’re also caring for a market sector that has other inherent issues, namely longevity. Not to be indelicate, but our residents are vulnerable. And, it seems, we lose them in groups.
My mother-in-law had excellent end-of-life care in a brand new assisted living community. She was the first person in the apartment, and the caregivers were incredibly kind and attentive. They only had a few residents – how few I don’t really know. What I do know is that on the day my mother-in-law died, two other residents also passed. I’m guessing that may have constituted as much as 25% of their occupancy, in one fell swoop.
In this situation, it’s the small details that count. For our family, the attention to detail was incredible. The staff not only were attentive and caring, they openly grieved with us at the loss of our mother. One of the employees even gave the eulogy at the memorial service – and it was absolutely pitch perfect.
Were we satisfied customer? Absolutely. We’ll tell everyone we can about the fabulous care provided to our family. We’ll tell you what a great company Leisure Care is, and how happy we are with the care provided by their team.
We’ve had other experiences with our family elders. We’ll tell you about those, too – and warn you away from some communities that didn’t meet our basic expectations, let alone exceed them.
Benjamin Pearce, author of the excellent book “Senior Living Communities: Operations Management and Marketing for Assisted Living, Congregate, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities” (and a member of our instructor team) developed a course on Customer Service for managers for CEU credit. Ben says, “Quality is simply the difference between what you expect and what you get. When you get more than you expect, you perceive that you’ve gotten something of value.”
If you feel you or your managers could use a little tuning up in this area, check out this course on our EasyCEU website.
With everything else working against us having a strong census today, customer service is one area we can control and improve.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Corporate Learning is Undergoing a Transformation
Corporate training is undergoing a transformation. Resources are getting a little tighter, and expectations are higher. The focus is on employee engagement, retention and building the dream team that will carry the company to success.
In the process, Corporate America has its eyes on training.
“Much of the daily chaos [in senior care] can be decreased when carefully selected staff receive proper orientation, training and ongoing education,” notes culture change expert Susan Gilster in her article published (with Jennifer Dalessandro) in the July/August Advance for Long Term Care Management. Gilster goes on to list some of the positive effects of focusing on training: better care, better decision-making, better family relations, improved feelings of job security.
As training starts to get increased emphasis, other transforming forces are changing the way employees are being trained:
Increased requirements for training and documentation. No longer is a “read and sign” inservice considered adequate. Most states are moving toward requiring “evidence of learning” (read “test”) and a documentation of passing the test. Meeting these new, higher standards requires extra time, money and staffing on the part of many companies. Many companies are urgently looking to solutions that can help them meet 100% compliance, while not increasing their bottom line expenses.
Increased risk of lawsuits. Missing training documentation is a big red flag for lawyers. Sign-in sheets are worth a little; individual training records, complete with test scores and certificates are worth considerably more. With assisted living increasingly in the sights of wrongful death, elder abuse and similarly focused attorneys, evidence of staff training that meets and exceeds requirements is an essential.
Increased OSHA inspections. How well is safety training being done? OSHA has begun targeting senior care facilities for inspections – and violations of standards come with hefty, mandatory fines.
Increased access to technology. Not only is e-training more affordable than ever, but internet connectivity is more accessible. New hires often come with skills in using computers, email and the internet; computer equipment is affordable to even the smallest provider. Suddenly, what seemed a technological barrier is not an approachable – and substantial – resource.
If it’s time for a transformation in your company, take a close look at training. The benefits are significant and the access to quality resources is better than ever before.
In the process, Corporate America has its eyes on training.
“Much of the daily chaos [in senior care] can be decreased when carefully selected staff receive proper orientation, training and ongoing education,” notes culture change expert Susan Gilster in her article published (with Jennifer Dalessandro) in the July/August Advance for Long Term Care Management. Gilster goes on to list some of the positive effects of focusing on training: better care, better decision-making, better family relations, improved feelings of job security.
As training starts to get increased emphasis, other transforming forces are changing the way employees are being trained:
Increased requirements for training and documentation. No longer is a “read and sign” inservice considered adequate. Most states are moving toward requiring “evidence of learning” (read “test”) and a documentation of passing the test. Meeting these new, higher standards requires extra time, money and staffing on the part of many companies. Many companies are urgently looking to solutions that can help them meet 100% compliance, while not increasing their bottom line expenses.
Increased risk of lawsuits. Missing training documentation is a big red flag for lawyers. Sign-in sheets are worth a little; individual training records, complete with test scores and certificates are worth considerably more. With assisted living increasingly in the sights of wrongful death, elder abuse and similarly focused attorneys, evidence of staff training that meets and exceeds requirements is an essential.
Increased OSHA inspections. How well is safety training being done? OSHA has begun targeting senior care facilities for inspections – and violations of standards come with hefty, mandatory fines.
Increased access to technology. Not only is e-training more affordable than ever, but internet connectivity is more accessible. New hires often come with skills in using computers, email and the internet; computer equipment is affordable to even the smallest provider. Suddenly, what seemed a technological barrier is not an approachable – and substantial – resource.
If it’s time for a transformation in your company, take a close look at training. The benefits are significant and the access to quality resources is better than ever before.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Great leaders excel at everything?
Great leaders excel at everything?
”Our goal for today is to help our audience become better leaders by simultaneously excelling in four areas of their lives: work, home, community and self.”
This is the introductory sentence to the Harvard Business School interview with Steward Friedman, author of a number of leadership books and articles (view here on YouTube).
I don’t know about you, but that intro sentence alone makes me choke. “Excel?” How about “survive?”
I’m busy running my company, and, yes, I do identify my own success with the success of my business, but, really, am I excelling at work and home, let alone community and self?
Steward (and the interviewer, by the way) assume that our life’s goal is to become the best leaders we can be. Learning to excel at the other three areas – home, community and self – will help us become better leaders.
And on MY tombstone, I want to see the words, “She pulled it all together. She excelled at everything. But at the end of it all, she was a Great Leader.”
Perhaps I’m being a little harsh. It does grate, just a little, that the reason we might want to join a non-profit board is that, ultimately, it benefits the company. The main reason we may want to pay attention to our mind, body and soul is to improve our “performance at work.”
I’ll let you watch the video to hear the rest of his argument, but his recommended exercises – determining your core values and the legacy you’d like to leave, among others, are worthwhile activities, no matter if you’re struggling for survival or on the verge of excellence.
As managers, even mid-level managers, we ARE leaders. The people around us watch us. Whether we like it or not, we set the tone of at least some aspects of our work.
We have the power to make coming to work a high point of someone else’s day; or the thing they least enjoy doing.
Our praise and words of encouragement can shape the behavior of the people around us as certainly as the sound of the doorbell shapes the behavior of my dog.
We are all leaders. Whether excelling at this task should be our biggest aspiration in life is certainly debatable, at least to me.
But I do agree with Stew on this: When we are true to ourselves; when we know clearly what is important to us in our lives; when we have focus, commitment and passion, we’ll be awesome, powerful leaders.
Even if my tombstone just reads, “Beloved wife and mother.”
”Our goal for today is to help our audience become better leaders by simultaneously excelling in four areas of their lives: work, home, community and self.”
This is the introductory sentence to the Harvard Business School interview with Steward Friedman, author of a number of leadership books and articles (view here on YouTube).
I don’t know about you, but that intro sentence alone makes me choke. “Excel?” How about “survive?”
I’m busy running my company, and, yes, I do identify my own success with the success of my business, but, really, am I excelling at work and home, let alone community and self?
Steward (and the interviewer, by the way) assume that our life’s goal is to become the best leaders we can be. Learning to excel at the other three areas – home, community and self – will help us become better leaders.
And on MY tombstone, I want to see the words, “She pulled it all together. She excelled at everything. But at the end of it all, she was a Great Leader.”
Perhaps I’m being a little harsh. It does grate, just a little, that the reason we might want to join a non-profit board is that, ultimately, it benefits the company. The main reason we may want to pay attention to our mind, body and soul is to improve our “performance at work.”
I’ll let you watch the video to hear the rest of his argument, but his recommended exercises – determining your core values and the legacy you’d like to leave, among others, are worthwhile activities, no matter if you’re struggling for survival or on the verge of excellence.
As managers, even mid-level managers, we ARE leaders. The people around us watch us. Whether we like it or not, we set the tone of at least some aspects of our work.
We have the power to make coming to work a high point of someone else’s day; or the thing they least enjoy doing.
Our praise and words of encouragement can shape the behavior of the people around us as certainly as the sound of the doorbell shapes the behavior of my dog.
We are all leaders. Whether excelling at this task should be our biggest aspiration in life is certainly debatable, at least to me.
But I do agree with Stew on this: When we are true to ourselves; when we know clearly what is important to us in our lives; when we have focus, commitment and passion, we’ll be awesome, powerful leaders.
Even if my tombstone just reads, “Beloved wife and mother.”
Monday, October 3, 2011
Assisted Living Challenges: Making the Most of High Unemployment
Two sectors of our economy seem to be thriving: education and health care. My company (aQuire Training Solutions) happens to be nicely poised in the intersection of these two sectors; yours is likely more in the health care/senior care sector.
Unless your census has suffered significantly with the economic downturn, you’re likely in the hiring mode, not the lay-off mode.
Applicants may be, for the first time, plentiful and qualified.
If you’re lucky, you may have this edge in hiring for the next several months.
Taking advantage of it, however, it not a slam-dunk. It may take a little more thought and consideration to be able to hire the best and keep them into the economic recovery.
What can you do? Here are some thoughts taken from a wide range of studies and industries that seem to apply to this environment:
While other companies are laying off employees, most of us are still hiring. Take advantage of this change of pace, and build up your team to become the very best it can be.
Unless your census has suffered significantly with the economic downturn, you’re likely in the hiring mode, not the lay-off mode.
Applicants may be, for the first time, plentiful and qualified.
If you’re lucky, you may have this edge in hiring for the next several months.
Taking advantage of it, however, it not a slam-dunk. It may take a little more thought and consideration to be able to hire the best and keep them into the economic recovery.
What can you do? Here are some thoughts taken from a wide range of studies and industries that seem to apply to this environment:
- Spend some extra time thinking about the kind of person you’d love to hire for each opening you have. Look at current employees who are your stars in similar roles. What makes them so great? Consider personality, character and other factors that may be independent of experience and training. You may have the opportunity to hire individuals with similar personality traits and train them to become equally valuable members of your team.
- Get plugged into technology to help you with the hiring process – now. Never used craigslist before? Give it a shot now. Look for other online job boards you can use. Consider utilizing an online application option to allow those interested in your positions to apply online, without needing to develop a resume or fax/mail/drop off an application.
- Select carefully. You may have the opportunity to interview several candidates for a position – a delightfully new situation for many providers. Involve individuals who will be working with the new hire in the interview process and don’t hesitate to take your time to interview twice, check references, and slow down the process. Hiring carefully now can save you time and money in turnover later.
- Think about career advancement opportunities you can offer in-house. If you hire individuals who may be somewhat overqualified for their new position, offer these employees extra training to be ready to advance as openings occur in your own internal career ladder. Perhaps you don’t foresee any management openings; offer training anyway to keep the motivated hire interested and engaged.
While other companies are laying off employees, most of us are still hiring. Take advantage of this change of pace, and build up your team to become the very best it can be.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Employee Engagement and Training
The buzzword in the business world today is employee engagement. Without it, companies lose about $300 billion a year, according to the 2004 Gallup report.
With an engaged workforce, companies can experience innovation, growth and productivity, not to mention a vital environment where people are excited about their work – and stay.
A study in the Organization Development Journal (The Human Resource Craze: Human Performance Improvement and Employee Engagement. Organization Development Journal, Quarter 2, 2008, Vol. 26, No. 1, P. 69; Endres, Grace M; Mancheno-Smoak, Lolita) reports that companies that want to build an engaged workforce focus on the following things:
In that situation, the company is frequently reliant on regional managers and community administrators or executive directors to implement and ensure these processes.
And therein lies some of the problem, especially if the company experiences turnover in their key positions.
One administrator told me yesterday that in the company he currently works, his 16 months of employment have made him the #6 person in seniority within the entire, multi-facility company.
Another mentioned the fact that her regional manager has changed three times in the past few years.
Turnover, even in key high-wage positions, is still a fact of life in this profession. It falls, then, to leadership at the very top to establish policies, procedures and, most importantly, systems that can be implemented company-wide to build the strongest direct-care workforce possible.
It’s a choice between constantly fighting fires to keep the corporate ship afloat, or having the resources to build an engaged, productive, energized workforce throughout the company – one that clearly knows the goals and values of the company and practices them in their daily work, regardless of management changes.
With an engaged workforce, companies can experience innovation, growth and productivity, not to mention a vital environment where people are excited about their work – and stay.
A study in the Organization Development Journal (The Human Resource Craze: Human Performance Improvement and Employee Engagement. Organization Development Journal, Quarter 2, 2008, Vol. 26, No. 1, P. 69; Endres, Grace M; Mancheno-Smoak, Lolita) reports that companies that want to build an engaged workforce focus on the following things:
- Make sure that what your employees are doing is aligned with company goals and values.
- Give employees the tools and the freedom to innovate and to do their jobs well.
- Build, nurture and encourage teams.
- Recognize and reward worker accomplishments.
- Help workers grow and develop knowledge and skills.
In that situation, the company is frequently reliant on regional managers and community administrators or executive directors to implement and ensure these processes.
And therein lies some of the problem, especially if the company experiences turnover in their key positions.
One administrator told me yesterday that in the company he currently works, his 16 months of employment have made him the #6 person in seniority within the entire, multi-facility company.
Another mentioned the fact that her regional manager has changed three times in the past few years.
Turnover, even in key high-wage positions, is still a fact of life in this profession. It falls, then, to leadership at the very top to establish policies, procedures and, most importantly, systems that can be implemented company-wide to build the strongest direct-care workforce possible.
It’s a choice between constantly fighting fires to keep the corporate ship afloat, or having the resources to build an engaged, productive, energized workforce throughout the company – one that clearly knows the goals and values of the company and practices them in their daily work, regardless of management changes.
Monday, September 19, 2011
But can they learn online?
Let's take a look at generational differences and how they learn.
An article in the eLearning Guild’s magazine, Learning Solutions, is titled “Understanding Today’s Learner.”
This article takes a look at today’s workforce comprising individuals from four different generations, all still active in the workforce.
Age isn’t the only thing that separates these four groups. How they learn, and how they have adapted to technology also varies dramatically from group to group.
Veterans (born 1925-1945): These are the oldest workers still in the workforce. Many of them work in senior care as caregivers, cooks, housekeepers or managers. They tend to be “loyal, hard-working and dedicated” and, as learners, prefer the traditional ways of learning. These individuals are commonly thought of as the folks who don’t know how to use technology and who will resist it if introduced. And yet…
In a recent support group composed primarily of spouses and children of people with dementia (average participant age at least 60), all but two participants indicated a daily use of email and the internet. Many asked repeatedly, “Is there a website I can go to to learn more about this?” (Note to senior care providers: Who’s manning your website?)
This age group will use technology to find answers to their own needs, especially as it relates to their health, and will be thorough in their reading of a website or other digitally presented content. Many of these learners are the most focused in their approach to learning online. While you may need to encourage employees in this age group to get started learning online, once they master the basics, you won’t have to continue to encourage, reward and motivate this learner. They’ll be hooked.
Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964): This generation, frequently called the “Me” generation, focuses on personal accomplishments and achievement. Many of us have balanced career and family our entire adult lives and believe that, with focus and hard work, we can “have it all.” Many of today’s mid- and upper-level managers are from this generation.
As learners, this population didn’t grow up with their hand on a mouse, but they have adopted technology and use it in their daily lives. They are the fastest growing segment of new Facebook users (the social networking site that started as a college networking tool), and, when the value of e-learning is presented to them, they rapidly adopt and use it.
Generation X (born 1965-1979) and Generation Y (Born 1980 – 1995): These learners grew up with technology, especially the younger Generation Y folks. They tend to be highly social, multi-task easily and frequently and assume that learning is their right – after all, they never knew a time when the internet wasn’t available for them to “google” a subject and quickly gain knowledge.
As learners, this generation, our largest employee group, wants to see several things, whether in a classroom setting or online:
This is the employee, too, that will begin to demand options to mandatory training. They’ll assume that any large, sophisticated company will offer training options that fit their needs and their schedules. They’ll seek out information on topics when they need and want it, whether it is company-provided or not. They may, in fact, choose an employer that offers more learning opportunities above one that does not.
Today’s workforce is the most complex in history. Knowing how your employees learn, and adapting your training programs accordingly, will help you build the strongest, most effective team possible to compete in today’s market.
An article in the eLearning Guild’s magazine, Learning Solutions, is titled “Understanding Today’s Learner.”
This article takes a look at today’s workforce comprising individuals from four different generations, all still active in the workforce.
Age isn’t the only thing that separates these four groups. How they learn, and how they have adapted to technology also varies dramatically from group to group.
Veterans (born 1925-1945): These are the oldest workers still in the workforce. Many of them work in senior care as caregivers, cooks, housekeepers or managers. They tend to be “loyal, hard-working and dedicated” and, as learners, prefer the traditional ways of learning. These individuals are commonly thought of as the folks who don’t know how to use technology and who will resist it if introduced. And yet…
In a recent support group composed primarily of spouses and children of people with dementia (average participant age at least 60), all but two participants indicated a daily use of email and the internet. Many asked repeatedly, “Is there a website I can go to to learn more about this?” (Note to senior care providers: Who’s manning your website?)
This age group will use technology to find answers to their own needs, especially as it relates to their health, and will be thorough in their reading of a website or other digitally presented content. Many of these learners are the most focused in their approach to learning online. While you may need to encourage employees in this age group to get started learning online, once they master the basics, you won’t have to continue to encourage, reward and motivate this learner. They’ll be hooked.
Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964): This generation, frequently called the “Me” generation, focuses on personal accomplishments and achievement. Many of us have balanced career and family our entire adult lives and believe that, with focus and hard work, we can “have it all.” Many of today’s mid- and upper-level managers are from this generation.
As learners, this population didn’t grow up with their hand on a mouse, but they have adopted technology and use it in their daily lives. They are the fastest growing segment of new Facebook users (the social networking site that started as a college networking tool), and, when the value of e-learning is presented to them, they rapidly adopt and use it.
Generation X (born 1965-1979) and Generation Y (Born 1980 – 1995): These learners grew up with technology, especially the younger Generation Y folks. They tend to be highly social, multi-task easily and frequently and assume that learning is their right – after all, they never knew a time when the internet wasn’t available for them to “google” a subject and quickly gain knowledge.
As learners, this generation, our largest employee group, wants to see several things, whether in a classroom setting or online:
- They like small bites of information, and they prefer to have freedom to quickly explore and learn, following their own paths rather than prescribed paths of discovery and learning.
- They are easily bored (that’s a news flash!) and prefer their information delivered with more visuals, sounds, video and images rather than lots of text to read and digest.
- They love to interact with others while they learn, casually throwing off ideas, thoughts, or reactions, blogger or instant message-style, to their friends or co-workers.
- They prefer to have learning available to them so that they can access the knowledge when they need it; a “just in time” approach to learning that online learning has made possible and accessible.
- They can learn new things without close guidance. These are the kids, after all, that not only programmed our VCRs but learned to use their iPods, Google and other technology without our help.
This is the employee, too, that will begin to demand options to mandatory training. They’ll assume that any large, sophisticated company will offer training options that fit their needs and their schedules. They’ll seek out information on topics when they need and want it, whether it is company-provided or not. They may, in fact, choose an employer that offers more learning opportunities above one that does not.
Today’s workforce is the most complex in history. Knowing how your employees learn, and adapting your training programs accordingly, will help you build the strongest, most effective team possible to compete in today’s market.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Challenges Bring Innovation
Challenges bring innovation.
We should be ripe for a lot of innovation, if that holds true in this particular stage in history as in the past.
Here’s one area we’re involved in offering an innovative solution: Providing pre-employment training to individuals who have lost their jobs, making them job-ready to work for you, the senior care provider.
The challenge: One of the highest rates of unemployed workers in the US in decades.
The innovation: Offering unemployed individuals an opportunity to gain a hiring advantage in the workforce by pre-training them for jobs providing care to seniors.
The result: Employers (like you) can hire individuals who have proven computer learning skills (a plus for the world where computerization is spreading to everyday tasks in caregiving) AND training that proves their knowledge base at a higher level than the unskilled, untrained (but willing) individual. An added bonus to you? You may be able to use documentation of their pre-employment training to fast-track the person into their jobs, avoiding the time and expense for new employee training. Orient them to your organization and to the clients in their care, and they’re job ready, quickly, efficiently and at a lower cost to the employer.
It’s a small step in solving a huge, national challenge. But if it fast-tracks the individual into needed positions in senior care businesses and saves you, the provider, time and money, it could be a small innovation that works.
Want more details on how this could work for you? Contact me today!
We should be ripe for a lot of innovation, if that holds true in this particular stage in history as in the past.
Here’s one area we’re involved in offering an innovative solution: Providing pre-employment training to individuals who have lost their jobs, making them job-ready to work for you, the senior care provider.
The challenge: One of the highest rates of unemployed workers in the US in decades.
The innovation: Offering unemployed individuals an opportunity to gain a hiring advantage in the workforce by pre-training them for jobs providing care to seniors.
The result: Employers (like you) can hire individuals who have proven computer learning skills (a plus for the world where computerization is spreading to everyday tasks in caregiving) AND training that proves their knowledge base at a higher level than the unskilled, untrained (but willing) individual. An added bonus to you? You may be able to use documentation of their pre-employment training to fast-track the person into their jobs, avoiding the time and expense for new employee training. Orient them to your organization and to the clients in their care, and they’re job ready, quickly, efficiently and at a lower cost to the employer.
It’s a small step in solving a huge, national challenge. But if it fast-tracks the individual into needed positions in senior care businesses and saves you, the provider, time and money, it could be a small innovation that works.
Want more details on how this could work for you? Contact me today!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
It's about Culture, not Compliance
You’ve heard me harp on and on about compliance, and how traditional inservice approaches to staff training don’t make that happen very effectively. You’ve read the reports about legal and regulatory liability risks when you’re out of compliance. I guess on the hierarchy of corporate needs, survival is the most basic, so should, in fact, be “job 1.”
Adequate, compliance training really is a survival issue.
In Texas, a lawsuit filed against a facility alleged that the nursing home was “responsible for the abuse because it did not send the worker to job training.”
According to the California Injury Blog, “understaffing and the lack of training are the most common issues that lead to nursing home abuse.”
Training is very firmly fixed on the radar of nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys, many of whom are targeting assisted living communities now in addition to nursing homes. Any time compliance is not clearly, cleanly 100%, you’re a potential target.
So that’s the survival picture.
But what if you’re ready to move beyond just survival? What if, confident that your QA programs are in place and your compliance is met, you’re ready to attack the finer points of customer satisfaction and loyalty? Of building a highly engaged workforce and clientele?
At this level, it’s all about building culture, not just compliance.
It’s about training every member of your team not just on compliance issues (resident rights, safety and caregiving skills) but also on culture: how to treat every person, resident and guest, in a way that sets you apart from the rest.
Talking about building culture is very in vogue these days. The actual doing part, however, often lags far behind.
One of my favorite books is Fred Lee’s “If Disney Ran Your Hospital.” It’s aptly subtitled “Cultural insights from a hospital executive who became a Disney cast member.” It’s all about making the word “culture” mean something – something that, in this case, becomes synonymous with your brand identity.
Lee points out that, while it begins (and builds and grows) with training, it is also dependent on leadership – leadership that is clear in goals, outcomes and what the definition of the corporate culture truly is. Leadership that rewards, models and reinforces the behaviors that reflect the culture every single day.
One of our newest employees made the comment the other day that a course we were developing still needed to be “aQuire-ized.” What he meant was that it didn’t yet reflect our internal standards, standards that include story-telling, high-impact visuals, motivational/inspirational elements and more. I felt, at that moment, that we were beginning to develop a corporate culture that everyone on the team could understand – down to the very newest member.
Companies looking to establish a foothold in today’s business climate, and, more importantly, wish to grow solidly in the future need to think beyond mere compliance. They need to think – and build – culture.
Adequate, compliance training really is a survival issue.
In Texas, a lawsuit filed against a facility alleged that the nursing home was “responsible for the abuse because it did not send the worker to job training.”
According to the California Injury Blog, “understaffing and the lack of training are the most common issues that lead to nursing home abuse.”
Training is very firmly fixed on the radar of nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys, many of whom are targeting assisted living communities now in addition to nursing homes. Any time compliance is not clearly, cleanly 100%, you’re a potential target.
So that’s the survival picture.
But what if you’re ready to move beyond just survival? What if, confident that your QA programs are in place and your compliance is met, you’re ready to attack the finer points of customer satisfaction and loyalty? Of building a highly engaged workforce and clientele?
At this level, it’s all about building culture, not just compliance.
It’s about training every member of your team not just on compliance issues (resident rights, safety and caregiving skills) but also on culture: how to treat every person, resident and guest, in a way that sets you apart from the rest.
Talking about building culture is very in vogue these days. The actual doing part, however, often lags far behind.
One of my favorite books is Fred Lee’s “If Disney Ran Your Hospital.” It’s aptly subtitled “Cultural insights from a hospital executive who became a Disney cast member.” It’s all about making the word “culture” mean something – something that, in this case, becomes synonymous with your brand identity.
Lee points out that, while it begins (and builds and grows) with training, it is also dependent on leadership – leadership that is clear in goals, outcomes and what the definition of the corporate culture truly is. Leadership that rewards, models and reinforces the behaviors that reflect the culture every single day.
One of our newest employees made the comment the other day that a course we were developing still needed to be “aQuire-ized.” What he meant was that it didn’t yet reflect our internal standards, standards that include story-telling, high-impact visuals, motivational/inspirational elements and more. I felt, at that moment, that we were beginning to develop a corporate culture that everyone on the team could understand – down to the very newest member.
Companies looking to establish a foothold in today’s business climate, and, more importantly, wish to grow solidly in the future need to think beyond mere compliance. They need to think – and build – culture.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Culture Change from the Inside Out
When I was in graduate school, still under the illusion that I wanted to become a family therapist, I learned a principle of human behavior that I rely on to this day: if you want to change other people’s behavior, you have to first change your own behavior. It’s the whole “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” principle.
Of course, other people don’t always change in the way we want, or even expect. Sometimes, especially with our kids, they find a way to respond to our changes that never occurred to us. But I digress.
What I’m thinking about is the whole culture change movement, taken community by community, building by building. Maybe the culture you’re trying to change is simply the way your day shift interacts with the evening shift.
Maybe you’re trying to get caregivers just to show up on time, and not be such drama kings and queens.
These changes are certainly a part of the work culture. And they don’t change, unless we change our behavior first.
How can you change your culture from the inside out? Start by what you focus on. I was chatting with a colleague about one sure way to change our individual cultures: change the way we orient and train new staff. If we train new people, from day one, to act in a certain way, they may get out “on the floor” and see things happening differently from the way they were trained. They may say, “But that’s not how we’re supposed to do it,” challenging “old-timers” to step up and perform differently.
Debbie Buck (Board of Nursing) tells me that when best practice began to recommend gait belts, few nursing facilities had them in use – or even on the premises. As new nursing assistants were trained to use gait belts during initial training, they began asking their supervisors to please provide them. Now, gait belts are common and available nearly everywhere. It probably was a more effective way to change that particular part of behavior much more effectively than mandating that all staff shall now use gait belts.
What if we teach principles of resident care and of working together in the same manner? As we turn out new staff, trained in new ways, we can change the culture from the inside out – from the bottom up.
It might just be the way culture change really has to happen.
Of course, other people don’t always change in the way we want, or even expect. Sometimes, especially with our kids, they find a way to respond to our changes that never occurred to us. But I digress.
What I’m thinking about is the whole culture change movement, taken community by community, building by building. Maybe the culture you’re trying to change is simply the way your day shift interacts with the evening shift.
Maybe you’re trying to get caregivers just to show up on time, and not be such drama kings and queens.
These changes are certainly a part of the work culture. And they don’t change, unless we change our behavior first.
How can you change your culture from the inside out? Start by what you focus on. I was chatting with a colleague about one sure way to change our individual cultures: change the way we orient and train new staff. If we train new people, from day one, to act in a certain way, they may get out “on the floor” and see things happening differently from the way they were trained. They may say, “But that’s not how we’re supposed to do it,” challenging “old-timers” to step up and perform differently.
Debbie Buck (Board of Nursing) tells me that when best practice began to recommend gait belts, few nursing facilities had them in use – or even on the premises. As new nursing assistants were trained to use gait belts during initial training, they began asking their supervisors to please provide them. Now, gait belts are common and available nearly everywhere. It probably was a more effective way to change that particular part of behavior much more effectively than mandating that all staff shall now use gait belts.
What if we teach principles of resident care and of working together in the same manner? As we turn out new staff, trained in new ways, we can change the culture from the inside out – from the bottom up.
It might just be the way culture change really has to happen.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wandering
Three times already this week I’ve seen news stories come across my email inbox on residents who are missing from assisted living communities. Most have Alzheimer’s disease, but some have other mental or memory problems related to other diseases entirely.
It’s not really the kind of front page attention you want, if you run a senior care community!
More than once during the time we owned our own assisted living communities we had residents wander away. Our communities were delayed egress controlled and very closely, monitored, too. But residents STILL managed to get out undetected on more than one occasion.
The good news is that none of our escapees ever made the front page, even though one was severely injured while away from our building.
One thing we learned was that every single member of our staff team, especially those individuals working nights, weekends and evenings (every escapee happened during those more lightly-staff times, interestingly enough) needed training specifically in this subject.
This might not be on your list of required staff training courses, but it should be, if only for self-preservation.
We can help! We’ve got a course on wandering that we’ll be happy to enroll your staff in!
You might consider, as well, a custom training course for every building, with specific information about exactly what to do in case of a resident wandering incident. The better prepared your staff are, the quicker they’ll act in case of a missing resident.
And the faster staff act, with a clear sense of purpose and understanding, the less likely it is that your community will appear on the front page with publicity you don’t want.
It’s not really the kind of front page attention you want, if you run a senior care community!
More than once during the time we owned our own assisted living communities we had residents wander away. Our communities were delayed egress controlled and very closely, monitored, too. But residents STILL managed to get out undetected on more than one occasion.
The good news is that none of our escapees ever made the front page, even though one was severely injured while away from our building.
One thing we learned was that every single member of our staff team, especially those individuals working nights, weekends and evenings (every escapee happened during those more lightly-staff times, interestingly enough) needed training specifically in this subject.
This might not be on your list of required staff training courses, but it should be, if only for self-preservation.
We can help! We’ve got a course on wandering that we’ll be happy to enroll your staff in!
You might consider, as well, a custom training course for every building, with specific information about exactly what to do in case of a resident wandering incident. The better prepared your staff are, the quicker they’ll act in case of a missing resident.
And the faster staff act, with a clear sense of purpose and understanding, the less likely it is that your community will appear on the front page with publicity you don’t want.
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