5 questions to spark innovation

I enjoyed the Harvard Business video on innovation titled “Thinking Inside the Box.”

It’s a 9 minute interview on video, and I confess it has taken me a week to listen to the entire thing, but I love the questions that the speaker suggests as a framework for finding new and innovative ways to sell your service. Here’s a sample:

1. Who uses our product in a way we never thought of? Is anyone using your product or service in a way that is completely different from the way you thought it would be used? Is this, perhaps, where respite care came from – families who didn’t want long term care for a loved one, but just a week or two while they went on vacation? What about delivering services outside of your building, if you operate a senior care community?


2. What is the biggest hassle in purchasing or using our product? Of course, the innovation comes in finding ways to remove the hassle or balance it in some way. In senior care, one of the biggest hassles right now, at least, is the need to sell one’s home before moving into a retirement or assisted living community. Innovative communities are finding ways to help people overcome that hassle so it’s not a barrier to move-in. What other hassles do clients and families have to overcome? How can you creatively remove those hassles?


3. Which customers could become major users if we could remove one specific barrier we’ve never removed before? Think about the renters in a life-care community, or the individuals who can’t afford private pay. Those two customer groups come to mind immediately – who else might become a major user of your service if a barrier were removed?


4. How would our product change if it were customized for every user? Does considering this question give you ideas about solutions to creatively expand your market?


5. Which technologies, embedded in our product, have changed the most since our product was launched? In the case of senior care, consider the systems that are most entrenched in the way you offer your service. Is there a newer, more efficient technology available to accomplish this even better?

This is a great time in the cycle of business to be thinking about innovation. It’s a great time to look for new ways to set your company and your community apart from others who will, as the economy begins to strengthen, be rushing in to meet the needs of this upcoming wave of aging boomers. Let’s not let the newcomers pass us old hands right on by!

Staff training brings bottom line results

It’s been over seven years since a New York Times story reported that “Shares of companies that spend the most on employee training and development outperform those that spend the least…” (March 31, 2002).

The Gallup Organization determined that companies whose employees are “engaged” see an average of 360% more revenue to the bottom line than those who are not. One key element of employee engagement? The opportunity to learn and grow, to advance and excel.

“If licensing comes in and asks to see my training records today, I’m afraid we’ll be in big trouble.”

If that’s a comment that anyone in your organization might make, you’ve got problems. The number one imperative for staff training within every organization is compliance. In healthcare, compliance is the top priority for training.

Does every employee understand HIPAA? Are OSHA training standards being met? Are you managing your liability risk by ensuring full, across the board training compliance?

It’s a challenge for any 24/7 organization to ensure 100% training compliance, no matter what system is used.

It’s impossible if that organization is relying on out-of-date training manuals and in-person inservice meetings.

How confident are you that your organization is fully compliant in meeting training requirements? Can you prove it – within the next 5 minutes?

Online staff training can give you that confidence. Every employee can have equal access to the same high quality training courses, no matter what their shift or location. Even more importantly, comprehensive training reports, including exception reports, can be quickly and easily generated in real time, so you can track this compliance.

Full compliance is a vital aspect of risk management. If you want to grow your business – or simply stay in business – compliance is fundamental.

Learn how aQuire Training Solutions can help your organization gain full staff training compliance today! Contact us Now

5 things you need to know about a corporate LMS, Part 3

In Part 1 of this article I shared some information about corporate learning management systems (LMSs) and pricing. Key concepts: having your own LMS gives you total control over courses.

In Part 2 we talked about what content you should expect to include on a company learning management system.

Let’s look at a couple additional features you should consider:

1. Standardization. This is my favorite aspect of developing a company-wide LMS. You’re no longer dependent on individual trainers or managers community to community. You’re not dependent, either, on a company that has proprietary control of all your course content, training records and enrollment data. You can create a standardized approach to training all employees, company-wide, using courses you’ve created in-house, courses you’ve licensed from other providers, and content and assessments you’ve determined best help you train your team. You can say, with confidence, every single employee receives the same level, quality and type of training. Every employee is trained YOUR way, no exceptions. No gaps, either, with turnover on a management or trainer level. Pull up training reports from a corporate office and see, at a glance, what training has been completed. Print exception reports and immediately see who’s out of compliance.


2. Sustainability. This winter my family and I went on a one-week trip to Hawaii. It takes me about 4 days to slow down from my usual pace, and 3 days later we were on a plane heading back home. I got to do one hike (from the book I’d purchased of over 50 island hikes); and had altogether too few umbrella drinks. I determined to come back again in two years and stay a full month – but that means I’ve got work to do at the office. I’ve got to build, in every department, sustainable systems that function and report, with or without me.


Training employees in a consistent way has been demonstrated to affect turnover in a significant way. Reducing your turnover is one key element to improving your quality of care – and that means a higher census and a bigger bottom line.

Annually required courses that actually build on knowledge and skills, rather than just repeat old training, is not only appreciated by staff, it’s a sign of your commitment to make training real, not just a compliance check-off. It is also vital to any corporation who wants to stand out from the crowd; who wants to say, “Our employees take special care of your loved one – experience it and you’ll see the difference.” You’ll only deliver on that promise if you truly train for a higher level of care than the next company. Not just today, but every single day, throughout the entire year.

How do you build sustainability in service delivery? You set up a standard of training for each new employee, a standard for every existing employee, and you develop reporting and accountability systems – and incentives – on the part of your managers.

Then you can join me on the beach for a month, knowing the quality of the service you provide will continue to remain consistent and sustainable.

Whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve built a multi-national company, a corporate LMS might be your solution. If you think you’re ready for this step, let me know. I’ll send you a personalized plan, and help you implement this every step of the way. Better training builds better teams, and that benefits us all.

5 things you need to know about corporate learning management systems, Part 2

In Part 1 of this article I shared some information about corporate learning management systems (LMSs) and pricing. Key concepts: having your own LMS gives you total control over courses. You can build your own courses (lots of tools are readily available and easy to use); you can license courses from reputable sources. Expect to either hire a full time online training coordinator, however, or purchase the LMS and support for this from a company that has an expertise in this area. The latter is the quickest way to get going.

In terms of pricing, remember the principle of “you get what you pay for.” You can get online staff training at rock-bottom prices, but if you want more features you should expect to pay just a little more. Do compare both pricing and product.

Let’s move on to another one of the “5 things you need to know:”

What content should I expect to include in a corporate LMS?

The LMS is the structure for online training; the content is what your employees will experience. Look for these elements:

1. Compliance basics. You should be able to meet your training compliance needs without re-creating courses or re-packaging. Some companies will package courses for you to meet specific orientation requirements, for example. Some will create compliance courses if they don’t already have them. Others offer a robust list of courses but you need to pick and choose what works. Be sure you get, at a minimum, compliance basic courses.
2. Service enhancing courses. If you provide memory care, look for a very full menu of courses that can allow you to train new and experienced employees.
3. Advanced level training. Your employees will have to complete basic compliance courses year after year. Make sure the course list you’re choosing from offers advanced level training as well as basics. One complaint we hear from employees is that they hate the repetitive nature of compliance training when it is limited to taking the same course over and over.
4. Courses that train and engage. This is a little more subjective. Simple training is fine for new employees but more experienced employees want more. They want to be challenged with new information; they want to be grabbed emotionally, too. Best practice in online training suggests that emotional learning is every bit as important as fact-based learning. It’s actually more important in building engagement and retention. Look at actual courses, and let your team members try them, too.
5. Courses that build your unique brand. Look for an LMS company that will provide you with tools, support and assistance in building your own courses. At a minimum, build a course introducing your company. This can be something as simple as a video interview with the company President or CEO, followed by some text with the company’s mission statement and purpose. Create it with some life and emotional impact; give team members ideas on how to reflect your unique brand in their everyday work, and then create a short scenario quiz to assess whether team members “get it.” Make this part of your new employee orientation, and watch your brand build.

Next week we’ll continue with a few more crucial questions and answers about e-learning to help you make the best decisions possible for your team. Better training builds better teams, and that benefits us all.

Innovation means using failure to grow your business

Innovation is the new business buzz word, it seems. Everyone is talking about companies that innovate being companies that will succeed in tough economic times, but no one talks about the risks of innovation.

Innovation means something new or different. Dictionary.com defines it as “the introduction of new things or methods.” Trying something new or different means risking failure – something most of us CEO types are pretty averse to doing.

Late Friday afternoon I was clicking through links I’d saved during the week to read “later.” I ended up on youtube.com and, as one can easily do there, I moved several clicks away from the original link that caught my attention

One video that struck me as worth listening to – twice – was an interview with Columbia Business School Professor Rita McGrath titled “Use Failure to Grow your Business” (see the full interview below).

My initial reaction was probably like yours: “I don’t plan on having any failures.” But it was a slow Friday afternoon, so I listened to the first few sentences and I was hooked.

Dr. McGrath is the author of “Discovery Driven Growth.” Her book is designed to give leaders tools to innovate in their business; to go where they have no past experience going before; where they risk, in fact, failure.

McGrath points out that as you innovate assumptions form the basis for your business decisions – not facts. If you had facts, as she puts it, “Anyone could do it.” But innovation, by its very definition, means doing something for which we can’t find a road map. It means traveling somewhere completely new to us.

The core idea of discovery-driven growth, then, is to “plan to learn not plan to be right.”

Hence the possibility of failures while we’re learning. While McGrath continues in her interview to talk about ways to fail quickly and fail cheaply as being crucial to the learning cycle, she also talks about setting the stage for success in the fundamentals; the things we can control.

If you’re looking for new ways to grow your business and succeed in a changing economic environment, take 10 minutes to listen to this video.

And while you’re considering ways to minimize your risk, let us help you cover the fundamentals of staff training and regulatory compliance in training. We’re innovating, too; offering you a risk-free trial to see how it works for your company (for details of this program contact Wendy Finch, VP of Business Development for aQuire Training at 877-843-8374 or Wendy@aquiretraining.com).