On the Frontlines

When I first started writing this blog called “Frontline Focus” I got some negative feedback on the title.

“We don’t want to talk about caregivers as if they’re in a war,” one person wrote me. “Calling it the ‘Frontline’ makes it sound like a war zone.”

Someone else commented on how caregivers and care-related professionals should never be thought of as the “Frontline” – for a whole number of reasons.

Today, though, when I think of the typical caregiver, working hard in a care community or in the homes of their clients, and then going to their own homes (or a second job) and putting in even more hours of work, I think of them as very much being on the “Frontline.”

They’re on the frontline battling the effects of age, infirmity and, in many cases, loneliness and isolation.

They’re on the frontline of a life’s traveler whose end is imminent – and who may or may not feel ready.

In many cases, they’re on the frontline of a battle in their own lives: a battle to keep warm, well fed and fueled during a time when the economy continues to wear on so very many families.

As leaders, we need to take a minute during the holiday and recognize the hard work that our employees do for us – and for our clients. We need to honor those on the frontlines in our business and in life, every single day.

We can honor them with a little special gift or just a warm, heartfelt word of appreciation. Either way, supporting those serving on the frontlines in the battle for quality care for our elders is a valuable, meaningful thing – in this season and every other day of the year.

May you, your employees and your family truly experience Christmas joy this holiday season,

Supporting Family Caregivers

You probably have heard by now that this month (November) is National Family Caregiver Month. You also are very likely keenly aware of the work that family members do in providing care to the individuals who are now – or will one day become – your clients.

It’s a good month to think about what you do, as an organization, to reach out to family caregivers.

Some of you are going to great lengths to communicate your commitment to helping family caregivers. Synergy Homecare, one of our corporate clients, has launched a program called Arms Around Family Caregivers. It’s a great, heartfelt program designed to support family caregivers. At the end of the month, Synergy plans to announce a “Pillar of Strength” Award to a family caregiver, along with 40 hours of respite care at no cost to the winner.

Is your organization doing something unique and innovative this month? Share it, if you are. We’ll put it on our Facebook page and pass the word along about your important work.

If you not, give it some thought. It doesn’t need to be much. Just a little bit of extra effort can mean a lot to family members. Here are a couple of ideas to get your own creative processes going:

1. Hold a “Family Appreciation” dinner, reception or lunch. Minimal planning and expense can give you an opportunity to build relationships with your client and prospective client families.
2. Write a story about the families you serve. Send it to your local paper; post it on your website or blog. Send it to me- I’ll post it and add it to our facebook page.
3. Offer a support and training group. Use our family caregiver courses and give families an opportunity to discuss what they’ve learned and what they need to better understand about their loved ones needs, or their own needs as caregivers.
4. Consider contributing a service or some goods to support a family caregiver. Would you be willing to give away an hour or two of your services to family caregivers? Do you have a product that you could offer free of charge? Let me know – we’ll post it on our up-coming national family caregiver website, giving you exposure and recognition for your willingness to support family caregivers.

Family caregivers, whether doing hands’ on care or supporting others in caring, are often exhausted, over-stressed and battling a wide range of emotions. If each of us takes just one small action to support their vital work, we can make a whole world of difference.

Gossip and Marketing Opportunities

If you’re one of the thousands who actually ready my e-newsletters, you may be one of the handful who have wondered where they’d gone in the past several weeks.

Well, let me tell you – we’ve been busy! Here’s just a little of our internal gossip – followed by an exciting and one-of-a-kind marketing opportunity for you.

• We moved! We had outgrown our old office some time ago, but continued to work two to an office. Not very comfortably, mind you, but sometimes you just do what you have to do. When we found an opportunity to move to a big, new space for just a little more rent (to the other end of the block, across the street), we jumped on it! Since we moved last month, we’ve added three more team members, increasing courses and our client services programs significantly. It’s a testament to the importance of what we’re doing together in training new caregivers that we’re growing, even during an economy that’s got so many businesses in basic survival mode. If you’re ever in the historic downtown Oregon City (the oldest city in the state of Oregon), please stop in!

• We got federal training grants! aQuire was selected to partner with community colleges in Oregon for a 3 year federal demonstration grant, developing a e-learning plus clinical training model for direct-care worker training that will set a “gold standard” for the nation. We’re very excited to be a part of this program, and look forward to sharing our results along the way.

• We’ve just launched a major new outreach campaign. In the process, we’re adding new online courses and programs, including several Leadership and Family courses that we believe will significantly help our clients achieve their goals. We also created a User Advisory Group and heard awesome feedback, including, “Subscribing to aQuire is a no-brainer - the outcomes are so great!” My favorite bit of feedback came from a large corporate home care client whose offices have the option to train with aQuire or train in house. She told me, “100% of our most successful offices are using aQuire to help them build strong teams and strong referral networks.” Now that’s success!

• We’ve just signed on to help create and launch an exciting national family caregiver support website. I have been consulting on this project, based out of NYC, for the past year, watching it grow and become something that will be truly original, innovative and exciting. We’re now in the final stages of development and plan to have an early 2011 launch – watch for it!

This presents a unique marketing opportunity for you – a chance to reach 10 million family caregivers. Perhaps you’d like to become an “expert” on the site, answering caregiver’s questions or offering ideas or suggestions to make their life easier.

Perhaps your company could offer a discount or special price to introduce your services to caregivers.

The more creative you are, the better your message will get heard.

If you want to have some fun, let me know – I’ll help you get set up! Shoot me an email  (Sharon@aquiretraining.com) and get involved!

The high cost of employee discontent

You think everything is going just great. Your site manager reports a happy group of employees, and you haven’t heard any rumblings from families or residents. The last survey was great, and compliance doesn’t seem to be an issue. Sure, you’ve got a few vacancies, but who doesn’t?

And then you see your worker’s comp bill start to rise.

Heads’ up: you’ve got a problem.

Experienced senior living operators know that a rising worker’s comp bill is often the first sign you’ll see that your team isn’t happy. Perhaps there’s a leadership issue. Perhaps it’s just become an environment of dull, boring routine. Whatever the problem, this is a call for action.

We spend a lot of time talking about the benefits of an engaged team. We know from good, solid research that engagement on the part of your team not only saves you money, it can dramatically increase your bottom line. As employees become more and more engaged, clients respond in kind. They experience greater satisfaction and happiness; they tell others about your service. No – that’s not quite right: your customers start to enthuse about your service, using words like “saved my life” and other superlatives.

The end result for your company? Bottom line success.

We know that’s the goal, but what if you’re just at the starting gate? Perhaps you’ve recently acquired new properties, or added services. How do you build that team, especially if you start with indications of problems brewing?

It may be time to freshen up the systems you use overall. Perhaps you’re already an online learning user – mix it up, by blending with events, goals and in-house opportunities to show what your team has learned. (Need ideas? We’ve packed several into this month’s aQuire Client Newsletter.)

In our assisted living company, we created an annual event that helped us focus on our team – every year, like clockwork. We set aside an entire month – October – for employee recognition. During that month, our site managers competed to see who could come up with the most innovative and creative ways to recognize staff. One year, a manager even went out to the parking lot and spent an afternoon washing every car in the lot. We ended the month with big employee recognition events, honoring the employees’ achievements over the past year, passing out “years of service” pins and providing a feast of food (prepared by someone else for a change).

Sometimes family members joined in the fun; sometimes the group elected a team “king and queen” to celebrate. In every instance, it helped us as a company kick off each fall with a focused month-long celebration of the people who make it all work.

Mennonite Village in Albany, Oregon, celebrates their caregivers by holding a formal ball – in the middle of the afternoon. Every one of their 70+ caregivers receives a door prize or gift, and a dynamic speaker is invited to motivate and energize the group – while helping them build even greater skills. Year after year, administrative staff work to out-do the year before. Community businesses get into the act, donating gift cards and door prizes while recognizing the value caregivers bring to the community.

These and other organizations clearly realize the need to shake things up; to keep energy and focus on learning and growth high.

Betcha their worker’s comp bills show it, too.

Training: Time is Money

How much time are your high-value employees spending in staff training today? How much of that training is focused on the mandatory, required training? How much of that time is being spent in training your team to excel in customer service?

If you’re like most managers, your answer to the first question is “a lot.” A lot of time – and consequently money – is being spent on having high-value employees train entry staff on required topics.

If your answer to the last questions is “not much,” you’re not alone. Very few of us have the time or the resources to spend training our team members on the finer points of customer service. And that hurts.

Do some quick math. How many hours of training are you currently providing to staff? Multiply that by the wage of the person responsible for presenting that training. Add in a factor of 50% for minimum preparation time, and another 25% for record-keeping after the training. Add in any payroll hours you pay for overtime for individuals to come into training on their days off.

That’s a close approximation of your current basic training investment.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for investing in training. But I’m for investing wisely in that training, and getting the most value for the least amount of dollars – that’s obvious to me!

I’m all for using our high-value trainers to focus on high-value activities: fall prevention, communication and team-building, customer service. Those training topics will add to the bottom line, allowing you to provide even more services, and continue to invest in your team.

I’m also in favor of trainers who can work one-on-one with team members, mentoring them, modeling best practices for them, observing them in performance of skills and providing immediate feedback and praise.

Can you do it better?

Of course you can! Surviving in today’s market, not to mention positioning your organization to thrive and grow tomorrow means a continual re-examination of your fundamental system.

It means asking yourself on a regular basis, “Is there a better/cheaper/faster/more effective way to accomplish this?” It means looking for ways to implement solutions that save you time – and money.

Contact me if you’d like to learn how to save money in your organization’s staff training program with a custom-designed solution guaranteed to save you money. No obligation; just information that can help you make a good decision as you build for the future.

Little Things Make a Big Difference

I just finished reading (for the second time) Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.”

It’s a great examination of the factors that make new ideas into runaway successes – or cause small outbreaks of the flu to become an epidemic.

There’s a point at which time something gains enough mass that it simply tips – it spreads like wildfire.

Gladwell identifies key types of people who are needed to move things from seed to epidemic: the Connectors (those people who just know a lot of other people – and introduce or connect people as a matter of their day); Mavens (those people who love to research new products and share what they learn with you – and you respect their opinion so much that you follow their advice whenever possible); and Salesmen (the ones who can simply sell an Eskimo a freezer – they have the knack for explaining, building a relationship and convincing you of a real need they can help fill).

I enjoyed this second reading of the book because I see the tipping point effects in my own company.

When we first started offering online courses, many states wouldn’t let Administrators get their continuing education courses online. It was classroom or nothing. Many Administrators didn’t have access to a
computer, let alone caregivers.

We’d get calls with questions about using the mouse. “OK, I’ve picked it up; I’m pointing it at the screen, but nothing is happening.” Honest.

We could just about guarantee that for every 10 online courses we sold, we’d get at least 5 phone calls for assistance.

Today, we’ve tipped in a major way.

Most Administrators not only have access to computers, they have a distinct preference for online courses to meet their CEU requirements. Sure, they love conferences when they can go, but for those last few CEU classes, just point me to the nearest online website.

Most care communities and companies have computers for staff use today, too. The “pioneers” in online staff training would set up a computer learning station in their entry way and let staff come up front to take their courses. Visitors were impressed; staff felt important and empowered. Now, learning centers filled with computers are available in communities throughout the country. Companies have discovered that offering their staff more opportunities to learn means that more people will, in fact, learn more. Skill level overall increases; engagement and motivation rises; quality of care improves; word-of-mouth spreads like an epidemic of good news.

Meanwhile, this tipping effect has led, in turn, to efficiencies on our end. Since we no longer have to explain the basics of using a mouse, our team can focus on building even more courses, with even more interactivity and opportunities for “aha” moments. We have automated many of the processes that took hands’ on time, and we’ve been able to build our client base substantially without adding significantly to our overhead.

That means we can now, for the first time, offer pricing structures that work for even the smallest operator – the one who wants to offer all the benefits the larger companies do, but still keep a keen eye on their bottom line.

I remember my old friend Ralph Bellande saying, “The pioneers all got shot; the settlers were the ones that got the land.” His point was that it was rarely the first to market that succeed. It’s usually the second ones, who watch what us pioneers do, and then come in and avoid all of our mistakes, who really succeed.

There have been times in this process I could feel the arrows aimed at my back. I’m happy to say that now, I’m seeing a healthy harvest from all the seeds we’ve sown over the past 4 years.

It feels like we’re finally reached that tipping point of our own. Little things, indeed, do make a big difference!

Names reflect values and mission

When I travel around the country talking with caregivers and care providers, I am frequently reminded that names are important.

In some states, calling yourself a PCA means something entirely different from the Personal Care Aide acronym we use in our caregiver training certifications. While most states know exactly what a CNA is, in Washington State they call it an NAC (nurse aide – certified).

And then there is our name. We get introduced as the people from “A – choir” (“do you guys sing?”) or get missed altogether when someone googles us with the “c” as “Acquire.” (Just FYI: Emails addressed to me with the “c” in the name “acquire” won’t make it into my inbox.)

So why do we spell our name funny? Why the small “a” followed by the capital “Q”?

When we first started our company we hired a branding consultant to help us select a name. We wanted something unique and memorable, as well as something that reflects our values and mission.

At the time, we were using a course development engine called the “Q” system, so we needed to incorporate the prominent “Q” into our name. We also wanted to focus on the outcome of using our online training program: growing stronger skills and a more successful organization.

We loved the idea of helping people “acquire” skills. We loved the emphasis on the “Q” in the word, too.

Today, although we no longer use this course development engine, we still feel strongly about our big “Q.”

Now, however, our “Q” stands for just one thing: Quality.

When a senior care organization selects aQuire for their online staff training system, they are investing specifically and intentionally in building their team. Yes, they often save money, as our monthly per employee rate can run less than ½ of what a one hour inservice costs, not to mention trainer prep time, record-keeping and over-time for make-up attendees.

Yes, our clients get 10 times the benefit of offering their typical menu of one inservice each month, as we provide over 80 courses (nearly 100 hours) – unlimited access to employees – on a very wide range of topics.

In the end, though, adding an online training program does require an investment in the one thing we are passionate about: Quality – the “Q” factor to your organization’s success.

It’s important enough to us that it’s not only in our name – it’s the only thing BIG about our name!

Solving challenges together

It’s been a tough environment the past year. My friend Mark sent me a link to a map generated by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care Industry (NIC MAP) that shows how challenging it has been for senior care operators in some markets. The census trend from the peak to present has shown a loss of 390 basis points in the 31 largest metro areas – from 92.8% occupied in the first quarter of 07 to 88.9% in the fourth quarter of 09.

For companies operating small groups of properties that experienced this census decline, the pain was real and tangible.

For my friend Mark, it caused him and his partners to change from, as Mark puts is, “a great operator with a marketing department” to being “a lead-generating machine that is also a good operator.”

In the end, Mark and his company will be stronger, more focused and will thrive, but the last year or two have been genuinely tough.

Like Mark, many senior care companies have had to examine their operational costs and systems. They have had to streamline operations while not cutting corners on quality care and maintaining compliant record-keeping and training. Perhaps, like we did during the 1980s in my own communities, they have looked at reallocating dollars into marketing – building that “lead-generating machine”, and away from some of the softer functions of administration.

It’s been interesting to me that while many companies have been challenged, our company, aQuire Training Solutions, has experienced record growth. Mind you, since we’re a company less than four years old, records are easily shattered. But experiencing growth at all in these past couple of years is something to be treasured.

One thing is clear to me: the folks who are signing up for online training programs now are the folks who understand that building a “lead generating machine” means delivering even better services than ever. It means taking advantage of this positive hiring environment and as well as focusing on creating an engaged, vital workforce – and giving them the tools to succeed. It means giving caregivers – typically the lowest paid members of the team, yet the ones who truly deliver what you promise – a sense of affirmation and empowerment by offering them way more than a mandatory training inservice program.

Today we received a call from a large multi-location organization who wants to implement e-learning across their locations, but can’t afford the basic cost to do this. They asked us to think creatively with them to find a way to at least get them started – corporate-wide.

That’s the kind of challenge we like! It’s the kind of partnership that we thrive on, and I guarantee we’ll sharpen our pencil and make a plan that will work in your budget. If you’re committed to providing online learning to your team to build, strengthen and enrich them, we can help.

Because at the end of the day, no matter how worn out and trite the phrase it still is true: we’re all in this together!

e-learning: invest wisely

I don’t know about your organization, but January can justifiably be called the dead month in ours – usually.

This year was different. We had the busiest January on record – a huge surprise to me, considering the state of the economy and, more importantly, the state of most business owners’ outlook on the economy.

What’s going on? It’s simple: e-learning is hot.

When I read that exact same opening line in my favorite e-learning blog, I thought, “It isn’t just at our company – e-learning is hot all over. Who knew?!”

This blog’s author is my favorite for a good reason: he writes clearly and concisely, with lots of illustrations and examples. That’s why today, I’m sharing his content verbatim, with a link to his full blog at the bottom.

“E-learning is hot. And for good reason. If done right, it can produce great results by decreasing costs and improving performance. Also, unlike a one time classroom session, the elearning course is available for others. This includes the static elearning course as well as any ongoing conversations in networked communities.

E-learning Supports the Organization’s Goals

• Improved training costs. Producing learning content is time consuming whether it’s online or not. With elearning, each time the course is accessed your return on investment improves because you are dividing the fixed production costs by number of uses. You also have savings through decreased travel, reduced material, and hopefully improved (and more efficient) performance.
• Decreased material costs. Let’s say you have to train how to arrange equipment in a sterile environment like an operating room. If you had to use the real environment, it would be costly. Even setting up a fake environment has material costs and labor. By creating the environment online and letting the learner practice, you never have to worry about the costs associated with set up, use, and clean up.
• Increased productivity. Because elearning is not bound by geography or time, you can control training’s impact on production by training people during down times. In addition, with the current economy, you’re asking people to do more with less. So elearning is a great way to give them the tools and skills needed to enhance their performance.
• Standardization. You may have a great facilitator, but that’s no guarantee that the courses are presented the same across sessions. Elearning allows you to create a standardized process and consistency in the delivery of content. It also compresses delivery time. I’ve combined elearning courses with facilitated sessions. Elearning delivered consistent content. Live sessions were interactive case studies that applied the information.” 

Want to learn more about the benefits of e-learning? Read the full article at the articulate blog.

Webinars- when and why

Allow me to take a minute to talk about webinars.

One big webinar company has been sending out emails on a weekly basis lately promoting “E-learning – fast and free.”

Read the fine print, and what they’re really promoting is using the webinar technology – gathering a group of participants around their own computers, while a presenter in another location talks – as a way to train.

I think it’s a great way to train – we use it ourselves for new client implementation training. It’s fast, it’s convenient, and – yes – it’s cheap.

But is it e-learning? Is it an improvement on the traditional classroom approach to training, let alone asynchronous, professionally developed e-learning courses?

Yes, it saves time and money gathering a far-flung team together.

Yes, I can sit at my computer and watch a PowerPoint as well as I can fly to Milwaukee for the same PowerPoint presentation.

But here’s what I do when I’ve registered for a webinar and am participating from the comfort of my desk: I check my email; I write notes to myself about tasks I need to get done; I scan through the stack of stuff on my desk.

What I can’t do is make eye contact with the speaker. I can’t nod, encourage, laugh; interact.

I can’t easily raise my hand; ask questions or clarify points.

In short, I can’t get very engaged in the whole process.

Sometimes, that’s OK, especially if I’m following instructions for navigating a website or creating a new product of some kind. I’m engaged enough just watching and trying to keep up.

At other times, though, it’s a missed opportunity – to engage, connect and grow.

I’ve venture to say that webinar training works best with the most intrinsically engaged employees – and worst with those least intrinsically engaged – usually, our hourly frontline folks.

So it you’re looking for a quick, cheap, easy way to say, “Oh yeah, we provide e-learning for our staff,” think hard before you head the webinar way. You may very well be systematizing a training approach that disconnects rather than connects; that disengages rather than engages.

Year in review

We’re off to a great start to 2010 at the aQuire offices! If you would, indulge me in a quick look back at 2009:

• We finished the December 31 deadline for additional content for our online CNA course on – you guessed it – December 31st! Funny how artificial deadlines come and go but the real deal somehow gets met. We also ended the year with a great influx of new training partners who provide the lab and clinical components of this online CNA training course: hospitals, private career schools, community colleges and nursing facilities. We achieved some great community partnerships, too, enabling unemployed individuals living in remote, rural areas to get their CNA training, the first step to a career in nursing.
• Our in-home care component has become one of our busiest business units yet. The growth of this phase of care is simply phenomenal. Fortunately, most providers know how vital it is to send only well-trained caregivers into the homes of their clients.
• We officially launched our own licensed online private career school, the Institute for Professional Care Education (IPCed). While we currently only offer a Certification in Marketing and Sales in Health and Senior Care and our Personal Care Aide Certification, many more programs are in development. We’re very excited about the coming year, especially about creating Personal Care Aide Certification programs that mirror our online CNA program, with community partnerships for skills and work experience components.
• EasyCEU.com, our professional continuing education website, continued to grow even as the economy didn’t. We heard from many, many administrators that having an affordable, accessible option simply saved their license this year – and that’s nice to hear!
• aQuire’s staff training program grew significantly as more and more assisted living providers joined in the technology revolution. I received an email just today from an assisted living caregiver who had just finished her first ever online course. She was so impressed, and enjoyed the course so much she took the time to write a thank you email. I know what kind of an effort this was for this individual; my profound thanks went back to her for that simple, but highly meaningful act.

In 2010 we will see many new partnerships that will open doors of learning and career growth to many, many people across the globe. We’ll see our school in Fiji continue to grow; and expand our reach throughout the US.

Personally, I’m looking forward to an excellent new adventure, helping create a new family caregiving resource site along with a high-powered team based out of New York City. I’ve grown to love visiting Manhattan (especially the food), and am truly honored to be a part of this very exciting project.

I’ll keep you posted with my journey in the coming year if you’ll do the same. Drop me an email and let me know what’s new – and exciting – with your company. We might as well keep each other company while we head into a new year – whatever it may bring!