Assisted Living Christmas

The reports are not yet compiled for the holiday sales figures, but I’m guessing they’ll be awful. Snow and bad weather has kept many, many people out of the stores; hopefully safe and warm at home.

It’s been nice at our home to focus more on family and friends than on the great consumer adventure – what to buy for our loved ones who, truth be known, have everything they need and most of what they want. What they really need we can’t get them at the mall anyway – a happy relationship for one; a solid job for another; a secure home for yet another.

The business of caring for our country’s most frail, elderly adults continues day after day, even through the holidays. Yet we experience financial challenges and census drops that feel like a fall from a cliff. We know our staff are suffering, and we’re about to cut their hours.

It’s a difficult time for many businesses and individuals today. It can feel so overwhelming that we may feel hopeless; helpless.

And yet at the holidays our thoughts are turned to a bigger screen than the one our own difficulties are played out upon. Themes of peace, joy and love; memories and tradition nudge us out of our own inward focus.

So we turn off CNN and tune into the Yule logs with their flickering image of a warm, cozy fireplace. We put on old melodies we can sing along to (if the kids are out of the room). We wrap the simple gifts that represent our heart’s longing for the true happiness of those we love.

And we take just a minute to say to friends and strangers alike, “Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful New Year.”

Assisted Living Challenges: making the most of high unemployment

Two sectors of our economy seem to be thriving: education and health care. My company (Institute for Senior Living Education) 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:

1. 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.
2. Get plugged into technology to help you with the hiring process – now. Never used Craig’s list 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. Many tools are available, including one developed by my own team that is currently available at no charge to senior care employers (see www.apply2care.com). Link your job postings or want ads to the application website and gain the advantage of being the first employer to see the application, delivered directly to your email inbox, looking tech-saavy and current to your prospective employees at the same time.
3. 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.
4. 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 opening 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.
5. Consider additional training opportunities all the way through your team. This is a proven strategy to reduce turnover and increase employee engagement; now may be the perfect time for you to implement enhanced training programs for all your staff members.

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.

Senior Care companies can face the economic downturn with boldness and action

Look outside your window today. In most parts of the country you’ll see bare tree branches, leaves on the ground, and other signs that Mother Nature has gone into hibernation.

Turn on the TV and you’ll see the stock market and other economic indicators looking much the same: they’re heading toward a dormant state, if not a near death moment.

"There is a tendency for companies to simply cut costs and then hibernate to ride out economic recessions," said Alan Black, CEO of Intelliden , in a recent press release containing five strategies for navigating the downturn.

Black goes on to say, "However, as history has shown, by taking smart, pro-active steps during a downturn, technology managers can help their companies be much better placed when the upturn arrives. The current economic downturn will undoubtedly end at some point and those companies that are leaner, fitter and more innovative will likely have the most to gain from the upturn."

While Intelliden is an IT and networking company, some of the strategies are useful for all business managers:

1. Control costs without compromising the business. In the senior care world payroll costs are the biggest cost center. Can you control your overtime or other costs without compromising the service you deliver? Look at areas of employee cost that can be reduced like those related to turnover and training. Don’t skimp on new employee or current employee compliance training, but do look for ways to reduce cost of that training, for example by reducing the need for overtime or higher cost instructors. Do you use agency staff to fill in gaps? If so, you know this is a significant cost center that does nothing to improve your service. Make it a point during this period of economic downturn to eliminate agency staffing and turn that money to improved training and retention programs that have proven effectiveness for quality outcome.

2. Simplify your technology environment. This is an excellent time to look at all of the ways you use technology. Most senior care providers use a mixture of paper and pen record-keeping along with technological solutions. Now is an excellent time to look at all the systems you use. Find overlap and eliminate it. Seek off-the-shelf packages that meet your needs in a more robust, complete manner. A small investment in electronic records now, for example, may save you millions in labor costs over the coming years.

3. Don’t stop innovating. Downturns are times when we may be forced into creative solutions to problems that, in the past, we just kept pushing off to a future date. Don’t shy away from looking at your key problems or challenges as well as your core strengths and objectives. Look for new ways to improve outcomes, increase customer satisfaction and bring in new revenue. Seek solutions – technological or otherwise – to become more efficient at the same time you’re increasing effectiveness. Are you spending too much time on things that aren’t your core business? Contract them out or change the way you manage them.

In nature, the period of a winter “downturn” leads to a vigorous growth phase in the spring. That seems like a pretty great business model to follow.

A Thanksgiving Story

Three Thanksgivings ago we sat down at the extended table with our extended family and felt so incredibly blessed we could barely speak. My father had survived a small stroke; my husband’s father had survived a heart attack and bypass surgery. We didn’t expect to all be together that year, but we were.

A year later, my father was dead and my mother in the hospital, unable to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. We rushed, somewhat numbly, through dinner, avoiding the traditional recitation of blessings.

This year feels a little like that particular Thanksgiving, on a global scale. It’s hard to find things to be thankful for (if you actually open your investment reports). It can be frightening, as companies and individuals we have long looked up to for leadership are faltering – maybe even failing.

And yet. Today the sun shone through the piles of golden leaves. I walked to work the long way, savoring perhaps the last nice morning of the month, feeling healthy, alive and filled with thanks.

Today, we had a chance to help a whole group of individuals begin their journey to become caregivers and nursing assistants. We connected with business associates who are challenged but persevering; and several who are thriving.

My children are spread out all over the globe; one in India and one in Israel. They’re studying, volunteering, and traveling. They’re excited about their adventures and fully engaged in their work of growing into global citizens.

Our table will be a little lighter this year for Thanksgiving dinner. Our bank accounts and investment portfolios are certainly a lot lighter. But when I count my blessings this year – out loud – the list will be long.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Paddling Against the Current to Achieve True Culture Change

You’re on a raft in a swiftly moving river. Imagine that you’re not entirely happy with the direction this river is flowing – how do you change directions? Can you paddle the raft upstream against all the power of the rushing river by yourself?

If your community has been talking about “culture change” you may well be facing this same sort of challenge. Custom and habit are powerful forces, pushing against any effort you may be making to change direction.

Can you paddle that raft upstream by yourself? Not likely. But get your team involved, and you can push against even the swiftest moving currents.

How do you get your team involved? If you truly want to create a new culture of care in your community, you’ve got to get the entire team involved.

“Deep learning and cultural change are ALWAYS connected,” says Peter Senge, author of “The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization,” (Currency Publishing, 2006) and culture change consultant. According to Senge, culture change is “deep systemic change” – change that begins at the personal level of each employee in the community.

If you’re ready to make some changes, hand your team a paddle:

1) Start the discussion. To achieve culture change you’ve got to start talking about WHAT needs to change and WHY. It can’t be just your perspective – you’ve got to hear what everyone else has to say about this. Being clear about the WHY of change is every bit as important as the WHAT of change, too, so think it through carefully and make sure the WHY aligns with your mission and message.

2) Really listen. Sounds easy. It’s not. Really listening when you’ve begun the discussion means you may hear things that you think are working well may not be working at all out “on the floor.” Keep an open mind, while you’re keeping your ears open, too.

3) Create a culture of LEARNING. To change behaviors (culture), you’ve got to provide an atmosphere where learning is valued. “Learning is always about people knowing how to do something they couldn’t do before,” says Senge. Is your inservice training simply designed to meet compliance regulations? Are you repeating content month after month, year after year? Are you seeing employees learn to do something they couldn’t do before because of your inservices? If not, make a change in your approach to training to truly create a culture where learning and personal growth are valued. Furthermore, to make the transition from knowing to doing requires more than training; it requires leadership. You, as manager, must “buy in, role-model it and require it,” as Fred Lee (If Disney Ran Your Hospital) puts it, to see true culture change.

4) Keep it simple. Life is complex. Change is even more complex. To make change even more challenging, remember this rule: People always resist change. Especially if they don’t understand why they need to change.

5) Reward innovation. When your employees see that you’re serious about changing the way things have always been done, they may get excited about finding new ways to do things. Make sure you reward the excitement – give praise and public acknowledgment and watch other employees get on board. When staff sees innovation and change resulting in positive outcomes they will become advocates for even more change and innovation.

6) Have fun with it. Not surprisingly, the most effective change agents are ones that people enjoy. If you want to introduce a new approach or technology, you’ll be much more successful if it’s fun.

Changing your culture in any meaningful way is like paddling that raft against the current. It can be done, but only if everyone on the team is rowing together

How to break through the wall – creating success in times that feel impossible

On my daily walk to work I cross a bridge over the Willamette River. It’s not a wide river, but just upstream is a broad, powerful falls. The banks of the river are steep rock walls, dropping over 70 feet from the roadway to the water below. I’ve been walking over this bridge nearly every day for a year now. It’s my few minutes for reflection and planning; lately I’ve found myself thinking about the power of the water.

I see how the water, when it is focused into a narrow channel, can cut through what appears to be solid rock. The water that falls as a soft, blanketing mist much of the winter here in Oregon turns into a force that literally changes the landscape. It cuts its way cleanly through stone, over time.

As I consider that force, I think of two key concepts that I can apply to my work: focus and tenacity. It’s easy in any business to try something a time or two and then give up, looking for an easier way around an obstacle.

Obstacles like a poor economy, however, aren’t easy to get around. When the primary barrier to your success is money, from the client’s perspective, it can feel like a solid rock wall.

Whether you’re talking about a community that desperately needs census building to cover payroll and other costs, or, as in my business, a product that is needed but may not be considered essential to operations, the barriers can feel rock solid and impenetrable.

That’s when I start thinking about the river. It can’t break through a solid wall with a meandering stream. But when the force of the river is focused into a single, powerful jet of water, it can cut through almost anything – given enough time. That’s the second part of this principle – time and consistency. The Grand Canyon wasn’t forged in a single season, but it created a masterpiece over time with the focus and tenacity that is, itself a force of nature.

From my personal perspective, I’m encouraged by news articles like the one out of London that reports that 78% of human resources leaders are looking to online training to reduce their costs in accessing external trainers and resources and 57% are looking for ways to reduce the amount of time staff spend out of the office on training. This report shows a trend toward more companies looking at custom online training as a way to reduce their training expenses while still maintaining a competitive edge during tough times. Of course, this is exactly what our company has been promoting for the past two years, often feeling like we were running into that solid rock wall of resistance.

The expert quoted in the article concludes, "Now, more than ever, it is imperative to have a fully trained and knowledgeable workforce on hand to see you through these tough times but not at the expense of productivity. eLearning solutions such as virtual classrooms, web based training and mobile learning not only minimise the time employees spend out of the office, but they also allow employees to carry out training at flexible times, thereby reducing impact on their day-to-day work."

Ah, a little crack in the wall is suddenly appearing.

I believe I’ll focus and continue to be tenacious, and see if we can create a channel right through this barrier.

What’s your barrier? Take a lesson from the river, and break through it this winter!

Holiday Gift Ideas from my team to yours

Election is over: What’s next for senior care providers?

Let me first say this: “Whew!”

It was a long campaign. It wasn’t always pretty or nice. There was mud slinging on every side of every issue. Often it seemed that the strength of some people’s passion overruled their sense of basic human decency, not to mention a sense of decorum desirable in a prominent elected official.

We have big issues ahead of us in the coming years. We’ll need to put aside our partisan passions and tap into our passion for quality care for seniors and for the strength of this industry.

We’ll need to advocate for decent pay, training and benefits for senior care workers throughout the US, because if we don’t someone else will (carrying a potentially big stick).

We’ll need to work hard to continue to improve the quality of care provided in senior living communities from the inside out, rather than wait for increased governmental oversight and regulation.

We’ll need to continue to demonstrate not only the social benefits of senior care in our care communities, but also the economic benefits to a society that will soon be staggering under the mounting pressure of an aging population.

We’ll need to embrace technology and clearly recognize a generation of younger people who have felt – perhaps for the first time – the power of their voice and the strength of their vote. These young people were involved in a strong wave of technology-based communication that has changed the face of our society, probably in ways we won’t even recognize until some time in the future.

It’s a new day in America. None of the old problems are gone, but perhaps we can face them with new energy and new resolve.