Challenges in Senior Care? Try the best solution: Training

It should come as no surprise to you that I passionately believe that better training is the answer to many of our senior care challenges.

Short on staff? Offer employer-paid training as a recruitment incentive.

Quality issues? Provide more consistent, quality oriented training to all staff.

Turnover breaking the budget? Offer genuine training opportunities to staff – this is one proven method to decrease staff turnover.

Need to distinguish your company from other care providers? Create your own in-house “University” and load it with required training content that will help your staff understand – and internalize – your company’s values and principles.

Let me take this one step farther: I passionately believe in online staff training. Not just because this happens to be my business, but also because I believe that it works.

Last week our RN course developer, a life-long educator, reviewed our most recent new course and said, “This course is better than a classroom course!”

This comment was a first for Judy. I think even she was surprised. Here’s why she said it:

• The content is written in an interesting, engaging way (not too many words; designed for a fast-food generation of learners);
• Images that illustrate the point and carry emotional weight are used throughout – more pictures than words, in most cases (we know today's learners are highly visual);
• Audio overlay allows the learner to hear as they read, making it not only more memorable but even a mini-ESL course for those who can understand English but not read it and vice versa (since many senior caregivers are not native English speakers);
• The course is interactive, requiring much more of the learner than just passive listening.
  

Judy went on to talk about her classroom experience, and her experience watching other inservice trainers and instructors.

“Even in the best of cases, much of the time you’re simply lecturing,” she said. “Giving the person the opportunity to interact with the content is simply more effective – and more fun!”

Thanks, Judy, for echoing my beliefs. Training does have incredible benefits, but training MUST be an active event, not passive video viewing or lecture snoozing.

But can they Learn Online? A look at generational differences and how they learn

A recent 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 4 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, to multi-task easily and frequently and to 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 that learned to use their iPods, google and other technology without our help.

This learner wants to learn quickly, easily, and without being bored. They will be clear that even online learning can be boring, especially when presented with linear, simplistic content that doesn’t allow or encourage freedom to navigate and explore.

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.

Need to Save Money? Focus on Staff Training

The economy is pinching even the most robust company today. Certainly individuals are feeling it. Companies are seeking any place to cut even small amounts from the expense side of the ledger.

One area that simply can't be cut is basic staff training. Requirements are increasing; compliance is getting tougher; licensing is focusing on staff orientation and training; liability risks increases dramatically when training is slighted.

All this leads the smart senior care operators to ask this question, "How can I save money without sacrificing compliance and quality care?"

One answer many are finding is in technology. Use of distance learning is increasing quickly in every segment of society, from universities, where it now holds the same credibility as classroom education, to business, where time and money constraints have led to massive increases in this approach to training.

Brookdale Community College (New Jersey) notes that their distance learning courses - once considered a paltry substitution for classroom courses - have experienced a "'phenomenal' growth in popularity," according to a recent news article. Convenience is the primary reason for the growth, as more and more students (and employees) are pressed for time.

In private industry, online (distance) learning is experiencing explosive growth.

Is it for you? Ask yourself these questions:

How much am I currently paying in overtime for staff training? Overtime is one of those hidden expenses that you may not count when you're considering how much your current training program costs. With online training, you can often reduce or eliminate this cost related to training - frequently more than paying for the cost of a new online program.

How much time (and money) is spent in preparing for training, presenting training and in follow-up documentation? If your community Administrator, Executive Director or other top level executive is responsible for staff training, consider the cost of this individual's time as well. Most managers aren't necessarily good teachers; their time is much better spent in managing and marketing your very valuable asset. Shifting this cost can actually save you significantly in terms of the bottom line.

Can I demonstrate, at any given moment in time, full compliance to all training requirements? At the end of the day, this is the most important question of all. Compliance is extremely hard to achieve with the standard inservice approach to staff training. Someone is always sick, on vacation, or simply forgets about the inservice. Make-up classes are time-consuming and costly. Full compliance is not met, in most cases, without focused, dedicated management attention. And that costs money - lots of money, especially if you're caught out of compliance.

Clearly, it's a good time for companies of all types to look closely at ways to cut costs, especially when they can do with without sacrificing quality and outcome.


aQuire Training Solutions - when it's TIME for truly effective staff training.

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Committing to Employee Engagement - Lessons from Community Colleges, Part 2

In Part 1, we looked at the five lessons the CCSSE (Community College Survey of Student Engagement) had learned in its five years of studying student engagement.

This week, let's look at their "Five Strategies That Work" to increase the level of engagement campus-wide.

#1: Set High Expectations and Clear Goals.

Once in a while I'll hear an Executive Director or top manager say something like, "I can barely get my staff to come into work on their scheduled days, let alone do something extra like take an online class." That same manager likely sets pretty low expectations in other areas of her team's performance. Likely, the expectations are pretty much about all staff can meet.

Interestingly, in the community colleges study the researchers found that you could tell, almost instantly, what the expectations and commitment of management is as soon as you walk onto a campus. The actions - and the focus of problems and solutions - clearly reflect the attitude of management. Is the focus on the team's skills or on their deficiencies? Is the discussion centered on challenging problems or difficult people?

Interestingly, "Institutions that expect students [employees] to perform well use language that communicates students' [employees'] value and potential. This language helps set high expectations for students [employees] - and it is contagious."

#2: Focus on the Front Door.

We're all concerned about turnover. In the college setting they refer to it as "attrition," but it's the exact same problem.

One solution that works: focus on people as they come in the front door. From the first moment of hire, look for ways to actively engage the person in his or her work and work environment. Make sure the job is both challenging and rewarding, and help the person make social connections as well. Getting through those first 90 days often spells success for the employee - or increases your turnover rate.

#3: Improve Early Education and Training.

Once again, the study found that the first semester of the person's work was the most important. This translates directly to our work too: employees who feel like the have not been given the initial training they need to do the jobs assigned to them typically are the first to leave or, if they stay, the least engaged.

Early, specific training - especially during the first 90 days - is crucial for building a stong, engaged team.

#4: Use Engaging Techniques in Training and Education.

Even in a college-based study, researchers found that the time that the individuals actually spent studying and learning was in high competition with their other life demands: work, family and friends.

In a caregiving setting, the time spent in training is even more thinly sliced. Making that training as engaging and effective as possible will help the employee gain maximum benefit from it. Certainly, doing just the minimum - consisting in some cases of the old "read and sign" approach to training - will likely create an environment where training is just one more element competing for limited time in the day of the employee. It will lose value - it will become a barrier, not a benefit.

This can be easily remedied by creating or utilizing training approaches that engage, challenge and interest the employee. Training of this sort has multiple positive outcomes for both the individual and the company.

In addition to engaging training, however, the study found that having the opportunity to discuss what the person has learned with a supervisor (or instructor) dramatically increases the person's engagement. When someone else is actively invested in the growth of the employee, benefits are considerable.

#5: Make Engagement Inescapable

In the college setting, this happens by making meetings with professors mandatory on a regular basis. It happens by making class discussions an integral part of every class. They can require collaborative projects, connecting students with other students.

In the work setting, engagement clearly needs to be just as intentional. Requiring goal-setting meeting with supervisors on a regular basis, for example, can facilitate those one-on-one meetings that are clearly valuable in building engagement.

Fostering team interaction through regularly scheduled pot-lucks, parties, note-exchanges or secret pals are examples of ways to make engagement virtually inescapable for every member of your team.

Employee engagement has clear benefits. Learning from these college experiences and applying them in our own work settings can help us find solutions to building highly engaged, successful teams.

EasyCEU.com: CEUs for senior care professionals · aQuireTraining.com: Staff training for caregivers · Apply2Care.com: Caregiver job applications right to your inbox

Committing to Employee Engagement - Lessons from Community Colleges, Part 1

You know all the benefits that an engaged workforce can produce: less turnover, happier clients and a much stronger bottom line.

You've probably been taking steps to look at ways to actively increase your own employees' engagements - we all have been.

So when an article came across my email box the other day titled "Committing to Student Engagement: Reflections on CCSSE's First Five Years" I opened it with interest. CCSSE is the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, and five years into their survey process here's what they have learned about engagement:

Lesson #1: Be intentional.

The study talks about students who are busy juggling school, family and work. These students don't have time to seek out study sessions or get excited about the school's bigger picture (sounds like our staff, doesn't it?). The conclusion: "Engagement doesn't happen by accident; it happens by design. Community colleges, therefore, must be deliberate and aggressively create opportunities to involve students so that engagement becomes central to every student's experience." Substitute the word "employees" in place of "student" and "company" in place of "colleges" and you get the idea. We've got to actively work to make engagement happen in the workplace, as well.


Lesson #2: Engagement matters more to some people than to others.

Some people need to be engaged to work at their best. Others work quietly, thoroughly and maintain a level of loyalty and engagement that seems to come naturally to them. The lesson here is not to look at your employee group as all one type, but to recognize that different people will have different needs for engagement, and will need different methods to effectively engage them in their work.

Lesson #3: Part-time people are often not considered in plans to increase engagement.

We all have part-time workers who fill out our schedules and help us adjust to the varying needs of our clients. Do our engagement programs consider their needs? Do they effectively draw in those individuals as well as the full time folks?

Lesson #4: Information is our friend.

Sometimes transparency in data and information is vital to building an engaged group. Do your staff understand your goals and progress made to achieve those goals? It's pretty easy for staff to see large monthly rents or fees, do the quick math, and come to the conclusion that companies are making tons and tons of money, not considering the real costs of running a business. Sometimes a little transparency in this and other operational areas goes a long, long way to increasing employee engagement.

Lesson #5: Look behind the survey results.

You may do regular employee satisfaction surveys - if so, you are to be commended. But taking the time to look behind sheer aggregate numbers may yield rich veins of information that you can use to strengthen engagement.

Next time we'll look at what the same study presented as strategies for improving engagement - excellent ideas and plans that we can steal a little from as well.

EasyCEU.com: CEUs for senior care professionals · aQuireTraining.com: Staff training for caregivers · Apply2Care.com: Caregiver job applications right to your inbox

Corporate Training in State of 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 recent article published (with Jennifer Dalessandro) in 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 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 now 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.

Culture Change from the Inside Out

Yesterday I was talking with a colleague in a state office about staff training. Somehow we got onto the subject of culture change. It's a hot topic here in Oregon, as it is around the nation right now. It's a topic that's hot not just because it's an "in vogue" concept - it's hot because it's desperately needed. We're facing mammoth problems of staff turnover, lack of employee engagement, and a continued negative viewpoint within our society on senior care options - from retirement housing through nursing facility care.

We talked about how hard it is to change a culture of care, especially when business needs, not to mention regulatory compliance, seem sometimes to directly conflict with our goals of creating the ideal culture.

It's of increasing interest to me as the topic moves from the theoretical to the personal.

As a senior care professional with more years in the trenches than I care to count, it's an interesting experience convincing your own parents to move into senior care. My mom moved willingly after my dad passed away nearly 2 years ago. It's been the in-laws that have given the whole family fits.

My mother-in-law, dead-set against ever moving out of her home, has been growing increasingly forgetful, difficult to communicate with and depressed. My father-in-law, normally a socially outgoing person, has retreated so far into his home that it has begun to feel like a prison to him. Even his speech has become forced sounding, as he talks less and less throughout the day.

Shortening a long story into a brief summary, they're finally moving into a senior community next weekend. My mother-in-law called me the other day and said, "We've asked everyone we meet how they like it. Everyone has told us they love it there. I can't wait to be that happy again."

Meanwhile, she's exclaiming over and over about how many old people there are in this place. We began to gently point out that, at 90, she's right up there with them, when she stopped us and said, "I don't mean that they're old - I just mean that there are so many of them. I thought I was the only person my age still alive!"

Watching both parents smile more, talk more freely, and even walk with a little more spring in their steps is worth all the past years of convincing them to move.

What I find, in addition, is that this whole topic of culture change is now much more personal than it has ever been. It's me - my mom - my in-laws that need care. It's my family that is affected personally and directly.

And so the topic of how to truly effect culture change seems to come up more often, as I discuss it with colleagues and keep in on the board with my team all the time.

My colleague and I discussed how sometimes culture change happens best from the inside out - or from the bottom up, as it were.

Consider her example of teaching staff in nursing communities to use gait belts to assist heavy-care individuals in transferring and walking. Even though it had become "best practice," some communities didn't even have gait belts, let alone teach staff how to use them.

So she decided to add it to the new caregiver training curriculum mandated by the state. As new caregivers 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 in the state. It was definitely a more effective way to change that particular part of behavior than mandating that all staff shall 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.