By Steven Mattingly
This past week, September 9-15 was a special one in the
world of Assisted Living Communities. It was National Assisted Living
Week. Our community used a large poster
to say thank you to our staff and encouraged staff members, residents, and
family members to personalize it with notes and encouraging words. It was great to see as the week went along
the growing and glowing tributes that appeared.
We also used this week to honor two members of our staff for their
“above the call of duty” care giving skills.
They were honored at a Happy Hour event in which all members of the
community participated. I felt that we
had hit a home run in the thank you game for the week.
It was with a concerned ear this past week that I listened
to one of our healthcare vendors tell our concierge how glad they were to see
our poster since in their visits to most assisted living clients they serve,
they saw nothing in observance of National Assisted Living Week. I made a point of seeking out that vendor
during their visit and ask them if that remark was really accurate. Sadly they said yes. We commiserated about what the caregivers in
locations where there was no observance might feel. The buzz words of under-appreciated, un-feeling, and we need to do more were tossed about and we both felt better
afterwards or was it perhaps our smugness showing.
This incident in so many ways forced me to reflect on how I
as a manager perceived my staff. Were
they worthy of some special acknowledgement during National Assisted Living
Week; absolutely. But are they also worth
my time and energy to say thank you each and every day; again the answer should
be absolutely. Do I say thank you each
and every day? I have to admit to my
shortcomings and say no I don’t. I mean
to, I really do! But then that report
comes due, I get a call from my boss, a family member needs answers, a resident
walks into my office with concerns, etc.
I think you get the picture. Like
everyone else I have constant distractions from my good intentions. To quote my now infamous mother “the road to
hell is paved with good intentions”.
Lots of business schools graduates and experts have spent lots
of time coming to the conclusion that the one thing managers can do that
motivates employees the most is show real and genuine appreciation. Public appreciation like the poster we used,
the recognition in front of the community for some, and happy hour for all
certainly were signals and signs of appreciation. But those same experts have told us that quiet
moments and simple words of appreciation have an even greater effect. In my upbringing we were reminded regularly
to say our please and thanks yous. I can
remember all too well my parents at the dinner table not serving us food until
we used the “magic” word please and we often heard the phrase did you forget
something when we didn’t say thank you. Now
I understand and appreciate those gentle and even not so gentle urgings of my
parents all the more when I think about saying thank you and asking staff
members in an appropriate way to work harder and do more. The phrase “how much more our parents know as
we get older” keeps coming to mind.
There has been a general (do I dare used the
in-the-news-word) bounce in good feelings around and about the community
following last week. I hope our tracking
polls show it as more than a bounce and something that we can continue to
build. I hope that my good intentions
don’t send me to hell but I do have a plan to say thank you more to our care
giving team in some way every day I am in the community. Little did I know that my parents were as smart
as or perhaps even smarter than the business school crowd when they taught us
good manners?
Contributing author Steven Mattingly is the Executive Director of Pacifica Senior Living in San Leandro, CA.
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