The title of this article is more than a little audacious and presumptuous, so let me simplify. The following is what I have learned from the best providers in the industry. You know who they are. You know the teams that run them. You know their leaders.
As well as I can figure it, those providers have the following qualities in common.
They Decided to Be the Best
Excellence is rarely an accident and it's always hard work. One of the mottoes of the Navy Seals is that if it isn’t hard, they don’t do it. Choosing to be at the top of your field, no matter what field it is, is going to dictate sacrifice and suffering. It's also going to dictate satisfaction—deep, warm satisfaction.
They Build Strong Teams and Share the Credit
The proverb says that many hands lighten the load. A team bound by the notion of being great unburdens the leader and leverages the strength of each member.
In my career, it's amazing how many times I've seen tremendously talented people being limited, even debilitated, by not understanding the concept of leverage. The way I look at it is mathematical. If an average person is worth 1.0 units and a great person is worth 2.0 units, a leader who cultivates a strong team of ten to perform well, but not quite to her level can bring each up to 1.5 units and 1.5 units times ten equals 15.
Funny thing is, sometimes people’s egos are so big and their vision so small that they can’t tell the difference between fifteen and two.
They Understand Their Finances
Everybody doesn’t have to know everything, and I will be the first to admit that I speak differently to nurses than I do to accountants. The best providers have team members who are numbers people as well as team members who are caregivers. They also have translators.
They Provide Great, Personalized Care
It almost goes without saying.
They're Oriented to Others
The best senior living providers are active in their associations, with their teams, staff, residents, and families. In other words, they have high levels of empathy. Empathy is great if you can stay in business.
They Communicate Phenomenally
Whether it's to each other, their executive team, staff, families, or residents, the best senior living providers persistently communicate—and that doesn’t just mean talking. They talk (or write) very intentionally and they listen very intentionally. People often just want to be heard, and that can be the difference between a resident’s family appreciating your community or despising it.
When Imperfect Things Happen, They Go into Learning Mode Immediately
I hear all the time from average providers that “we didn’t do anything wrong.” That's almost true. One thing is for sure: if you're acting as your own lawyer, it is too late. That is, if you have to develop a rationale for your behavior or an incident, you're being your own lawyer. It sounds to others like you've stopped caring. You're no longer oriented to your neighbor, resident or family. You become self-oriented. People won’t think you're listening and they're probably right.
The best listen well, learn quickly, and adapt smartly—and people love them for it.
They Instill High Levels of Accountability
Managing is an art and a science. People are challenging—and another challenging thing is getting adequately reimbursed for providing quality care. For teams to run well, you need a high level of trust. I don’t have to do everyone’s job if each person will do their own job well. We can provide great care with empathy, but only if everyone does their job.
They Are Never Satisfied
It has amazed me, especially in the past few years, that all the tumult in the industry isn’t enough for some. They are always tweaking their organizations and pushing their teams to some imaginary finish line. For some, the finish line is a transaction. For the best providers there seems to be no finish line.
They Use Tools That Make Things Easier
Providing the best care requires trust, accountability, commitment, and hard work. It also requires efficiency. That's why trust and accountability are such big keys to success. Your team doesn’t waste time or bandwidth on your less-than-perfect email or the frown on your face at lunch. They trust your motives and that you will complete the next task.
They also trust the information they get. You need incident data across communities for the last month. You need to know that it is consistently gathered and inputted so that your analysis has credibility. And you need to know that you didn’t spend too much valuable staff time to get that job done.
Next Steps
- Follow us on LinkedIn
- Case Study: QA Reader gives multi-community organization predictive analytics in real time
- See QA Reader in action—request a live demo
