Changing Aging

 

 

 “In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect.  Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future”      
                                                                             - Walt Disney

We had a fabulous day at the annual Ecumen Leadership Conference yesterday, which brings together 400+ leaders from across Ecumen to meet in Minneapolis.

Aging services is the ultimate customer service business.  Our theme yesterday was the “Magic of It,” which we’ve discussed  here.   And we got to hear the perspective from a leader at Disney (which knows a thing or two about customer service).  It’s interesting how many parallels there are between creating customer magic at Disney and in aging services. 

Here are a few:

1.  No matter whether you call them customers, constituents, residents, or patients, we all must must satisfy our guests or risk losing them.

2.  Quality service means exceeding your guests’ expectations and paying attention to detail.  Exceeding expectations must be a standard call to duty. 

3.  Whatever we accomplish, we accomplish together.

4.  We have to deliver on needs and wants.

5.  The very fact that purpose can never be fully realized means that an organization can never stop stimulating change and progress.

6.  It should be the responsibility of all team members (at Disney they call them Cast Members) to attempt, to the best of their abilities, to immediately resolve a guest service failure before it becomes a guest service problem.

7.  Wear your guest’s shoes . . . Never forget the human factor.  Evaluate your setting (the environment in which you serve your customers) from the customer’s perspective by experiencing it as a customer.

8.  Guide the customer experience with setting (the environment in which service is delivered to customers).  Make sure the physical layout of your organization (or web site or phone system), interior design, and signage keep customers on the track to Quality Service.

9.  Separate onstage and backstage:  Screen business functions that do not involve customers so that they do not interrrupt the delivery of service.  Give employees a backstage space to rest and relax.

10.  All organizations have customers with needs that fall outside their standard processes.  Make sure your processes - the policies, tasks and procedures to deliver the service - aren’t all one-size fits all, and inflexible, so that you can and meet different customer needs and wants.

If you have more examples of creating a magical experience for customers, please comment.

“If they don’t innovate, they will die.”  So says John Krout, director of the Gerontology Institute at Ithaca College, in today’s New York Times story about the future of senior centers.

“Changing Aging” broached this subject earlier this month in a post about a new kind of center at Ecumen’s Parmly LifePointes community (pictured above).

This and other successful new centers such as Mathers Lifeways Cafes don’t scream “senior center.”  They scream “aging is all about living . . . even at the end of life.”

Posted By John Korzendorfer, Senior Director of Campus Operations 

The ongoing dialogue on the Changing Aging blog about “IT” fascinates me. “IT” is comprised of numerous factors, and today I would like to talk about one of them as they relate to America’s nursing homes.

SIGNS!

In my work I have the opportunity to visit numerous nursing homes, and so many of them have this in common:

                                                SIGNS!

I’m not talking about directional signs. . .

Remember the chorus from the mid-70’s song “Signs?”

“Sign, sign, everywhere a signBlocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”You know what I am talking about. . .

No SmokingSmoke Free FacilityTurn Off The LightWipe Your Feet

Wash Your Hands

Flush The Toilet

Close the Door

Other Door

Keep Door Closed

Knock Before Entering

Guns Are Banned From This Facility

No Parking

Do Not Park Wheelchairs Here

Sign In At The Front Desk

Visitor Registration

Delivery’s In The Rear

Etc. – Etc. – Etc.

The long-term care profession has been very good at relying on “rules” when instead we should be taking personal responsibility to treat people as people.As the country embraces “person centered care,” let us not forget first to treat others the way we would want to be treated, embrace “common sense” and realize that our desire to have everyone follow the rules can simply suffocate and suck the spirit out of people.Ask yourself this question: Do I have these “signs” in my home, where I live?And, if we do put up a sign, how about using other ones, such as:

Welcome!Our Mission is to Create Home. How Can We Help?

We Want Your Ideas.

Thank You for Choosing Us.

We’re Proud to Serve You.

We’re Thankful for You.

How Can We Do Better?

If you have “IT,” you will look “IT.”