“People hate change.”
Have you heard, thought or even said those words lately?
I know I have, especially when I was trying to change the way things were done during the daily routine of care.
Change shift start time? Change paydays? Change dress codes? Nope, it’s not going to be easy.
Change the culture of the way people treat each other – even tougher.
And yet we continue to strive to implement change – and we continue to run into walls.
At the same time, most of us want a little change in our lives. We crave change in our diets – eating the same foods every day would be boring, not to mention not very healthy.
We look for new TV shows, new movies, and new experiences.
We embrace new technologies that help us connect with our friends, check out new products and prices and take our favorite tunes everywhere we go.
Heck, we even vote for change in elections – and we’re very likely going to get it, ready or not!
Here’s what every good manager needs to know: to get people to embrace change, you have to market it. You have to sit in their chairs and ask, “What’s in it for me?”
Because when the changes we’re trying to make are changes that will improve the lives of our employees, they’ll embrace it.
If it’s change they can have a voice in shaping, they’ll embrace it even more.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Training Passion
In my work I have the privilege of talking with senior care providers all over the country. One theme is constant: there are not, today, enough trained and skilled workers to meet the caregiving needs in senior care.
We all know that today is the easy stuff; it's tomorrow and the coming years when we enter into the nightmare scenario for staffing. As one Administrator commented at a work group the other day, “Today’s newspaper has statistics about how many of us will live to 100 – what are we going to do, people?”
As I’m listening to people talk, one thing I hear that surprises me just a little is how many new hires don’t complete their initial training or drop out of the workforce very soon after beginning.
I think what’s been missing in some of our early approaches to training is instilling a “spark” – a seed of the passion that the very best senior care workers have. They may not have it during the first weeks or months of their work, but they may develop it over time if they give themselves that opportunity by staying in the field, and learning to love the people in their care.
I know I didn’t have that spark of passion when I first entered the field. In fact, as my parents were both in senior care, I’d been exposed to nursing homes and residential care as a child. I was determined to do anything BUT work with seniors.
I graduated with a social work degree and began working in the community mental health center in my town, enjoying my work with a variety of individuals and age groups. When our center was awarded a grant to develop mental health outreach programs in the local nursing homes, no one else wanted to do it.
I said, “I’m comfortable in nursing homes – I’ll take the job!” And I found myself, at the age of 22, developing an entirely new program with staff, policies and procedures, and organizational needs with a large group of individuals.
It was a blast. I loved not only the work but also the people. I discovered that I truly loved the residents, and found that I could make a difference in their lives, every single day.
When I headed off to graduate school a year later my career path was fixed: I was working with seniors, focusing on developing quality programs and services to meet their unique needs.
And here I am, 20+ years later, struggling with how to instill that passion in a whole new workforce of young – and not so young – individuals.
My own daughter, newly graduated from college with a passion and skill in creative photography and communication, spent time helping us add “ahhaa” moments into each of our courses – moments that are filled with music, visual images, and inspirational messages, designed not to educate the brain, but to touch the heart of the learner.
Because if we don’t touch the hearts of our newest, freshest employees and help them get a glimpse of the emotional rewards that come from caring for seniors, we may be missing out on the perfect opportunity to build a passionate, capable workforce to meet the needs of the coming years, not to mention the very real needs we have today.
We all know that today is the easy stuff; it's tomorrow and the coming years when we enter into the nightmare scenario for staffing. As one Administrator commented at a work group the other day, “Today’s newspaper has statistics about how many of us will live to 100 – what are we going to do, people?”
As I’m listening to people talk, one thing I hear that surprises me just a little is how many new hires don’t complete their initial training or drop out of the workforce very soon after beginning.
I think what’s been missing in some of our early approaches to training is instilling a “spark” – a seed of the passion that the very best senior care workers have. They may not have it during the first weeks or months of their work, but they may develop it over time if they give themselves that opportunity by staying in the field, and learning to love the people in their care.
I know I didn’t have that spark of passion when I first entered the field. In fact, as my parents were both in senior care, I’d been exposed to nursing homes and residential care as a child. I was determined to do anything BUT work with seniors.
I graduated with a social work degree and began working in the community mental health center in my town, enjoying my work with a variety of individuals and age groups. When our center was awarded a grant to develop mental health outreach programs in the local nursing homes, no one else wanted to do it.
I said, “I’m comfortable in nursing homes – I’ll take the job!” And I found myself, at the age of 22, developing an entirely new program with staff, policies and procedures, and organizational needs with a large group of individuals.
It was a blast. I loved not only the work but also the people. I discovered that I truly loved the residents, and found that I could make a difference in their lives, every single day.
When I headed off to graduate school a year later my career path was fixed: I was working with seniors, focusing on developing quality programs and services to meet their unique needs.
And here I am, 20+ years later, struggling with how to instill that passion in a whole new workforce of young – and not so young – individuals.
My own daughter, newly graduated from college with a passion and skill in creative photography and communication, spent time helping us add “ahhaa” moments into each of our courses – moments that are filled with music, visual images, and inspirational messages, designed not to educate the brain, but to touch the heart of the learner.
Because if we don’t touch the hearts of our newest, freshest employees and help them get a glimpse of the emotional rewards that come from caring for seniors, we may be missing out on the perfect opportunity to build a passionate, capable workforce to meet the needs of the coming years, not to mention the very real needs we have today.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Catch 'em, Reward 'em, and Build your Team
You’ve heard it before: If you want to increase a specific behavior, reward it.
This principle of human behavior actually has its roots in good old doggy behavior, demonstrated by the scientist Ivan Pavlov. Professor Pavlov’s dogs began salivating upon the stimulus that, experience told them, led to delivery of their food.
Behavioral scientists have discovered that people, too, repeat behavior that is rewarded. Rewards work best if they are immediate. Surprisingly, rewards that are random work even better than those that happen every single time – it appears that we’ll keep trying with a randomly rewarded behavior, not knowing which time it will actually yield the results we want (lottery tickets, anyone?).
Good news for managers: Rewards don’t need to be big or expensive. In fact, some of the best rewards are those that relate to our social standing. Reward someone by calling him to the front of an entire staff gathering and giving him a clear, verbal “atta-boy” and he’s likely to remember it much longer than a $10 gift card given to him in passing, with no one looking on.
What behavior makes your team stronger? Perhaps you’ve chosen to focus on improving customer service this year. What specific behaviors are you looking for? Are you modeling those behaviors within view of your team? Are you looking – hard – for people who repeat those behaviors, and then rewarding them?
Be careful, too, about too much time in team meetings spent on what NOT to do. Focus instead of what team members SHOULD do – let good behaviors gradually reduce or eliminate undesired behaviors.
Rewards? Public praise and attention, a genuine pat on the back, a meaningful gift card. These will go farther to increasing the behaviors you want than employee of the month programs ever dreamed of achieving.
Behavior that is reinforced is behavior that is repeated.
Behavior that is rewarded is behavior that is repeated. Check out this article to learn more!
It really is that simple.
Looking for a quick, affordable gift card solution? Order aQuire gift cards and give your team the gift of improving their skills and knowledge while you reinforce behaviors you want to see repeated!
This principle of human behavior actually has its roots in good old doggy behavior, demonstrated by the scientist Ivan Pavlov. Professor Pavlov’s dogs began salivating upon the stimulus that, experience told them, led to delivery of their food.
Behavioral scientists have discovered that people, too, repeat behavior that is rewarded. Rewards work best if they are immediate. Surprisingly, rewards that are random work even better than those that happen every single time – it appears that we’ll keep trying with a randomly rewarded behavior, not knowing which time it will actually yield the results we want (lottery tickets, anyone?).
Good news for managers: Rewards don’t need to be big or expensive. In fact, some of the best rewards are those that relate to our social standing. Reward someone by calling him to the front of an entire staff gathering and giving him a clear, verbal “atta-boy” and he’s likely to remember it much longer than a $10 gift card given to him in passing, with no one looking on.
What behavior makes your team stronger? Perhaps you’ve chosen to focus on improving customer service this year. What specific behaviors are you looking for? Are you modeling those behaviors within view of your team? Are you looking – hard – for people who repeat those behaviors, and then rewarding them?
Be careful, too, about too much time in team meetings spent on what NOT to do. Focus instead of what team members SHOULD do – let good behaviors gradually reduce or eliminate undesired behaviors.
Rewards? Public praise and attention, a genuine pat on the back, a meaningful gift card. These will go farther to increasing the behaviors you want than employee of the month programs ever dreamed of achieving.
Behavior that is reinforced is behavior that is repeated.
Behavior that is rewarded is behavior that is repeated. Check out this article to learn more!
It really is that simple.
Looking for a quick, affordable gift card solution? Order aQuire gift cards and give your team the gift of improving their skills and knowledge while you reinforce behaviors you want to see repeated!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Teamwork – Achieving Uncommon Results with Imperfect, Common People
In our office we talk about the team every week. We don’t have staff meetings, we have team meetings. When a problem comes across our desks, we automatically turn to other members of the team to help us solve it.
Building a team isn’t as easy as hiring a staff, every manager knows. Personalities and egos often take precedence over any sense of working to a common goal. Hard-fought turf battles can disrupt all forward movement.
But hey – it’s not a war. In fact, building a team that likes each other and that can laugh together is one key factor in achieving corporate – group – success.
We believe so strongly in team around here that we actually painted it on the wall: “Teamwork: It is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
In the field of healthcare, effective team functioning has been shown not only to improve the work environment but also to improve resident care and safety. Good people stay where they are valued members of the team, and keeping your best people is ultimately one of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of the services you provide.
Building a good team requires leadership. If that’s your job, keep in mind that it isn’t easy to build a strong team – it takes focus and determination. There will be times for you to patiently listen, and times for you to speak up and take charge.
You’ve also got to set aside time for your team to develop that cohesive, “we’ll solve it together” mind set. Time when no work tasks are required, but food and fun are the order of the day.
Did you know that experts who study team development find four phases that groups go through – before they become cohesive teams? The first phase is the formation of the individuals into a group that has a specific goal or purpose.
The second phase is one when individuals become competitive and the group is filled with conflict. If this is where you’re at, it may give you a small measure of comfort to know that this is a natural progression – leading to the final stages of overcoming conflict and, finally, collaboration and communication.
The final ingredient into good team development? Trust. Trust that if you keep your focus, your team will come together. Trust in the individuals who are composing your team. And belief that, in the end, you can lead this group of common people to attain some pretty significant uncommon results.
Building a team isn’t as easy as hiring a staff, every manager knows. Personalities and egos often take precedence over any sense of working to a common goal. Hard-fought turf battles can disrupt all forward movement.
But hey – it’s not a war. In fact, building a team that likes each other and that can laugh together is one key factor in achieving corporate – group – success.
We believe so strongly in team around here that we actually painted it on the wall: “Teamwork: It is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
In the field of healthcare, effective team functioning has been shown not only to improve the work environment but also to improve resident care and safety. Good people stay where they are valued members of the team, and keeping your best people is ultimately one of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of the services you provide.
Building a good team requires leadership. If that’s your job, keep in mind that it isn’t easy to build a strong team – it takes focus and determination. There will be times for you to patiently listen, and times for you to speak up and take charge.
You’ve also got to set aside time for your team to develop that cohesive, “we’ll solve it together” mind set. Time when no work tasks are required, but food and fun are the order of the day.
Did you know that experts who study team development find four phases that groups go through – before they become cohesive teams? The first phase is the formation of the individuals into a group that has a specific goal or purpose.
The second phase is one when individuals become competitive and the group is filled with conflict. If this is where you’re at, it may give you a small measure of comfort to know that this is a natural progression – leading to the final stages of overcoming conflict and, finally, collaboration and communication.
The final ingredient into good team development? Trust. Trust that if you keep your focus, your team will come together. Trust in the individuals who are composing your team. And belief that, in the end, you can lead this group of common people to attain some pretty significant uncommon results.
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