One-Armed Paper Hanger

One-armed paper hanger…
Chicken with its head cut off…
Spinning out of control…
Don’t know up from down…
Can’t see the light of day…
Up to my neck in alligators…

Do any of these phrases describe how you feel about your days lately? Personally, I’ve used at least three of them to describe my own current workload. Not that it’s all making money, and we’re on the “whoo-whoo” gravy train to success, but, wow, my life is busy!!

Sometimes we’re busy-busy trying to find the solutions to problems that keep us up at night.

Sometimes we’re busy trying to be on top of too many areas of responsibility for one person to manage.

Sometimes we might be (not me – not you) poor managers of our time.

Here’s a quick look at some ideas that might be useful if any of this describes you:

It’s OK to say NO. Even to your boss. There are times to say, “I can’t really do that task justice right now – can we talk about it again in a few weeds?” There are other times to simply say, “I’d love to help, but I just can’t do it right now.” And then stand firm.

Be clear on your priorities. Take two minutes at the start of the day to prioritize your tasks. There is an unending list of busy-jobs we all need to do, but what will wake you up in the night if you don’t accomplish it? What addresses the most important things in your life or your job? Do those things, and let some less important things slip by the wayside.

Make a list. I often find myself bouncing from one task to another, answering an email or two, making a phone call, and feeling like I’m not really accomplishing anything real during the day. For me, organizing my day means making lists. I make lists on Friday before I go home for the week of what I haven’t gotten done and want to pick up Monday morning. Monday, I make my list for the week. I add to that list during the week, and get great personal satisfaction from crossing tasks off – as quickly as I can. Some days, like today, I have to stop in the middle of the day and make a list of all the things I’ve promised people I’d deliver as I walked through the office. Cross them off; move on; get things done!

Take baby steps. I have a very clear picture in my mind of what I want to achieve in my work. Each day on my way to work I have learned to fight the rising sense of anxiety of all I need to accomplish to achieve my goals, by telling myself, “Today, you only need to take one step. Just one small step toward the goal.” I feel a sense of relief – but I also know that I need to continue to map out my steps; to break down big goals into small, achievable steps, and then cross them off, one at a time.

Let me take a brief commercial break and offer you another time-saving tip: try online training. It can save you lots of time in organizing and delivering the training you need to simply stay in compliance, but even more, it can give you a way to track completed training of all your employees, with just a click of the mouse. Even better is our "incomplete assignments" feature. Assign training classes to your staff once a year, and pull up reports to tell you exactly who is missing what. What could be easier? What could be more time-efficient?!

I guess what I’m really saying is that if you’re feeling like a one-armed paper hanger these days, let us help. We’ll supply a few other hands and help you get the job done right!

Best of the Best Awards

Love those best of the best awards, don’t you? How many did you win this year?

I hope you’re not one of those people that win awards like this year after year – you won’t be able to relate at all.

I’ve never won a “best of the best” award. I’ve never even been a runner-up. But day after day, week after week, month after month I continue to do work that I believe contributes to the quality of care we provide to the today’s elderly.

Most senior care companies, I’d venture to say, are a lot like me in that regard. They do their work, every day, month and year, focusing on the area where they can improve lives. Maybe it’s just five families that they serve; maybe its 40 families, or 400.

What matters, at the end of the day, however, is not how many awards you win, but how much difference you’ve made.

Has someone finally been able to take a guilt-free, stress-free vacation because of your work?

Has someone else had “ahaa” moments that led to more joyful caregiving because of your efforts?

Many of us innovate in our care every day. We creatively solve problems while managing budgets, employee challenges and difficult clients. We see needs and we work to meet them, often by creating new programs or simply adapting existing programs to meet individual needs.

So from me to you – and me to me – here’s an award: The Quietly-going-about-our-business-while-making-a-real-difference Award.

Four Ways to Connect with Technology

Are you a Facebook addict yet? Notice I added “yet” to the question? Even my 78-year-old mom decided she had to get onto Facebook – all her grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives keep telling her, “I put my pictures on Facebook!”

I joined a couple of years ago, after I realized it was the only way I’d be able to keep up with my kids. They travel the globe and, way before they email their mom, they post their pictures and their adventures on Facebook for all their friends to see.

So now I’m an avid Facebook user, with 82 “friends” that include my relatives, my kids’ friends and several grade- and high-school friends I’m only now reconnecting with (that’s fun!).

Technology can be a ton of fun when it fills a need we have. In case of Facebook, technology helps us fill a social need to stay connected – or get re-connected.

In business, it seems to me that we’ve used technology begrudgingly rather than with the excitement of your first Facebook page.

Maybe we’ve been off the mark. Maybe it’s time to look for ways to use technology to increase our business and social connectedness – and have some fun while we’re at it! Consider these ideas:

Your website. Does your website increase your connectedness with the public? Do you tell your story and offer ways for people to contact you? Many company websites today avoid publishing email addresses to keep out unwanted emails, but that’s a barrier to connectedness. Like Facebook, your website should be updated often, changing content and images to keep it interesting and alive. It should also connect real people (you and your team) with real people (your clients and prospects).

Email. Are you using email to stay connected with others? If you’re reading this via email, you see one of the tools we use to keep in touch with our clients and prospects: subscription emailing through Constant Contact, one of the leading providers of this service. It’s easy to use, and very affordable. It doesn’t allow you to spam people, but it does give you a very user-friendly tool for staying in touch with a large group of individuals (Clients? Prospects? You decide).

Technology in Operations. Are you using technology to help you manage operations? To track employee hours related to client needs, and to keep care plans and assignments updated? Companies like HealthMEDX are excellent resources. Used correctly, they can not only help you get a detailed picture of your operations but can actually enhance your revenue as you track service needs and staffing more closely. Rather than costing you money, they can actually make you money – something to consider closely right now.


e-Training. I’m guessing you already knew where we’d end up. Technology in training can allow you to train your team consistently and effectively in important compliance topics. You’ll still want to gather your team for regular staff meetings, but you can focus on team-building and your company culture, rather than boring repetitive compliance inservices.

I’m logging back in to Facebook now. I’ve got an early morning meeting tomorrow I’m setting up with my exercise buddy – gotta run!

Mentoring as Tool for Training and Retention

If you’ve been following the various findings about reducing turnover and increasing employee retention, especially within senior care, you’ve probably seen the term “mentoring.” Mentoring is one way to blend training and help it carry over into the day-to-day workplace, while supporting the personal and professional growth of the employee.

Maybe, like me, you’ve got a general idea of what mentoring is, but aren’t really clear how to implement a mentoring program in your work setting. I decided that I’d do a little research and see if I could answer this question – and, while I’m at it, share what I’ve found with you.

Webster’s defines a mentor as “a trusted counselor or guide.” Others define the term more in the sense of a coach. While many of us think fondly of a boss or supervisor that acted informally as a mentor, few have formal experience within a mentorship program.

MetroHealth, a large healthcare provider in Northeast Ohio, has a mentoring program that all resident physicians are required to participate in with an attending faculty member.

It gave me some ideas for starting a formal mentoring program in a senior care community:

1. Since mentoring is most important for new hires, set up a system that matches each new hire with one of more experienced workers in the same department or job title. Matching the new person with a mentor on the same shift would be important, too, wherever possible.
2. Introduce the new hire to the mentor, and explain to both individuals the purpose of the program (to coach the new person in the best way to do his or her job in your environment). Being clear about the goals and using simple words to explain the program are both important, especially in the early stages.
3. Ask the mentor to meet with the new hire at regular intervals. I’d suggest quite frequently initially, perhaps as often as every other week. Once the crucial 90 days has passed, the meetings could become monthly.
4. Be sure to allow time for the mentoring meeting to occur. Allow both individuals to take an extra long break or lunch hour, on the clock, for their meeting.
5. Give the mentor some structure to follow during the sessions. I’d suggest a list of questions you provide to the mentor to discuss with the new hire, questions like:

• What are you finding hardest about your new job?
• What are you enjoying most about your new job?
• Do you have what you need to do your job well?
• Are there any policies or procedures you don’t really understand or find confusing?

Armed with this list of questions the mentor can spend a few minutes talking about the job with the new hire, helping him/her get answers and building a stronger connection to the organization.

Do you have a mentoring program at your workplace? Have you had a mentor that really helped you out? Share your experiences with me at sharon@aquiretraining.com.