Together with

Good Morning.  If you're like the crew at NHA Stand-Up, you hate to get the question, "What do you do?"  It's impossible to answer when a single day can include creating a strategic plan for a $50 million/year budget, cleaning a toilet, and swabbing 200 employees.  Hit reply to this email and give us your best answer!

Elevate Your Operation

The Pareto Principle, better known as the 80/20 rule, signifies that the inputs and outputs of your efforts are not equal.  More specifically, 80% of your outcomes come from a mere 20% of your actions, or 20% of your actions can decrease 80% of your time and stress.  You can apply this rule to numerous areas of your day-to-day as an NHA, but here are the ways we've managed to make the most impact.

1.) Identify and plan to manage the 20% of residents and family members that take up 80% of your time.  As you read this, a handful of residents inevitably come to your mind.  Utilizing a person-centered approach, identify what makes them tick.  Implement a plan with your team to meet and monitor their needs and proactively communicate efforts and results to the residents and their families. 

Here is a very simplified but great example.  I once had a resident who could not hear without his custom hearing aids.  When they weren't in, he became understandably withdrawn and quiet.  Without fail, the few days when the team forgot to help him put them on were always the days that his daughter would come to visit, and inevitably I would get a visit from her.  We sat down with the care team and devised a plan to ensure that the resident had his hearing aids each morning.  The team then took it a step further and began proactively reaching out to his daughter on the days she didn't visit with a text, email, or quick call to let her know that all was well with the hearing aids and her father.  The results and corresponding feedback were astounding.  The daughter was touched and shocked by the personal attention that she and her father was receiving, and the care team was thrilled and motivated by the compliments they received in return.  All in, it took minimal time and effort to carry out and, combined with other similar initiatives, saved the team and myself hours (80%) on the backend by not having to follow up on complaints and concerns.

Customer service is hard, but it becomes much more manageable when focusing on a subset (20%) of your residents.  Once you and your team see the results, let the momentum take you to the next level.

2.)Identify the 20% of your team who drive 80% of the positive results.  It's easy to take this group of employees for granted but make a plan today to celebrate and thank them: a sincere compliment, a thank you card, or a meal delivered to their home.  There is no gesture too big or too small. 

Carry around a penny in your left pocket for each one of these employees.  Find something positive each day to compliment them, and move a penny from your left to your right pocket as you do.  

Partners We Love

As you dive into the 80/20 Principle, communication with family members is a key driver and time saver.  In our experience, the best tech available to assist in this process is the family communication app by Icon.  It's affordable, easy to adopt, and HIPAA-compliant.  Most importantly, family members will love the proactive "just because" communication.

Icon is the result of VoiceFriend’s best-in-class communication technology and Caremerge’s leading engagement solutions joining together under a mutual goal – to equip organizations that support seniors with the tools needed to ensure older adults and providers have the best experience possible with technology. Icon brings over 50 years of combined experience in helping organizations that care for seniors ensure their entire community is engaged and thriving.

Organizations that utilize Icon see clear and present return on investment including:

• Family satisfaction scores increased by up to 50%
• A 20% rise in resident satisfaction
• As much as an 80% decrease in time spent on attendance and calendar management tasks
• Staff overtime reduced by up to 10%
• Missed appointments reduced by as much as 50%
• Post-discharge automation reduced manual work by up to 80%

To learn more about taking your resident satisfaction and to the next level, register for their free upcoming webinar here.

Title: Taking the Resident Experience to the Next Level: An Inside Look at How Ohio Living Did Just That with Icon

Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Time: 2PM ET

Presenters:

• Christine Bush, Director of Independent Living, Ohio Living Westminster-Thurber
• Josh Studzinski, SVP of Marketing & Partnerships, Icon

Attendees Will Learn:

• A clear understanding of the pitfalls of disparate senior living technology platforms
• Best practices for evaluating senior living technology
• Tips and tricks for a successful implementation of senior living technology
• How an all-in-one communication and engagement solution like Icon can help you increase resident engagement and satisfaction. 

To learn more about Icon and its solutions, visit www.goicon.com

Maximize Your Commute

I picked up a great habit in 2021 of listening to content-rich leadership and business audiobooks on my commute to and from work.  In each book I listened to, I increased the audio speed slightly while ensuring I could still comprehend the content.  Now, twelve months in and comfortably listening to books at 2.1x audio speed, I can knock out 1-3 books/week.  It has been the best professional decision I have made for my career.

To learn more about the Pareto Principle, listen to The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch for an in-depth and detailed guide.  For a briefer summary, we recommend. The 80-20 rule explained.

Make It Fun!

Steve Blank, the legendary entrepreneur and start-up investor is famous for telling his entrepreneurs to "get out of the building" and talk to customers.  His advice is the inspiration for this week's edition of "Make it Fun."

Get a money wheel, some carnival tickets, and get out of the office!

Give the deserving team members a few tickets every time you see an action or attitude worth rewarding.  Bring out the money wheel every few days and celebrate your high performers by letting them cash in each ticket with a spin on the wheel.

Get creative with the customized prizes on your wheel.  Some of the best we've seen include:

Gift cards, prime-time parking spots for a month, and "make a wish"  where the staff can gift something for a resident to be paid for by the community.

Grab your coffee and make it a great day.  We appreciate you and your dedication to your team and residents. -Thank you!