I heard a great quote the other day during a leadership training moment:
“You Cannot Make a Bad Decision Within Your Core Values”
That is something we witnessed in action on our care team recently.
One of our core values is Transparency
Imagine feeling safe letting your manager know that you made a mistake and need help fixing the issue. This is true in any business setting. However, it's importance is magnified in a care setting.
Implementing transparency takes preparation by leadership. It doesn't just "happen". You need to plan how to show empathy, how to engage, and how to mentor the person being transparent. As a leader, the words you choose matter. Transparency has fostered great relationships with our team and has led to exceptional innovations.
Quick Story on Transparency
About a month ago, one of our residents got up very quickly from her seat and fell before the caregiver could get across the room to help. The caregiver followed protocol and assisted the resident. Then she did something that took a LOT of trust and transparency.
Even though the resident appeared fine, the caregiver followed protocol and notified the director of care (a Registered Nurse). Her voice was shaking. She was scared that her job was on the line based on her years of experience working at various other assisted living businesses.
The director of care immediately assessed the resident (who was fine but monitored closely for several days). Then they reviewed the video of the incident together (we have video throughout).
Magical Mentoring Words: I am wondering if...
After watching the video, the director asked a simple question: “I am wondering if we can somehow prevent this in the future across all shifts? Can you think of any ideas?”.
The director paused and gave the employee time to think and provide a few thoughts. They came up with great ideas together. Then the director shared the video with every member of our care team across all shifts and asked the same questions.
Thanks to the bravery of our care team member, we had an opportunity to innovate and provide even safer care for all of our residents across all shifts. Further, we had the opportunity to demonstrate the safety of being transparent to our care team.
In Contrast...
Recently, I met a man who shared that he visited his mother in another memory care and found that she had VISIBLY broken her wrist. Major swelling and pain. The doctor said it had been broken for at least two DAYS! DAYS! None of the caregivers said anything because they were worried about being “written up” or losing their job. No transparency.
I’ll end with one note. When we reviewed the video, we saw the caregiver praying over the resident. She cared more about the resident than her job. We are so blessed to have such an amazing care team and an amazing director of care.
Does your care team know and practice your core values?