The Perfect Partnership: Change and Stability

 

Insights from Douglas Olson, Ph.D., MBA, NHA, FACHC – Senior Advisor, Pathway Health

You don’t often think of change and stability as related concepts or ideas, but in senior living leadership, they are absolutely connected.

Change is constant in both our professional and private lives. Getting from Point A to Point B requires change and doing things differently. Senior living leadership has experienced the full impact of the necessity of change during the COVID-19 pandemic. The best leaders in our field became masters at introducing, developing, implementing and sustaining new approaches or processes in a wide range of activities.

“It is not necessary to change. Survival isn’t mandatory.”
~W. Edwards Deming, management guru

Many of our colleagues understood the truth in W. Edwards Deming’s insightful quote. Senior living leaders have been pressed to consider alternative ways to serve and provide a quality living environment. As if the pandemic and all its demands and shifting customer and public perceptions weren’t enough, leaders entered a world of competition for staff not just with other providers, but also with other markets. To say it has been a challenge is an understatement.

Leadership Considerations:
Be a “change agent”: Effective leaders have learned how to introduce and manage change to both their staff and communities. They have done this in ways that create openness and acceptance of the need and value of doing some things differently without ever forgetting the core purpose of exceptional care and service to our aging seniors.

Exhibit leadership fortitude: One of the critical elements of success is the constancy of leadership. So often, we lose sight of the tremendous force stability of leadership is within senior living communities. Change is constant and is done better when leadership is constant and stable.

Support personal growth: Continue to invest in yourselves and your team. In turn, appreciate the many individuals and organizations who are ready and willing to stand with you as we all look to find positive pathways for both today and tomorrow.

Thank you for all your incredible courage, fortitude and strength as you weather the storm and are there for your residents, clients, tenants, staff and communities. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and your energy, passion and servant leadership are truly strengths of this profession and the broader field.

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Douglas Olson, Ph.D., MBA, NHA, FACHCA, is a Senior Advisor for Pathway Health for the implementation of the Leadership Environment and Assessment Diagnostic (LEAD) tool. He works closely with Pathway’s senior leadership team and clients as they implement the LEAD tool and other management initiatives, resources and supports.