by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
A Sense of Home
When I was growing up I was encouraged to invite a special friend to join us at lunch or dinner. This was a bonding factor in our friendship. It told her, without words, that she was special and belonged in the nucleus of our family.
It has long been held that the dining table is the heart of the home, whether it is in the kitchen, a sunny nook, or in a formal dining room. It’s where the family gathers to share their food and to share the events of the day. It’s where they blend as family whether they are related or not.
Kind Dining can show you how to create a community dining room that feels like home to your residents. Feeling at home is the deciding factor between being satisfied with where they live and feeling like they really belong there. When they feel they belong, they will settle in with permanence. They will encourage their family to come join them at mealtime. They will encourage their friends to move in next door.
B♥ Kind® Tip: Think about what life is like for your residents. How can you make mealtimes more satisfying for them?
And this is only the tip of the iceberg! For more information on the opportunity of Kind Dining® training, click here.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Hospitality Made Easy
Hospitality is much easier than your servers may think. Starting the day with a positive attitude, knowing this will make life easier for others, and smoother for them, is a win-win situation. A smile is contagious even to people who think they have nothing to smile about today.
On a daily basis the dining room is the most important part of the residents’ day. So this is the best place to start practicing hospitality. Kind Dining teaches how easy this can be and the positive results that will make your community successful.
A woman friend of mine who likes to travel solo says that when she is in Europe, she prefers staying at B & Bs rather than hotels. The hospitality of someone who invites you into their home is like being hugged by your favorite aunt, the one who always ‘got’ you when Mom didn’t have a clue. One time she stayed in the Town of Books, Hay-on-Wye, Wales. That night the host sat on the chintz covered sofa in the living room and brought out his guitar inviting us, three guests, all strangers to each other from the States, to sing along. The next morning there were two more strangers at the large dining room table. They were brothers-in-law who arrived late the night before after walking all day. A walk is a popular activity in the United Kingdom. They just go out and walk for 20 miles, or more on public pathways through private fields and forests and stay overnight at a B & B before walking home.
The hospitality can be the same in your community dining room where newcomers are strangers who are seeking a welcome feeling at the table in their new home. Your servers can mimic my friend’s hosts that put them all at ease with a few casual questions. She felt like family 3,000 miles from home!
When your servers give thought to who they are serving and the problems they may be facing on a given day, they will want to give a warm sincere greeting to each diner as they arrive. This is step one in developing a genuine feeling of hospitality. They can help someone overcome a sense of loneliness or isolation. Kind Dining will teach about the power of making eye contact and how to draw people out with casual questions giving them a feeling of inclusion.
B♥ Kind® Tip: Don’t act hospitable; have a genuine attitude of hospitality. After all, you are in your residents’ home
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Hospitality Made Easy
Growing up I was fortunate enough to interact with guests at our dinner table often. I learned naturally how to enjoy and extend hospitality. Later when I was a food service director I realized that others were not so lucky. I saw that my co-workers desperately needed those skills. My Masters in Nutrition and Food Management revealed my passion for hospitality in the dining rooms serving seniors and how an affordable tool like Kind Dining could transform server training to add success to any senior living community.
Even if your servers were not exposed to ‘manners and dining habits’ at home, they can learn and practice every day until it all comes naturally to them. They need to be brave enough to take on new challenges focusing on the accomplishment of their goals. Once their job comes easily they will love what they do. Once they see that they do set the ambiance of the dining room and bring warmth to the table, they will appreciate the training more than ever. Your residents will also appreciate smoother hassle-free mealtimes, forming bonds with those they are in contact every day and often considering staff as extended family. Confident servers interact with their co-workers and residents with grace and charm. Stronger mealtime relationships reflect on the community as a whole bringing recommendations to friends and families through the dining room.
B♥ Kind® Tip: Practice your Kind Dining skills every day; they will soon come naturally!
And this is only the tip of the iceberg! For more information on the opportunity of Kind Dining© training, click here.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Your Role in Hospitality
Remember to let your staff carry the pride of their community while fulfilling their role when serving in the dining room. Their performance matters! A successful dining room is more than correctly placing plates in front of a resident. Knowing residents by name while proudly wearing their own name tag makes it easier when they introduce a new resident who may be shy about stepping into a dining room alone. They may consider seating the newcomer at a table full of singles. Connecting people to people is a talent that can be learned. Kind Dining makes it easy to learn. A server needs to keep in mind that while getting their work done is important, it is not as important as showing kindness, compassion, and hospitality.
A retired-restaurant-owner-friend-of-mine tells me about a bistro two blocks from his home. He chuckles saying, “I don’t need a watch to tell me what time it is five days a week.” Cars pull up, park and people start floating into his place at 11:30 so they can get a seat for lunch. It looks like an invisible magnet at work. The same happens again at 4:30! I tell him that he has a well-oiled machine. He tells me he has his staff trained to his specifications. “Everyone knows his job and his co-workers job. No one steps out of line, everyone helps, and everyone is happy! The goal and proof is in the register total at the end of the day.”
The dining room is the diamond of a community and it is the goal of the servers to make it shine like the finest jewel ever. Kind Dining® training will let your servers know the power they handle in complementing contented residents with reaching the goals of the community. They are important to your company’s reputation; how they serve meals and interact with the residents is a key factor in your community’s success. Helping their co-workers inspires and encourages anyone who sees it. It is part of creating a team that works like the flow of a gentle, tropical ocean wave.
Remind your staff how important they are just by coming to work today and how much hospitality and good service are appreciated. They are the backbone of your community.
B♥ Kind® Tip: Know your goal and role.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Importance of Knowing the Goal and Your Role
Anyone that looks will notice a team that works smoothly together whether you attend a catered party or dine out in the new rave restaurant in the next town over. It’s the difference in an Olympic couple dancing on the ice or the jerky movements of a marionette on a string. You want your community to have that Olympic performance and your servers can do that with Kind Dining training.
When your servers learn to be efficient, show kindness, and make hospitality their personal goal they will work with others smoothly, breaking up any icebergs that exist, creating inspiration in others. Encouragement coming from co-workers, staff, and residents is the best reward one can achieve. Practicing awareness one meal at a time ends in your servers reaching their goals. They can all be leaders, as long as they are brave enough to make positive changes.
The easiest place to begin is with a smile. Ask your servers to offer it to everyone, especially to co-workers who are new to the job, or work a different shift, as well as residents. A smile alters the tone of their voice keeping it pleasant even if they are dealing with a problem in their personal life. Reminding your servers to thank any person who helped out today creates good teamwork. Everyone wins when the team knows their role and works toward the same goal!
And this is only the tip of the iceberg! For more information on the opportunity of Kind Dining® training, click here.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Stop, Look & Listen; Where Can You Improve Service?
When I was a child and trains carried the heavy load that tractor-trailers do now, there were a lot of railroad tracks to cross, enough to plant the phrase that I still carry in my mind. Today it makes me think of the community dining room.
The servers that are at the top of their job, stop, look, and listen. It is the best way to feel, see, and hear if a resident needs attention, if something has been left undone, or if another staff member needs help. Have your servers know the routine of the dining room, the menu being served today, and show the kindness needed to have serene mealtimes that are conducive to healthy digestion. Train them to play the part of making residents happy, to be aware and sensitive, to be kind and thoughtful. Teach them to be smart and they will be appreciated.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg! For more information on the opportunity of Kind Dining© training, click here to contact me.
Anyone that looks will notice a team that works smoothly together whether you attend a catered party or dine out in the new rave restaurant in the next town over. It’s the difference in an Olympic couple dancing on the ice or the jerky movements of a marionette on a string. You want your community to have that Olympic performance and your servers can do that with Kind Dining training.