Do your food servers set intentions?

Do your food servers set intentions?

by | Resident Centered Dining Service, Retain Staff

People helping others Cindy Heilman

Think of when a toddler takes that first important step in learning to walk – setting an intention is the first vital step for your food server to be the best at their job they can be.

That intention brings focus to building on the skills they already know, to further their knowledge. This includes any part-time servers who know that any skills learned while working as a food server will stay with them throughout their lifetime.

Learning to control their behavior by a change of attitude to a positive one is the first step. Skills learned never leave them. Never. A positive attitude is life-changing for the individual and those surrounding the person.

Nurses and caregivers have added serving food to the care of their residents and can benefit from learning the setting of intentions. Nurses and caregivers who have attended our training sessions have later expressed that after taking Kind Dining® training they work better as a team, can empathize with residents, and have improved their communication with both coworkers and their residents.

They have an enlightened capacity for understanding food service tasks and the significance of mealtimes.

After practicing what they learned, participants think and act differently! One nurse, in particular, stated she understood “Dining as a community event and the role of food in healing.” A caregiver noted she was “Remembering to have empathy, remembering that the care center is a home, showing kindness to everyone.” Hospitality is healthcare.

Gathering together after a training session to discuss how they could improve their performances and which distinct items they learned is greatly encouraged. It deepens their interest and instills inspiration and determination to make changes.

Mastering the fundamentals of attention, respect and kindness can improve the experience of everyone in your community. Working as part of a team gives every person the confidence to help each other.

Kind Dining® training helps food servers understand their vital, caring role and the importance of teamwork to enhance the dining experience for residents in your assisted living community.

Our training encourages building friendly relationships with others on the food serving teams. Treating each other with respect, extending a helping hand if someone gets behind, or simply sharing uplifting news of the day helps to cement a working relationship.

It can lighten the load of a difficult day. It is also a factor in an employee’s looking forward to going to work.

Working with nice, kind people makes a big difference! Our Kind Dining® teaching sessions have successfully trained food-serving teams for over 17 years! Learn how Kind Dining Training can transform the dining experience in your community here.

Be ♥ Kind Tip: After practicing what they learned, participants think and act differently!

Do your food servers carry happy holiday spirit with them?

Do your food servers carry happy holiday spirit with them?

by | Build Communities of Belonging, Leadership, Resident Centered Dining Service

 

Do you know that holidays can bring severe, sometimes unexpected, melancholy to many seniors?

Even though the pandemic is gone, it has left many elders without loved ones who passed away during that time.

There is nothing a food serving staff can do to bring back those who have passed away, but they can turn a sad moment into a happy memory just by knowing the right words to say.

A minute can mean a lot to an older adult who is experiencing loneliness.

Kindness of thought or a few words can change a tear to a smile. The moods of food servers affect everyone they come in contact with on their daily rounds of service. It is a small thing that has big results.

When training is offered for new hires and refresher sessions for experienced servers, it is vital to add the knowledge, and skill, of kindness to those sessions.

From a leadership point of view, kindness can aid in building relationships with elders, but also with coworkers.

Your food serving team armed with vital skills applied continuously, reduces loneliness and melancholy. This is especially so during the holidays when the mood of your food serving team turns the general atmosphere into holiday fun and happy exchanges of greetings.

Keep in mind that many residents were previously hosting the holidays. After moving into a retirement community, they are just another person living among a melting pot of people who are strangers to them.

Their holidays are now vastly different.

This is a time when gathering around a mealtime table, meeting new friends, and sharing holiday stories becomes the most important hour of the day. This is a time of creating a new normal way of life. This is a time when food servers can help elders acquire a sense of belonging in your community.

A huge part of how quickly your residents make that adjustment depends on how your staff welcomes them while dining.

Kind Dining® training sessions show your employees the way to improve and grow their behavior patterns.

Knowledge and practice can make your food serving team aware of their movements and moods and how they affect your residents.

To aid new residents in making positive, permanent changes, invite the Kind Dining® curriculum to teach your employees how to make positive, permanent changes in their own lives. It doesn’t happen overnight.

When your employees work as a team, helping each other through education and practice, your community is on the way to being a top-learning and earning company.

Be ♥ Kind Tip: Are your employees aware of their behaviors and moods?