by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
“Do you ever have a day when everything you touch goes wrong?” Betty said to her husband Joe when she arrived home late from working in a senior living community. “You know I have always loved working in foodservice and enjoy working with the elderly. I’ve known for a long time that I’ll never be a millionaire, but who wants all that responsibility anyway? Besides, I do love my job, my coworkers, the residents, and most everything else. We do have a good food service team that works together until the newbie showed up today.”
Joe laughed at her comment. Wanting to offer sympathy, he said, “What happened? Nothing serious, I hope?”
“Oh, to start the day, our new girl who hasn’t had any training yet seems to be in the way of everyone else who knows what to do and when to do it. She seems to know nothing about food service, working with older people, or even just showing good manners. She totally lacks common sense and complains when one of us tries to help her and shows her how to do something. I don’t know how they are going to tolerate her work, or lack of work, habits. I think she is here for the paycheck, only. We all know that doesn’t go over well. It’s important to care about your work.”
“Why does the company turn her loose on the job with no skills at all?”
“Well, we’re so short-handed and administration seems to think everyone knows how to serve a meal and hold a conversation. People tend to believe that when you are good at what you do, you were born with the knowledge naturally. You know that isn’t so. You’ve heard me say it often enough and you’ve seen me practice a new skill when I needed it.”
“Well, you’re home now. Let’s have a glass of wine to unwind. I’ll even do the pouring and bring it to you.”
Betty has been working in this senior living community for many years and while she does know how to perform, she cheerfully updates her skills when new routines are added to the daily schedule. She realizes the coronavirus has hit her industry hard. Many frontline workers have suffered from working long hours and from burnout. Newly hired employees need to learn the skills, and routines, and build habits to benefit the residents and the food serving teams. Kind Dining♥ training was designed for the unskilled and for refreshing those who have been on the job for some time. The experiential approach is utilized for interaction, reflection, application, and support. Participants learn the challenges of aging and incorporate empathy when engaging residents on a personal level.
B♥ Kind Tip: It’s imperative your food servers feel empathy about seniors’ aging process.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Does a company that hires minimum wage earners to need to invest in the expense of training?
Absolutely!
Investing in your assisted living and senior living community servers enhances the interaction between your serving teams and your residents. It is more than improving how a meal is served to an individual. When a server knows their work is conducted correctly, it increases pride in their performance and relationships with coworkers, residents, and management. A better work environment is created. Servers create an improved self-image that extends to a sense of belonging and caring. They are part of a winning team, and their coworkers can also show pride in their connections and working for the common good of others. Research reveals pride in one’s work is more valued than the wage earned.
Learning new and re-polishing skills is part of a good training methodology. The knack for communication with residents and coworkers is key, especially with those with limited English abilities, including the different levels of language used between part-time working teenagers, middle-aged servers, other ethnic heritage, and our older adult residents. Good training practices inspire learners to embrace new knowledge, and application of empathy towards others, It is also important for all servers to use respect and incorporate that knowledge into their casual conversations with residents as they serve meals. Skill development and control over one’s work process stimulate creative thought and improvement in one’s work habits. Satisfaction in one’s performance builds employee commitment. It keeps your servers in your community and not looking for an alternate community for employment.
Workforce challenges call on the servers to rise above the day’s problems and overcome insecurities. Recognizing and discussing the diversity in servers can conquer differences to build a stronger serving team. Empathy works here in a variety of servers and in using empathy with elderly residents. Kind Dining♥ roots are based on teaching authentic hospitality with healthcare, accepting others with dignity and respect, and forming healthy relationships between servers with other employees and between servers and the residents.
Kind Dining is not a program, but a way of life. It’s designed to appeal to the diversity of people serving meals. Concepts in our handbook are easy to understand with an abundance of interactive exercises, relatable pictures, pertinent questions, limited text, and the principles of removing barriers between cultures. It fulfills the culture change, communication and teambuilding called for in your community today.
B♥ Kind Tip: Recognizing diversity in servers on your team can build a stronger one.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
The story came to me about a couple who needed to resettle into an assisted living community where they could get the best care. Both of them had Alzheimer’s, at the same level of memory loss. Their son was alarmed, knowing that many communities right now are working with reduced staff, fearing that would endanger his parents with exposure to the Covid 19 and its variants. Their daughter did some research and found that long-term living communities are the safer places for their parents, especially now. The community she chose as the most suitable one for them has struggled like most with the pandemic for the last two years. They now have their protections in place, alternative schedules ready to revert to if a new variant is threatening. Their staff has attended recent training sessions that bring them up-to-date with the latest defenses against the Covid virus and its variants. That mention of current training caught her eye, knowing that well-trained staff is most important in times of stress, reduced labor attendance, and threats of any contagious virus. The recent training sessions translated into a reliable team for her. It impressed her.
The daughter spoke to different members of the food serving team at various times, catching them on the fly, asking questions, and seeking on-the-spot answers. She found them caring, competent, and knowledgeable about person-centered attention. She was delighted. This was where her parents would be safest and content. They would receive what they needed, healthcare that came with a good dose of hospitality. Her brother trusted her judgment and her research methods. He was relieved of worries about his father tending to household repairs, sidewalk clearings, and being fearful of his father’s incapability toward household maintenance. The decision was made, and both parents were happily ensconced in the assisted living community, where an entire team was looking after them. They would benefit socially, have primary care close by, and continue to have a meaningful life.
Kind Dining♥ training focuses on and includes servers from nursing/health services, care staff, housekeeping departments, their managers, and full-time food service providers. Residents who experience high-quality food service are overall contented and happy. Mealtimes are still the points of the day they look forward to enjoying. Happy residents draw in other residents. The dining hours are an opportunity to build the community’s reputation. Your food servers are powerful company assets. Build on that thought and invest in your food serving teams for a higher return on each trained food server. Choose the training program designed to assist companies who do not have the time or resources to create their training program—enhancing Senior Living hospitality and healthcare.
B♥ Kind Tip: Does your company lack a good training program for all food servers?
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Word came to me by way of a friend who has both parents in an assisted living community for the loss of memory. “In particular,” she said, “seeing the same, familiar faces each day is most important to them. Talking with one of the caregivers who said it is especially critical to dementia, Alzheimer’s and lonely, depressed residents who don’t have family or friends visiting.”
Investing in your employees is an investment in your residents and they are the focus of any long-term residential living community. Using that same investment in skill training for all your employees, noting that today, with staff being short-handed in many communities due to the pandemic, is vital. It is common practice to pull employees from other departments who have never served a meal to assist your more skilled food servers on a part-time basis. Surprise! Serving and delivering food is not as easy as one may expect if it is to be done right. Your residents will notice if it isn’t done right, as they expect and deserve. Having your part-time food servers attend training sessions is necessary for acceptable performance, but keep in mind that it pulls them away from their primary duties.
Another way of increasing enthusiasm in your full-time food serving teams is to evaluate the skills they learn and practice in your training sessions. The more they hone their skills, the more valuable they become. The company can find ways to reward them. A small raise in compensation will still save the company the average of $4,000 it costs to find and hire a new food server that needs to fit into your community if you can find one during these pandemic shortages. Think of the $15,000 loss of revenue if you are losing residents due to poor service.
It is beneficial to some communities that the food serving team speaks more than one language. English may be a second or third language to them but once they learn English, their other languages will be an asset. A class in learning English can even be offered as an investment in your employees.
Kind Dining♥ training sessions are designed for all employees who serve meals, whether full time or part-timers, including, nursing and health care, housekeeping departments, care staff, and managers. Your food serving team is a powerful asset for the company when they are giving quality service. To lose residents because they were unhappy with the food and meal service is extremely costly and can be difficult to replace. Remember, mealtimes are the one thing your current and potential residents universally value.
B♥ Kind Tip: An investment in employee training is an investment in the residents, too.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Food has always been a comforter, whether coming home from school to nibble on the snack Mom had ready for you, chicken soup when you were ill, or gathering around the table for Sunday dinners or grand holidays with family and friends. Food is still the number one item the residents in your community look forward to every day, even if they are denied the dining room for safety reasons during this pandemic.
Your food serving teams are still the heroes that deliver the food wherever your residents sit to receive it. Well-trained food servers include the part-timers pulled from other departments during these times of stress and sparse staff. Well-trained food servers exchange communications with residents explaining the shortage situation for understanding purposes without causing alarm. While the food servers recognize difficulties in the daily workday, they do not commiserate or add more gloom to the room.
Good training brings out the willingness to accept sharing information with the residents. Trusted employees resolve a problem independently, with strategy when the company has faith to invest continued education in them. These times are critical in long-term care communities where employees have been stretched and are asked to stretch a bit more. The industry has been struggling with the worst labor scarcity in 30 years. It comes when long-term care communities are desperate for caring, competent employees who have experience in food serving. As your food serving teams have been guided to extend hospitality and healthcare for your residents, it is a time to remind them to take care of themselves, too.
Kind Dining♥ coaching and training courses have long impressed companies on the value of the educated, multi-skilled food serving teams. It is commonly understood that skilled food servers retain longer histories than a workforce without proper training. Our eLearning 9 module series is for your food serving teams, ancillary staff, and direct caregivers who serve meals and beverages. It is necessary for managers and those you pull from other departments when you have insufficient food servers, which is happening now during the pandemic.
Our training series is cost-effective, motivating, and experiential, meaning that we engage trainees by using action, reflection, application, and performance. Servers build empathy to respect the aging process and connect with the residents on a one-to-one basis. We teach personal and professional skills that improve the lives of your residents while improving the lives of those who serve them.
Kind♥ Tip: A knowledgeable, multi-skilled food service team stays with the company longer.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Many long-term care communities are finding ways to cut expenses yet benefit their residents at the same time. One of those improvements is investing in a garden. An area is set aside for residents to participate in the gardening program of planting, maintaining, and reaping vegetables, fruits, and herbs due to their input. The kitchen is much rewarded with fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs that retain their nutrition because they are as fresh as possible. The herbs are used to enhance the flavor of the food and garnish to add eye appeal to any lagging appetites that may linger among the residents. Some communities have further invested in bringing a small portion of their garden indoors under controlled lighting and watering to produce fresh vegetables. The investment pays for itself at harvest time and in the interest of some residents who receive joy from being part of the growing season. Everyone is rewarded.
Invest in Farm-to-Table connections wherever possible. Buying locally and building meaningful relationships through agriculture creates solid foundations with food suppliers from your community. Because local foods are not stored and shipped great distances, they are sent in peak quality conditions resulting in more nutrients when your chef makes use of them. Certainly, that is a grand benefit for the residents. Foods imported fresh, including meat, from great distances require freezing or additives to preserve them. It is safer to rely on a source closer at hand that is known by reputation. The revenue spent on Farm-to-Table connections from the kitchen creates and supports partnerships in your community.
To round out these improvements, you want to have an accomplished food serving team to adapt and easily manage problems that arise and will impress your residents. A confident, multi-talented, and highly-skilled team that works closely with staff across departments. A community-wide team that can pass state and federal person-centered care surveys. A team that enhances the nursing home culture and dining experience for everyone involved.
Kind Dining♥ is a motivating, experiential, on-demand, trainer-led, nine-module eLearning training series. It’s designed uniquely to optimize the quality of life for older adults and quality-of-work for staff respectively in senior living communities at all levels of care. Our curriculum is designed to assist companies that don’t have time or resources to create their training or need a supplement to their current offerings. The foundation of Kind Dining♥ is rooted in putting residents first, raising service standards, and embracing relational service principles to improve community diners’ nutritional health and well-being. We teach principles around communication, team building, personalizing the dining experience, civility, and our unique hospitality brand. We also deliver wise investment consultations by phone and Zoom meetings.
B♥ Kind Tip: Is the time right to improve your community?
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
The pandemic has trimmed many workforces in our long-term care communities. Yet if you read the articles about the industry of food service, you will find that many employees leave the job within the first 90 days because they didn’t know what their work responsibilities were or how to perform them. The simple answer to that seems to be clear. Invest in a food service training program, raise the value of your food serving team, and hold on to them. The focus is still on person-centered care. The training program needs to provide newly hired employees an onboarding experience and your present staff the knowledge and tools necessary to enhance the dining experience for each and every resident. Working smarter in alignment enters into the daily work schedule for nurturing a sense of hospitality and improved healthcare through service.
Kind Dining♥ curriculum was designed to teach your food serving teams from all departments the importance of the dining experience to residents while uncovering the importance of each food server to each resident. They will learn how to build trust and make connections through chit-chat when serving a meal. Lessons will explore what the company must do to create a winning food service team, to instill pride in the food servers’ work as they take away a better self-image.
Change is always in the air. A new, sophisticated, generation of older adults fills our communities. New regulations add to the demands and care of the Covid-19 virus and its following strains, making training programs even more vital to your food servers. These teams wear full personal protective equipment and adhere to the new normal for the foreseeable future. These extraordinary precautions are as fundamental as professionally – trained food servers.
Kind Dining♥ of Higher Standards LLC training modules turns your new employees into professionals, regardless of their diversity. It will guide your present food servers to work in concert as a team, building new habits of working, expanding their knowledge and self-confidence in adding new responsibilities. This translates into improving long-term care and assisted living quality. In addition, you may depend on your employees receiving quality training for nursing home care and the right training to prepare for QIS surveys. Our program is designed to reach a diverse group of servers, using visuals, action exercises, limited text, and the principles of empathy and receiving respect, caring, and integrity. No matter which department your food servers are pulled from, whether temporary or full time, they deserve to know the principles of service and proper serving techniques and your residents deserve that they do.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
After some fast-paced games of basketball, a shower, and a change of clothes, Matthew and David drove to their favorite Burger, Fries, & Beer Tavern with hearty appetites and a thirst for discussion about the latest news of their long term living communities. With so many senior care communities short-staffed, they had stories to trade with each other.
A spicy aroma filled the air and grumbled their stomachs while waiting for lunch to be served. Matthew began, “We’ve had our first training session with the new, onboarding food servers hired. My supervisor was lucky to find a few candidates since the hiring pool is so sparse now. The pandemic has hit us hard. On the other hand, I’m happy to be getting some guidance on what exactly I am supposed to be doing while filling in as a food server during the lunch hour.”
David, though he worked at a different care community, smiled with understanding. “I think we’re all in the same boat as far as employee shortage goes. What did you think of the new food servers?”
“They were eager to learn,” Matthew replied. “Shy, at first, about speaking up and asking questions. One woman speaks 2 languages and is fast adding English to her list. It isn’t perfect English but much better than my Spanish or Italian, which is nil. She seems to be a natural with serving food basics. I’m surprised at how much I do not know about serving food and its relationship with our residents. I like using this new knowledge, the part about getting to know the residents by name and making small talk. I never thought of that before. I realize with the pandemic and the restrictions on social life, that they truly appreciate some connection to those of us who are part of their daily life. I even like working as part of the food serving team. Kind of like playing on the basketball team, even though I’m only considered temporary. I’m learning quickly.”
“I’m remembering what you tell me and will use it to convince my boss that we need training sessions for all of our food servers, including those pulled from other departments, and the onboarding of new employees,” David said. “We need to hold onto the employees we have instead of always replacing the ones that left. I want to make him realize that. Thanks for sharing your experience.”
Our Kind Dining♥ on demand-eLearning series delivers consistent training and is comprised of 9 training modules divided into 3 sections. Each module varies in length depending on the topic, and it takes 8 hours to complete all 9 sessions. We begin with the Foundation of Service-Modules 1-3, move into the Nuts and Bolts of Service-Modules 4-6, and finish with Polishing Service Modules 7-9. We have seen effective behavior change with ongoing implementation of principles taught and we recommend communities embrace an all-hands-dining or similar approach to dining service. We are committed to helping you keep your food servers and your newly hired employees, as an educated, invested team.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership, Resident Centered Dining Service
It’s only natural that we think everyone who knows where we work and what we do, knows all about our highs and lows of the workday, during these pandemic times, including our struggles to get things right. Not so! People outside our Long Term Care, Senior Living, and associated communities have no clue about the problems we face and how we work to overcome them to make every resident safe, secure, and happy in their homes. People may read a headline, often one created to draw attention rather than presenting an accurate description of the content that follows. It is vital to reach out to the public to reassure and educate them about the senior and community living options today that are so far removed from the old images of sticking Mom in a ‘rest home.’
Your well-trained and knowledgeable food serving team comes to the rescue again. They have learned from their training about talking to residents to communicate the struggles of the community and the country at present, so they can better understand how it affects them. Now is the time for those same employees to share precisely what senior and long-term care communities are like with the public. Information needs to come from the inside, from people who work in this specialty marketplace, from these dedicated men and women who have the inside track and are willing to share it.
Again, our Kind Dining♥ training series emphasize our philosophy of helping employees (through education and respectful training) to love where they work and the work they do by learning how to work smarter and manage through unprecedented challenges. The results of enjoying their work can easily overflow into the general public, spreading the benefits for Mom or Dad when they choose to live in a senior living community. Social gatherings are ideal places for talking about work when you are enthused about it. Introduce the subject and watch how many ears are eager to hear what it is like in a senior living community. Speaking freely about one’s work or even placing suggestions on social media helps the marketplace and allows the general public to get an inside glimpse of something they may have thought about but never asked questions that linger in their minds.
Our Kind Dining♥ training educates staff, leadership, and ancillary employees across departments on the value of a positive dining experience and how to achieve it at every meal. This education can be shared to alter the public image of an organization. It can begin in a small way and let the thread of interest grow firmly until a more significant number of people have gratefully changed their idea about being food servers in senior living and other long-term care communities. Kind Dining♥ knows when employees are happy with the work they do, proud of the community they come to every workday, and want to share their joy; then Kind Dining♥ has accomplished the service standards they set out from the very beginning.
B♥ Kind Tip: Are your community successes hidden in your employees?
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Kelly was so charged about her new idea for the next employee meeting that she could hardly concentrate on a menu choice at their favorite lunch Bistro. “We’ve talked to our residents about being unable to order some foods and stock items right now that aren’t available because of the Covid pandemic. Sharing our difficulties has raised understanding between residents and the company. We employees, especially food servers, have created a noticeable bond of trust. But there is a different side to that which we haven’t discussed. We, as food servers and the other employees, can be very influential in changing the perception the public has, about the long term, assisted living, and retirement communities.”
Colleen, enjoying their monthly lunch date, was intrigued. “What exactly did you have in mind?”
“It is just common sense that we, who work there, know everything about our communities; the benefits to our residents, and the actual enjoyment they get from living with us. The common thought that our communities are a place to stick Mom so she will be out of the family’s way is so opposite, that we need to spread the word about us. Other than talking about our work and community when we are in social situations, we can also spread the word on social media. When we send out glimpses of our family life, we can also mention fun events that our residents enjoyed. I think many people will pay attention because it isn’t paid advertisement.”
“You may have a good idea, Kelly,” Colleen said. “It’s worth mentioning at the meeting as an added indication of how we love what we do for a living. It is like an overflow of goodwill.”
“Yes,” replied Kelly. “If we love working in our community, the people who live there must love it too. It also boasts of the results of good training. We’re so lucky our company keeps us up to date on everything to do with our work.”
It is probably natural that people hang onto old, worn-out impressions of what Senior Living, Assisted living, or any long-term care communities are still the same as they were 50 years ago. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Kind Dining♥ training programs educate employees to learn to love the work they do, be up-to-date on today’s community living, and want to spread the good news. Mother Teresa started the “one person at a time” idea. Employees can reach many people by sharing their work experience the same way, i.e., one person at a time. When employees are happy with their work proud of the community, they come to every workday and want to share their joy, encouraging them to spread the word. It would be the most sincere advertising of your community that you could have.
B♥ Kind Tip: Being proud of where you work is a sincere compliment to the company.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
A friend recently sent this to me after seeing the body of work curated:
“Researchers have confirmed what parents have known for a long time. Sharing a meal is good for the spirit, the brain, and the health of all family members.” Anne Fishel, Ph.D.
“There is no better classroom than the family table.” Kaye Earle
Internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographer Steve McCurry has published a series of photographs taken of families/friends titled: “The Family Table“. The photos were taken in Michigan, the USA, India, Honduras, Macedonia, Italy, Viet Nam, Lebanon, Hungary, and more.
She immediately thought of me, my Kind Dining♥ beliefs and teachings of bringing warmth to the table where your community residents are gathered for their meals like families. Autumn and winter are even more pronounced times when we get together with friends and family. A time when you want your food serving team to be aware of the importance of their service, the connection of hospitality and healthcare, and to perform at their peak.
Dining is often the deciding factor of clients choosing your community to make their home. It is still your company’s biggest selling point. For this reason alone, it makes training your food serving teams a key point of investment in your organization. The wise decision is to place their training at the top of your budget. Kind Dining♥ interactive training sessions are now available online to help tight budgets make room for them first. It is generally known that newly hired employees choose to stay with the company or seek other employment within the first 3 months of their first day at work. Embracing your food servers from all departments, including any employee who handles food, such as recreation/activity staff, to have confidence in their work, by deserved training, returns positives to the residents, company, community, and to the entire service team. A quick turnover of a new employee, for lack of training, in these days of labor shortages can be devastating to the company and to the other employees who must fill those empty spaces. Isn’t it a smarter decision to lead an employee in the direction of learning to love the work they do, because they know how to do it well?
With Kind Dining♥ training you can guide your employees to continue learning long after their initial orientation. The deeper their education, the more your employees will feel being part of the company, carrying pride in it, loving their responsibilities, and the residents they come to know, respect, and attend.
B♥ Kind Tip: Do your employees know how to perform their responsibilities?
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
It is time to stand back and examine where your budget from last year succeeded your desires or failed them. In these times of severe labor shortages, if you have lost employees this past year you need to know why and how you can prevent losing employees ever again. Did you provide them with the best training possible, not only when they were first hired, but ongoing education that builds their confidence and creates a sense of ownership in the company and community? On the job responsibilities are not learned in a week nor are they learned by a manager handing them a list and saying ‘these are your duties.’
Better than your college degree earned in 4 years, on-the-job training is ongoing, learning new ideas, practicing what you learned last week, and continuing to seek ways to work smarter and with purpose. It is about learning civility, caring, respecting residents, all staff, and your coworkers. Deeply learning your work brings about a feeling of being a part of the organization, not just working for it; it is about forming relationships with residents and coworkers, and knowing your job well enough that you are comfortable with suggesting new ways and better ideas. Does the administration ask opinions of the food serving team from all departments when a dilemma arises in their area? Do your food servers from all departments take pride in their work? Are your residents happy to see the food servers, not just the food they bring? Has anyone ever asked your residents if they do?
Kind Dining♥ unique, exclusive training curriculum combined with interactive exercises shows employees the way to a deeper education that they can call on, with confidence, to solve complications that arise in their area of work. They will learn how to build connections with residents and to build respect for them also. A change of attitude happens when certainty forms within. Self-assurance creates leaders that handle situations with ease and it creates employees that wish to remain with a company that respects them enough to offer the training they can use every day to better their lives and the lives around them. Learning the specifics that surround their work even if they are not directly part of their daily work, increases their knowledge so they can react to the overall picture of their job. It will also generate stronger, respectful working relationships with coworkers. This results in food serving teams that can overcome any difficulty and be ambassadors for the organization and community to be proud to call its own.
B♥ Kind Tip: Is your training limited to ‘here’s a list of your duties’?
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Sometimes in the rush to get our work responsibilities completed in a timely manner, we overlook what is the most important part of our job in a senior care community. It is the residents who have changed their lives completely, often selling the family homestead, leaving family, friends, and relatives behind in the neighborhood, at an advanced age, to start a new way of living in your community. It may take an extended time period for many to adjust to this new way of life among strangers they hope will become friends. Some folks will be super shy about asking questions unless they are encouraged by the people whose faces they see every day. These very faces become so familiar that they learn to trust them. A prevalent thought in many older adults’ minds is that they “don’t want to be a burden” to anyone. That includes people who surround them in their new home, who are trained, can be trusted, depended on, and fully informed about everything that has to do with senior living communities. Or at least to know how to find answers for questions asked. The food serving team who is most often in contact with residents fulfills that challenge when they are fully trained with people skills.
Communication abilities are key factors in making new residents feel the comfort of home. Chit-chat conversation is a skill to practice until it easily becomes second nature. Continued education and practice of smarter ways of working empower employees to make judgment decisions on the spot when necessary. Kind Dining♥ conveys the importance of your food servers’ relationships to your residents and how their dining experience affects the quality of life of your residents. Learning new ways to perform meal service can teach you a smarter way to work. Practicing, especially by checking your own appearance to make certain that nothing is remiss i.e. your hair and uniform are neat and clean and your attitude is cheerful. Know the menu at hand and be ready to inform your residents of any changes or updated news that may affect them. Also, master the value of detailed checklists.
Kind Dining♥ training modules were created for the benefit of online instruction and designed to appeal to all staff members. Our coaching series was designed to help you build a winning dining service operation that will place your community in a position that places you at the top of any list.
B♥ Kind Tip: Your food service team is the face of the entire organization.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
A friend recently told me about a note she received from a friend who had just moved into an assisted living community several states away from where they lived. Their friendship covered many years. It held the following message.
“My move into the assisted living community went smoothly. My son will tend to the selling of the house and my daughter is now close by. She will come to visit most days, at least until she is certain that I’ve adapted. So, I’m letting y’all know my new snail mail address.
Everything here seems very nice, the staff is friendly, and (this one is really important) the food is delicious, plentiful, and served by friendly, caring servers. I haven’t met any other residents yet, but I’m giving myself a week to get my business of moving completed. Then, I imagine, I will meet some folks when I start participating in the activities. There are many activities offered. The very first day I did attend an interesting talk by an author about his book. I enjoyed it very much.
I will be missing y’all, so please stay in touch!”
It isn’t only people associated with the industry of senior community living that recognize the importance of your food servers. We, who are involved with training employees, pay close attention to those who are part of serving meals. We know they are the company’s best asset! We know how important they are to the residents of the community! So important that a new resident will immediately reassure her friends back home, that she is, indeed, being well cared for in her new home! Most important to her? The food is delicious, plentiful, and the servers are friendly!
Kind Dining♥ training sessions are rooted in teaching service standards for senior living communities at all levels of care. It is a proven turnkey curriculum for communities that realize resident-centered/directed care is a priority that benefits the company. Kind Dining♥ coaching is designed uniquely for staff who, directly or indirectly, serves meals. The interactive eLearning format of learning inspires your teams to weave hospitality with healthcare, converse with residents, and care about those they serve and work beside. Education and practice empower employees and instill the desire to continually improve their serving and communication skills. Kind Dining♥ curriculum was created to aid companies who don’t have time or resources to form their own training series.
B♥ Kind Tip: Remember, improvement is an ongoing process.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
A friend of mine who lives alone and enjoys her own company often dines out on her own. She says, shamelessly, that she eavesdrops on other conversations going on around her. People carelessly reveal quite a bit over a lunch or dinner table.
Recently she heard a woman in a blue flowered dress say, “I am so glad we placed Mother in the retirement community in the next town over! I was so worried that she might think I was pushing her just to make it more convenient for me. It turns out to be the best possible decision we’ve ever made! She no longer has to be weighed down by that big, old, farmhouse that took all her energy. Now she made lots of new friends, socializes, joins in on all the activities, and wonders why she didn’t do this after Dad died 8 years ago. She loves her modern, cheerful, little apartment that is a breeze to live in. It’s such a relief!”
Her friend in a gray business suit wasn’t about to let her off that easy. She flatly stated, “That all sounds nice but what about the food. Those places are notorious for serving bland food that isn’t worth putting into your mouth.”
“Quite the opposite,” the woman replied. “Mother was raving about the food. That surprised me since she is such a good cook herself. So we intentionally joined her for dinner to make sure she wasn’t just trying to make us feel better. Not only did the food taste great but there were varied selections on the menu and the dining room was charming! The server behaved like family. She called Mother by name and took the time to be introduced to us. It was like dining out in a 5-star restaurant. They also have a bistro and a take-out stand.”
My friend knew I would want to hear any conversation about senior living communities and especially about the food and service. It pleases me to hear good training is being received.
Kind Dining♥ training courses are now offered in 9 modules divided into 3 sections of 3 modules each. The experience of dining in any senior living community is the company’s most valuable asset. Your food serving team can learn the skills needed, attitude changes from negative to positive, and build relationships within the community. Your employees caring about the residents receiving quality healthcare, complemented by quality hospitality are goals that can be reached with training sessions and practice. Knowledge is empowerment and creates the leadership you want in your employees. Good training leads them to love what they do and where they do it! The community is proud.
B♥ Kind Tip: Food servers are important to the company; how they serve meals MATTERS!
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Remember the time when you were out for a special occasion dinner in a charming restaurant where the food was all it was promised to be? And then the entire mealtime was ruined because the waiter was in a bad mood and you left the restaurant feeling that you wasted hard-earned money and your celebration went sour? The memory you carried away with you was a bad service. The exceptional food memory was nearly forgotten. That incident shows you the importance of food service skills in your community. No matter how superb the food is, if the service is lacking, the meal is nearly worthless.
When you listen to the residents in your community, you learn the importance of the mealtime experience to them. It’s part of their social plan for the day. They anticipate mealtimes by attending to their appearance and readying themselves for discussions and sharing the latest news. It is vital that your residents’ anticipation be fulfilled. Skilled food servers will sincerely greet all diners with a smile, recognition of their name, words of welcome, knowledge of the day’s menu, and be prepared to offer suggestions if they are asked for them.
If the company has not provided good training and practice sessions, your food serving team may be performing far below par. They are the company’s best assets . . . or greatest liabilities. Not everyone is born with the skills desired for food serving kindness. Learning these skills will also change negative attitudes to positive ones. With the self-assurance of doing an excellent job at work, comes the confidence to take individual initiative, to carry team spirit, to feel self-respect, and extend that respect to others. You can even add love to that list. It comes from a feeling of self-worth and a desire to share it.
Kind Dining♥ training was designed to assist you in honing the skills of all your employees, in building communication between coworkers, residents, and management, using cross-training exercises. These training sessions, now available online/on-demand, focus on working smarter. They are enjoyable and build the confidence necessary for success. This success changes negative attitudes to employees loving to go to work, sharing responsibilities with their coworkers, and extending kindness to all persons. This success creates a casual chit-chat with residents that they find comforting and reassuring. This success includes the confidence to respond to the emotional situations that may arise with residents. Take a long look at staff serving meals (from all departments) in your community and realize how important your food serving teams are to your residents and the success of your company.
B♥ Kind Tip: You have the power to make a big difference to everyone’s satisfaction!
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
“Well, have you worn your thinking cap this past month?” Colleen asked. “I’m anxious to hear what suggestions you’ve come up with for the holiday preparation meeting.”
Colleen and Kelly were having their monthly lunch together enjoying waitpersons attending to them as they waited on residents at the senior living community where they worked. They were always alert to good service, or bad, to note comparison to the service they gave. This day was a bit different at this friendly bistro where they felt welcomed every time they came.
“Yes, I have some great, easy ideas for us all to do!” Kelly looked up to her mentor. “We’re always encouraging the food serving staff to talk with the residents. The perfect opener that is super easy, even for our ‘quieter’ servers, is to ask the residents what were their fondest holiday traditions? Also, did they ever have holidays when everything seemed to go wrong? Usually, those stories are remembered in detail! ”
“Good thinking, Kelly!” Colleen replied. ”Since I’m serving food, every year I love to ask them what their favorite foods were to cook or to eat. Sometimes they even had a table set in a particular way. They really enjoy talking about those memories they’ve piled up over the years. If the conversation lags, I add the question of holiday music and movies. Everybody has a special one to tell you about. That question gets the most reluctant person to talk. When they reply, I see the joy in their eyes. It’s wonderful for them and for me!”
“We also talk about changes from other holidays. There are many comments with this coronavirus we’ve tolerated these last two years.” Colleen has several years of serving food in this community. She enjoys sharing her experiences with Kelly since it is her first holiday working here. “Some older adults struggle with the blues at holiday time, so I cheer them in any way I can. At our employee meeting this week I’m going to suggest we each pin an artificial poinsettia on our uniform or maybe a Santa or snowman pin. Something jolly. It helps. We usually place a candy cane at the place setting on Christmas Day too, for all those who are not diabetic. They get sugarless ones.”
For anyone listening in, as often happens in a bistro or restaurant, it was simple to know that these two women, different in ages, really loved their jobs. Kind Dining♥ wants everyone to feel that way about the work they do. That is only one of the reasons why Kind Dining♥ sessions are so important to your community. It’s easier to love your job when you know the best way to do it, feel confident in your work, share great relationships with those you serve, and also with your coworkers. It is a win-win situation coming from knowledge and practice.
B♥ Kind Tip: Food servers have the power to bring holiday joy to every community elder!
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
The holiday season is an emotional time that can be changed from having the blues and missing particular loved ones, to the idea of forming new traditions, adding new friends to your Christmas list. Very often it is a matter of suggestion and that is where your food serving team steps in. Through casual conversation, your server may open a chat with a simple “what were the favorite parts of your past holiday seasons? Did you do the cooking, if so what favorites were on your table?. .and who were they for?” Remembering and talking about the people your elder’s miss can bring smiles to their faces when they begin talking. Be gentle. Actively listen so you can reply with intelligence.
Start a trend and have all your food serving team wear the color red on a particular day. A scarf, an indoor hat, maybe a Santa or elf hat, a wide belt, or a red, lacy hankie pinned to the uniform will work. During the month of December, they can add a Santa, candy cane, Christmas tree, poinsettia, or other fun pins to their uniform every day.
A hot chocolate station set up in an alcove or activity room with Christmas cookies will encourage cheerful stories of other holidays long passed. Remember to offer sugarless for diabetic older adults. It’s the time of year for social gatherings and meeting new folks to talk with all year long.
If possible, set up a Gingerbread House competition in the activity room. Spread supplies over a table and let the fun begin! The winner has their picture placed on the News Board in the lobby until the end of the year!
A Santa Hat Luncheon can be arranged where everyone who comes into the dining room wears a Santa hat. Be sure to take lots of photos! They will create happy memories that can be joyful all year through. A simple, card and candy cane put next to the place settings makes a personal touch and shows that you have empathy. This small item adds hospitality to healthcare that is vital on holidays.
When family or friends ask for ideas on what gifts to give to their friends now living in much smaller apartments or independent rooms, suggest a book possibly signed by a local author, a magazine subscription, gift certificates, or favorite holiday foods such as homemade specialty cakes, cookies, jams, and items that won’t be coming from the community kitchen.
Kind Dining♥ teaches your food serving team, and that includes each person who delivers a beverage or meal, even if only to help fill a shortage of servers, to become part of the holiday spirit by joining in with the elders in your community. That means opening a conversation with a holiday memory of their own and participating in the extra additions that bring joy to the most important people in your community…your residents.
B ♥ Kind Tip: Mealtime means much more than food to your residents.
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Many long-term care communities are finding ways to cut expenses yet benefit their residents at the same time. One of those improvements is investing in a garden. An area is set aside for residents to participate in the gardening program of planting, maintaining, and reaping vegetables, fruits, and herbs due to their input. The kitchen is much rewarded with fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs that retain their nutrition because they are as fresh as possible. The herbs are used to enhance the flavor of the food and garnish to add eye appeal to any lagging appetites that may linger among the residents. Some communities have further invested in bringing a small portion of their garden indoors under controlled lighting and watering to produce fresh vegetables. The investment pays for itself at harvest time and in the interest of some residents who receive joy from being part of the growing season. Everyone is rewarded.
It is time to stand back and examine where your budget from last year succeeded your desires or failed them. In these times of severe labor shortages, if you have lost employees this past year you need to know why and how you can prevent losing employees ever again. Did you provide them with the best training possible, not only when they were first hired, but ongoing education that builds their confidence and creates a sense of ownership in the company and community? On the job responsibilities are not learned in a week nor are they learned by a manager handing them a list and saying ‘these are your duties.’
