by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
What can you do when the entire industry has been affected by the pandemic? It is vital to help residents understand why you may not fulfill every request they have at the present time. Residents really have no idea about the inner workings of your foodservice team. Neither do they realize that you have suppliers who also have a shortage of supplies, employees, and delivery drivers? Through good training sessions, your food servers know how to start up conversations with the residents while serving meals. It’s a good time for them to discuss with knowledge and confidence the shortages of supplies as well as staff. Volunteers may emerge from those conversations especially from those who have retired from the food industry and know exactly what difficulties you are facing.
The friendships your food servers have intentionally built with your residents are now the perfect way to stimulate their thinking about the problems the pandemic has caused. They will be happy to know about current events and viewpoints other than their own. Knowing others have volunteered for a temporary time may encourage them to also offer their services. Volunteering is a welcome and rewarding experience that benefits residents, staff, and the community. It helps to relieve the stress of a staff member doing the small jobs that take time to perform when employees are short-staffed. It boosts the spirit of the volunteer and enables them to meet new acquaintances. Relationships nurture good health and hospitality is pure enjoyment. These connections may spur the desire to leave the comfort of their rooms and mingle with others again.
Kind Dining♥ training, now available online, can transform food serving teams into leaders, show them how to build trust and heal broken relationships within the community. Making significant improvements in attitudes in your food serving staff increases meal revenues from family and guests and resident satisfaction. Simply adopting kindness to the persona of each employee in virtual practice sessions will introduce harmony to the daily work shift. Practicing serving skills includes everyone and avoids pointing a finger or weakness that may embarrass a worker. The training sessions are about building teams with positive thoughts and actions. It’s about working efficiently, intelligently, and solving problems not by finding fault but by finding a better way. Kind Dining♥ builds relationships around the table. Does your food serving staff do the same?
B♥ Kind Tip: Practice your Kind Dining♥ skills every day; they will soon come naturally!
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Colleen and Kelly kept their usual lunch date to discuss the upcoming employee meeting in their senior living community. So many changes have taken place over the last two years that they like to stay aware of them. They also enjoy contributing new ideas to help their workplace run even more smoothly. At the present moment, they are working with less than a full food serving staff while the human resources department interviews new applicants. They have built a personal friendship out of Colleen’s mentoring Kelly on the job they both love doing. Both also firmly believe hospitality compliments, healthcare, and go hand in hand.
“I like this new menu. It has several additions that are interesting,” Kelly said. “Maybe I’ll take note and slip it to our chef. He may appreciate the suggestions for our Bistro or wherever he wants to add them. At the least, he’ll know we are thinking of him while eating somewhere else.” She chuckled as she spoke the words, knowing he would accept it as being helpful, not critical.
Colleen agreed. “Good idea Kelly. Yes, do that. He knows we’re on the same team, working toward the same goal. Every little bit helps. He’s relieved too, that our residents understand about some shortages that happen in our deliveries. I’ve explained it a few times when women complained. They just had no idea that some items are still scarce to get until our supply companies are fully staffed. The entire industry has suffered losses.
“At the meeting, I’ll mention that Ms. Johnson and her friend Ms. Davis have volunteered to come in 3 days a week for an hour or two in the morning to fold napkins and set tables. They both retired from the restaurant field and are happy to give a helping hand. They already have 3 days covered by Ms. Jenkins doing the same thing. Sherry told me that she’s accepted an offer from Ms. Williams to assist her in entertainment. She’s retired from a college art department still full of ideas for art projects. We work in a great community!”
Communication is imperative for building relationships. When residents understand the enormous effort the company and staff are facing, it changes attitudes. Understanding pulls all facets together for a full picture. Kind Dining♥ training courses were designed from understanding the best parts of hospitality, and dining service and crafting our unique hospitality brand, which connects with and supports the best parts of culture change and healthcare. Hiring challenges are leveled with interactive training sessions and practice. Strategic communication between staff and residents is emphasized. Kind Dining♥ training was created for the well-being of others.
B♥ Kind Tip: Your staff has an important role to play in helping residents understand the Covid challenge to the community’s services.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Labor shortage couldn’t come at a worse time for Long Term Care and Retirement Living communities! The largest number of people is reaching retirement age than ever before and they are living longer! This is no time to be short of food serving staff. Yet with the pandemic, we’ve experienced that is exactly what communities are facing today. With the quality of life as the main focus for each of your community residents, it is imperative that you have sufficient and properly trained food servers. The problem isn’t always corrected by bigger amounts of cash in hand paychecks. It is time to be open and test new ideas.
One brilliant idea is investing in your food servers, including those who leave their desks or other duties temporarily, when your company is short-staffed and seeking new employees is a smart move. Even when actively seeking to hire new employees, training focused on the unique needs of serving older adults impresses the applicants as well as a higher wage offered.
If extending the opportunity to younger part-time help, as young as 15 years of age, having training designed to capture their attention, and improve their performance with insightful life-long skill development in place will return the investment for many years to come. Adding a scholarship fund that builds at a rate commensurate with their number of working hours will draw seriously-minded students planning their future. This will create a natural bond between student-worker and the company that is investing in their future. It would be foolish for a student to walk away from a company that believes in them.
Youth serving food to your residents carry conversant energy of promise that your residents will receive with appreciation. Would they not be considered a breath of fresh air after this long period of Covid-19 confinement? I can only imagine conversations being uplifting between young food servers and the older adults they serve with easy conversation creating a bond with the residents. Our fun, and refreshed 9-module online and on-demand Kind Dining♥ courses suit all your training needs to improve communication, team building, serving techniques, and staff camaraderie around the dining experience. Looking at this training as an investment, the company will receive a higher return for years to come from each employee demonstrating skills, gaining confidence, and knowledge of person-centered hospitality and person-directed guidelines set by State and Federal regulations. Remember that all personnel involved in serving food develop a broader perspective of their work and a greater sense of purpose. Food servers are still the company’s best asset.
It will boost your competitive edge with the other Senior Living Communities vying for that same desired employee.
B♥ Kind Tip: Meet residents’ expectations with a superbly trained food serving team!.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
“I’m concerned that my company may be in trouble,” Matthew commented. “We’ve lost too many of our staff for various reasons and it isn’t easy to replace them. We’re trying different ways to encourage them to stay, including increases in pay. It should work if that is a deciding factor for someone planning to leave us to go to another community. We’re making it very public that we believe in excellent and continuous training for our employees too. Training is so important.”
Matthew and David stopped to grab a burger and a beer for lunch after another morning basketball game in a series of games they attend for exercise. Matthew picked up the conversation where they left off before the game started. He is a management staff person at an Assisted Living community as David is in another community. They often work out problems through their discussions and trading ideas.
“For the first time, we hired part-time students as food servers at age 15 which is 2 years younger than our normal requirement” David offered. “We also have a new training series where we set aside a dollar into a scholarship fund for each hour they work, hoping the incentive will keep them focused and faithful to our company. They really respond to the training. Their energy and enthusiasm overflow in a notable way with our residents. Our residents give us positive comments. I’m excited about it and much prefer it to robots. It’s like an investment in our future to support a youngster with dreams and ideals. I’ll keep you posted on how that is working. I expect to be giving you stories of success. How is that for confidence?” David chuckled because he was excited about this idea he strongly suggested at a meeting a few months ago and wanted desperately for it to succeed.
Matthew replied with sincere interest. “I agree with you on using robots only as a last, desperate measure. An investment in youthful energy sounds much more promising. I would be proud of our company’s involvement in helping young adults to more purposeful education while benefiting our community at the same time. I’m going to bring that idea up at our next meeting. Tell me more.”
Kind Dining♥ training series reinforces the long-term positive results that come from educating your employees with interpersonal, and technical skills, and smarter work habits. Continued practicing and reinforcing what they have learned will follow up with years of caring, confidence, and competent employees from a small investment in a one-of-a-kind training series that hits the mark and improves performance. It works!
B♥ Kind Tip: Building confidence in your employees through training is a smart investment.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
”Well, I could hardly wait to call you to tell you that my daughter Kate had a class at school in Civility this week. It referred to last August being National Win with Civility Month.” Dolores was talking with her brother Robert. She often discussed problems that arose in the retirement living community where she worked. He enjoyed giving his little sister advice. “Someone must have overheard our conversation last week.” She laughed.
He responded by asking, “Did you tell her that we talked about this?” Dolores thought about that for a moment before saying, “I haven’t had a chance yet, but it is on my list. Maybe it is better for us to discuss it after it settles in her mind. Then we can compare notes. I want to know what this instructor brought to the surface.”
“Great,” Robert said. “I’m curious and want to hear what she learned.”
Just the previous week Dolores told her brother about a newly hired food server in her community. He supposedly had several years’ experience. For a newcomer stepping into an established situation, he was rude and loud like he was trying to get everyone’s attention. The little she witnessed of his interaction with the residents revealed a man who spoke condescendingly to them. That was a big no-no in her style. She was hoping to see positive results after his training session and then the employee group discussion that followed. Hopefully he would get the message and not be let go because of behavior attitudes.
Dolores was conscious of the freshen-up training she received a year ago. They practiced conversations with omitting words that offend others that we may unintentionally use and how to apologize if we happen to do just that. A simple, “I’m sorry for what I did, it was wrong, let me make it right” was perfect. She enjoyed learning that they all need to be courteous to coworkers, too. Civility and courtesy were not for residents only. That training session seemed to help most of her coworkers who worked more like a team than before.
Kind Dining♥ training emphasizes the importance of civility and courtesy in everyday surroundings that will carry over to a person’s interactions in personal life. This conscious decision to show civility creates a positive attitude for one’s self that leads to a better life for all who participate. No one is born with these skills but they can easily be learned with training and practice. Many people aren’t even aware that what they consider teasing is most often being rude. Many comments intended as jokes to make others laugh are truly being cruel to someone. Fortunately, bringing these thoughts into discussion sessions gives a new outlook on one’s conscious behavior. It is another step in improving your life.
B♥ Kind Tip: Practice is what it takes.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Commonly, being civil is not something everyone is consciously aware of in their daily behavior. Someone, or group, believes we need more civility in our lives because August was appointed “Win with Civility” month. Organizations, companies, and even government departments were offering awards, prizes, and ideas to bring attention to the major problem of incivility in the daily workplace. There are even Civility Pledges offered for those who wish to practice awareness of incivility and change it to civility. We believe every month needs to have civility awareness. In retirement living communities, civility goes hand in hand with Kind Dining♥. It is vital that food servers are constantly aware and practicing civility because they are the main conduits connecting the community with residents multiple times a day. Practicing civility with coworkers is also vital toward building a food serving team that works together smoothly, improving their workday and working relationships.
To understand cultural conditioning by knowing your family culture learned as a child and how to bridge that, first by extending respect for the culture of others. Embracing the diversity of residents in the community is paramount toward creating harmony and forming the familiar feeling of being home. Home means belonging and it is essential for residents’ contentment and their sense of well-being. Aware food servers can help create that harmony when they connect to residents with small talk, light conversation, pleasant greetings every time they meet, and extend a helping hand if necessary. These added skills open the way to learn the culture of others. Relying on your self-esteem reflects your thoughts and will help build solid relationships. Now that dining rooms are reopening, alert food servers can assist in breaking up negative cliques, by introducing new residents to tables already established. Using finesse to do this is another skill added to the food servers’ archive of knowledge.
Kind Dining♥ concludes civility responsibilities are another skill the meal serving team needs to learn and practice. The civility adopted expands outward to include coworkers where offering a helping hand forms on-the-job friendships. Trust is formed when coworkers can rely on each other. Encouraging the Golden Rule suggestion of – treat others as you would like to be treated- is a perfect guideline for attitudes toward residents and coworkers. Employees who are trusted and treated with respect, remain on the job. That respect comes from all directions, residents, coworkers, and management. Civility can achieve that.
B♥ Kind Tip: To meet residents’ expectations, treat them as you like to be treated.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
You may ask how your food serving team can be expected to retain their enthusiasm on the job when times, such as this past year have brought challenges they were not prepared for. Now that Long Term Care, Assisted Living, and Independent Retirement Communities have contained the fast-spreading of coronavirus the food serving team has the right to pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Food servers adapted to in-room service and wheeled carts filled with deli selections, snacks, and beverages. They traveled throughout the community hallways, open spaces, and pop-up corners easy to reach yet still able to keep a distance from others. Large common rooms were laced with small table settings of 2 or 4 carefully distanced for healthful dining.
Management and employee discussions that included requests from residents, worked on alternative ideas to replace the closing of their traditional dining rooms. Among other ideas, they decided on installing ‘Grab & Go’ cafes where meals were packaged ready to pick up including freshly made and boxed pizzas. Weather permitting, terraces and patios were put to use with umbrella tables where the lighter fare was offered. Other alternative dining choices such as pop-up Bistros located closer to residents’ rooms and apartments were opened as the coronavirus was in the process of being contained. The food serving teams were visibly in touch and smiling behind their masks, doing exceptional work reaching and assuring the residents they served.
Kind Dining♥ training teaches the skills that built the confidence and competence these food serving teams displayed. The combination of healthcare teams embracing our unique blend of hospitality is the thread that runs through food serving teams that work together with enthusiasm. They typically desire to learn how to work easier and better, connecting and bonding with residents they serve. They helped to build recaptured lives after the pandemic hit through mealtimes and social event hours. Pride in the work they do and caring the way they do it was certainly earned. This approach creates a joy that overflows and improves everyone’s day that comes in contact with these dedicated food servers. It’s a goal to strive for and shows enthusiasm and respect for coworkers, residents, and the community.
The secret to success via Kind Dining♥ is to educate the communities that desire a service makeover by sharing fundamentals such as courtesy and positive attitude every day, perfected social skills, and proper serving techniques that are necessary to enjoy a winning dining environment. This includes group meetings that invite residents’ thoughts and opinions.
B♥ Kind Tip: Smile as you practice your newly learned Kind Dining♥ skills!
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership, Resident Centered Dining Service
John and Paul have been challenging each other to a game of chess since they both had a full head of hair, a wife, and young children. When John was widowed after nearly 50 years of marriage he moved into a Retirement Living Community. A few years later Paul followed his lead. They are still trying to outsmart each other at chess.
“What did you think of the dinner last night?” John asked while waiting for Paul to make a move. “It’s a new idea the chef has been trying this past year.”
“I liked it,” Paul replied. “The meal reminded me of Martha. You know I still miss her and her home cooking. She also used to cook other than what we ate normally to get me to try some new recipes and expose me to new foods. She did her best to keep me from becoming an old stick in the mud when it came to dinnertime.”
“I liked it, too. It’s the chef’s way of respecting the foods we were familiar with at home. I think he makes mealtime taste like home. These Special Meals, as he calls them, reflect favorites of our age group and the spreads we enjoyed on holidays. The younger set eats differently than we always did.” John continued. “You can request a favorite menu and even send family recipes into the kitchen. It tells me that the kitchen cares about what makes me happy. I rather like having choices, too, and I know they are healthy foods.”
As the conversation over a chess game reveals, Retirement and Long Term Care Communities that value the dining experience, continue to advance their focus from the residents’ perspective and educate their food and dining service teams. It helps that they continue their Kind Dining♥ eLearning courses and have regular meetings that result in exchanging new ideas. Chefs and kitchen workers explore ways to add new dishes to keep their menu varied. Some even present opportunities for residents to taste-test recipes prepared from the residents’ favorite recipes brought from home. The dishes are voted on by secret ballots of the residents. The meals that get the most votes go onto the regular menu for a period of time. The goal is to create the feeling, through fellowship, of truly belonging to the community.
Breaking bread together has been a way of bonding and creating those relationships for centuries. Food feeds more than just the body. It feeds emotional nutrition. Mealtimes, brunches, and Happy Hours are the basis for social gatherings that begin with food. Families identify with their culture through the food they ate since birth. For residents, the focus is still on food and all the socialization that surrounds each mealtime throughout the day.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Your residents’ feeling of a home may come from your kitchen.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Colleen was explaining to a relative newcomer to the Senior Living community Kelly, how she came to work here several years ago. “Gram moved in about a year after Grandpa passed away. She no longer wanted to maintain the big, old country house anymore or to wander around all the rooms empty of Grandpa. Mom wasn’t sure she would adapt to such a drastic change in her lifestyle. Boy, did Gram surprise all of us! She took to the community like ducks to water!”
“But what does that have to do with you?” Kelly inquired as she continued eating her lunch. They were on break and had been meeting at lunchtime since Kelly began her first day of work when Colleen offered to show her the ropes.
“I was still in high school and left my summer job working in a retail shop to work here in foodservice. I was supposed to check up on Gram to be sure she was not lonely. Hah! That was a joke! Gram fit right in and had new friends within a week or so. Her days are as full as she wants them to be. She tells me how she never expected to enjoy herself so much. It is so different from her mother’s widowhood. Big change, she tells me.”
“In what way?” Kelly asked.
“She has choices of what she wants to eat, when, where- meaning the café or dining room, or in her own room, and when she wants to get up in the morning or to bed at night. There are no institutional routines like there once was in Senior Living or Assisted Living. She is treated with dignity and respect; not talked down to that would make her feel childish. She joins in the activities offered, or not; her choice. She’s made a great many friends including some on the staff. They took time to get to know her, not as a faceless person that needed care.”
“How has your work here changed you?”
“I’ve learned so much in the training sessions and on the job from coworkers, that have touched me in many ways. I’ve changed my direction in school and am now pursuing education for a career in the Food Service Department. I want to work in a field where I love what I do.”
Kind Dining♥ training gives employees the confidence to challenge them to do good work easier and better. This training encourages culture change that allows staff to give personal care, to come to know the people they provide service for, to reap the benefits of caring, and to love the work they do with altruistic satisfaction.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: You have the power to make a big difference in resident satisfaction!
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Making choices in Senior Living and Long Term Care communities is not just about the residents. Staff face making choices every day. After scheduled meetings and training sessions they have choices to make their work easier and better from tips and new ways learned in those training sessions. Their main choice is to keep an open mind, especially to staff that has been on the job for a number of years. Often they think their work responsibilities are familiar to them, so why should they attend meetings and training sessions? Surprise! Changes are happening all the time. New ideas and better ways of performing chores are constantly being revealed. Attitude adjustments in combining Healthcare with Hospitality are changing the way food service staff and nursing staff see how their work affects the care of residents. Making that choice to accommodate newly emphasized regulations that improve the quality of life is a choice to improve their own life at the same time. When enlightened attitudes are adopted by foodservice and healthcare staff it will become second nature by way of practice. The new ways will overflow into their personal life away from the community, too. Training sessions and pursuing new ideas at meetings are investments in your community employees helping them to improve their lives.
Kindness, civility, and hospitality have always been cornerstones that build respect in Kind Dining♥ training. Consideration between coworkers and practice is strongly featured to attain desired results from all who serve residents. This includes staff that only fill in when necessary. Guidelines and regulations must be recommended to all employees of the company whether referring to coworkers or residents.
Higher standards of person-centered care and service are a goal attained by embracing new skills. Remember the food server still sets the ambiance of mealtime for residents. Proper training turns your food serving staff into your most valuable company asset. Mealtimes are central to success for a community and a great marketing point. Those mealtimes are still where your residents focus, universally value, and hospitality is still the universal language. Following these skills learned in training sessions brings success to your employees and to your company.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Improve communication skills with coworkers on other shifts.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Senior and Long Term Living newsletters inform us that dining is back! It is returning slowly but safely and steadily by small groups in dining rooms, cafes, sunrooms, and other small areas. Open spaces with scattered seating have been popular for picnics and festive occasions. Outdoor spaces are being utilized, encouraging social gatherings again. Some residents are wary about reentering the social scenes and need to build up confidence after being isolated to their rooms for the last 18 months. Again, the food serving teams are being called upon to help residents by incurring their trust and reliability. Employees are asked to also be aware of the mentality of their fellow coworkers; to be alert if reassurance is needed and to offer it if it is. The food serving teams are asked to be supportive, be social, even add some humor into their daily lives and exposure to residents and coworkers alike. It is time for building trust. The culture of treating everyone with respect and dignity remains in place as the staff is asked to exhibit their empathy. Older adults, in particular, have experienced fear and anxiety during these past pandemic months. Many will need to advance slowly back into a social scene again. Food servers have the perfect opportunities to assist in drawing residents into a comfortable alliance. Opening lines of communication will open trust and courage the resident diners may need at that moment.
Kind Dining♥ training advocates educated responses to questions casually posed by residents while interacting with food servers. It is a perfect time for food servers to answer and build morale, even add some humor with a joke or some funny incident they read. With culture change in place, it relies on those food servers to be responsible for much more than bringing meals. It is imperative for the food serving team and the residents, that their morale remains high and in good humor, sharing a chuckle or hearty laugh. Their knowledge of the latest community news remaining in their minds, ready to discuss and offer comfort where needed. Practice helps to create dialogue, opening lines of communication with other staff, too. This also tends to form bonds of friendship wherever the food server happens to be. Practice at discussion meetings helps with those coworkers when it doesn’t come naturally.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: ways to create work relationships with co-workers at every opportunity.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Tom paused the old footfall game on the TV. “It’s good to be getting back to normal after this last year and a half of Pandemic–caused changes. It feels like little by little we are opening up to life again.”
“I agree with you on that,” said Mike. They both worked in food service, but for different Senior Living communities. “Though I noticed that many of our residents are still shy about coming into the main dining room or even the café. It’s odd how everyone moaned about being isolated, yet now they can socialize again and are hesitant.”
Tom and Mike have been friends for a long time. Mike applied for employment on Tom’s recommendation even though his own community was not hiring at the time. Mike never regretted it since he is a sociable kind of guy, loving the verbal interaction with the residents he served. “At our meeting last week we were instructed to rely on the trust the residents have in us and encourage them to step back into the dining room again. You know how I am with our residents. I’ve already been discussing it with them. Some just need a little reassurance. Others need time to think about it before socially mixing in the dining room or café.”
“We began by offering hot nibbles from the kitchen served from trays circling the room at Happy Hour in the music room. The scent of the food enlivened dull appetites while the piano tinkling favorite old songs relaxed them as they gained confidence in socializing again. Next, we hosted picnics and dinner evenings outdoors on patio settings, this time using a grill to whet appetites. It was a way to cautiously draw people together, but not too close physically. We’re inspiring trust like this football coach does to build a strong team.” Tom pointed to the TV. “People need a bit of coaxing to let their fear fade away.”
Mike continued about his company’s recent meeting. “The residents aren’t the only people needing reassurance. Many of my coworkers are struggling with anxiety. I agree with the boss’s suggestion that communication with each other, especially using humor, helps put the other food servers at ease. We are still a team! We rely on teammates! We need to help each other in addition to helping our residents! At the meeting, the idea of the residents moving at their own pace in their return to normal, applies to us, too.”
Kind Dining♥ training believes in training new, even part-time employees, brush-up training for long-term employees, and discussions among the employees to seek their ideas and suggestions. These sessions make for good team results just like good football coaching.
Tom and Mike agreed that their discussions of new and old ideas in making their jobs better for themselves and their coworkers. They both loved the work they did and were happy to find ways to help their teammates to love their work in the same way.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Be brave enough to make positive changes.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Mary was talking on her cell phone lamenting to her mother about turning 30 and facing new challenges and changes.
“Hah!” Her mother laughed and wished her a Happy Birthday. They lived on opposite coastlines of the country and couldn’t be together to celebrate. “You have no idea about changes,” she said. “The women moving into our Senior Living Community nowadays have seen changes in their lifetimes! When they were your age they wore stockings with seams up the back, housedresses, and rarely wore slacks. It was a man’s world back in the day. That’s change! At 30 you are still a puppy.”
“Yes, I guess you are right,” Mary replied. “I guess I need to get used to change.”
“Furthermore, this past year and a half have seen many changes here in the Community. We now attend training sessions to keep employees up to date and aware of new routines and ideas. The Pandemic has pushed us into a new awareness of the contact we have with all the older generations that live here. It has encouraged healthy and hospitable changes for the residents and for us food servers, too.”
Mary’s mother went on to tell her daughter about her improved working relationships with coworkers related to directives of culture change. She made the effort to know the residents better through the restrictions that Coronavirus brought on. With determined ‘pay attention discipline and practice, she adjusted easily. New laws and regulations are constantly bringing change. The national movement of culture change is finally transforming services to person-centered and person-directed care. Food serving teams are alerted to the individuality of residents they serve, getting to know them and hearing their requests by offering respect and consideration in their choices. The same consideration and respect are also promoted between coworkers. Helping each other to provide improved service is a goal many have set for themselves and their food serving teams. Setting these goals creates dignity, self-respect, and determination to work better not harder. Kind Dining♥ training inspires food servers to view their responsibilities in a way to give the employees a sense of meaning, significance, and purpose in their work.
A true sense of belonging is created when culture change is honored. This comes to both new and long-time residents and to the administration and staff of all job descriptions. A community where all feel the trust that derides from a bond of belonging builds a community of meaningful involvement, a community that flourishes.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Learn how culture change is making a difference.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Your employees may not realize it but the attitude they carry as their work responsibilities are being completed sends a message out to everyone who comes anywhere near them. As they go about conducting their duties, residents are exposed to their presence. Think about how a pleasant ‘hello’ or a random grumpy scowl affects you as you walk past someone while you are out shopping. When it happens to a resident within your community it is even more intense in its effect on an older person walking to the dining room. Because this is their home, they want to know, at all times, that they can trust the people around them. This includes everyone who serves their meals and each employee they pass on their way to wherever. Trust must be built on a daily basis, bonding residents with the representatives of the community its employees. If possible, it is more significant after this past time due to COVID-19 when many people were separated by the fear of contagion. The time is now to rebuild the trust needed to restore the comfort zone of being at home in the community.
This same trust between the older people of the community who rely on it also applies to coworkers. Employees knowing trust is there with coworkers puts more effort into their own work. They gladly chip in to help elsewhere when it is needed. This is called teamwork and can be built from day 1 in Kind♥Dining training sessions. Trust is a learned experience that comes with practice and discussion. Even members of your workforce team who have been so dedicated during the pandemic, have also experienced the sorrow of often being alone from that pandemic. They too have lost family and friends to the Coronavirus, finding themselves struggling in their personal lives. Working to rebuild trust in the workplace will help to strengthen their overall health just as it does for the residents in the community they serve. The loss of friendships made in civic groups, church families, and school programs have left many with low spirits. Those losses can be softened by building stronger relationships in the workplace. Lending a hand to help others returns to help them.
A key factor in recovering from the loneliness the Coronavirus forced on our older population is rebuilding trust in those that surround us. In our senior communities, employees, including and especially our food serving teams, can directly help assuage emotional disappointments by small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. Hospitality and healthcare continue to go hand in hand.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Through hospitality, you can help build relationships one meal at a time.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
It isn’t only a resident that can be a bully! Sometimes a member of the food serving team is a bully and creates difficult problems to overcome. Other members of the team may not want to ‘tattle’ on the person thinking it may reflect badly on them. They may fear losing their own place on the team or face retaliation from the bully. The bully may not even realize they are being a bully. Kind Dining♥ training sessions can alleviate this problem without pointing a finger at one person but by bringing better ways of working into the virtual practice sessions. By introducing everyone on the team to food serving skills, no one will be singled out. It is essential that anyone who carries even just a glass of water to a resident is included as a server and need to attend all training sessions. It is an added way to create a team working toward the same goal and dissolving the problems from anyone who has acted like a bully, even once. Holding open discussions on a regular schedule with the entire serving team and encouraging new ideas from the very people who do the serving, instills leadership qualities and trust in their fellow coworkers including administration.
When one of your servers is a bully it affects more than the rest of the team. Older adults are particularly aware of the atmosphere that exists around the people that are in contact with them when they serve meals three and four times a day. It is easy to spot when someone strays from team goals for whatever reason. Coworkers must leave the problems they have outside work, on the doorstep before they enter the community. There is never a time or situation for them to unload their own difficulties on a resident. This includes any young part-time servers who have a tendency to talk about themselves. It is paramount that they understand and follow that rule. Never. The focus of the food serving team must be person-directed care.
Kind Dining♥ training encourages building friendly relationships with others on the 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 working relationships. It can lighten the load of a sometimes heavy day. It is also a factor in an employee’s looking forward to going to work. Working with nice, kind people makes for a wonderful day!
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Remember to build stronger mealtime relationships with coworkers, too.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Chad was talking to Sherry during their lunch break after a morning training session. “I like this new routine of discussion meetings every week and the training refresher course we’re taking. To be honest with you, I didn’t think I needed it. After all, I waited tables in a fine dining restaurant for five years before I came to the community as a food server. But I like to keep an open mind and was curious to see what was offered in a training session.”
“Well, you are new to us and I see you have adapted easily. I’m glad you came. You are easy to work with, especially when a problem arises. You don’t panic or get upset.”
“Thank you, Sherry. I appreciate your ‘Star of Approval.” Chad flushed and smiled in a teasing way. “I have to tell you that I never thought of striking up a conversation with the residents or creating a bond with them. Formality was encouraged in my restaurant but I enjoy getting to know who I serve. There is so much more to these older adults than I ever dreamed of. They often have great stories once I get them talking. I also never thought of this being their chosen, permanent home. Guess I had in mind that it was like a hospital visit instead. I like knowing I am waiting on them in their home. It makes me feel a bit special.”
“Yes, it’s so much more than delivering a nice plate of food. It really is blending healthcare with hospitality.” Sherry said. “I, too, like the brush-up training sessions. There is so much still to learn and I’ve been working at this community for nine years. Rules change and better practices constantly arise. Plus we have new people move in and also new food servers are hired. Our food serving team is at its best right now. Last year a difficult person was unfortunately hired. She was rude and quite incompetent. I was glad that she didn’t stay long. We do work as a team and help each other when it’s needed. The Pandemic brought out the best in teamwork. We responded to the call. Good training sessions helped to guide us, to work with attentive efficiency-I think it’s called ‘better, not harder and it works for me!”
Kind Dining♥ training sessions, now available remotely, coaches hands’ on training about customer service, culture change, improving the quality of life for residents eating at home, uniquely blending healthcare values and best practices with hospitality values and best practices, for fifteen years now and still going strong.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Confidence and doing your best are the first steps to loving the work you do!
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Helene talked on the phone with her friend Roseanne bringing her up to date on a particular position she applied for in a retirement community in her nearby town. Roseanne had alerted her to the opening.
“I went for my second interview, which was held over lunch in the restaurant in town,” Helene told her. “I’m sure the lunch wasn’t in the community dining room so that they can keep speculations down as much as possible.”
“It sounds promising if you got that far already. How did it go?” Roseanne asked.
“Well, I dressed in my best business suit and arrived early and waited in the foyer area so there would be no chance of missing him. I ordered Shrimp and Avocado Salad which was easy to eat, a medium price, and something I could talk about more and eat less. I was prepared. This second interview made me know that I really want to work in that community. I’m writing a thank you note for the luncheon interview now.”
While Helene was relating the lunch to her friend, Colin discussed what he learned over lunch with his colleague.
“We both know that sharing a meal is bonding. This interview is also more revealing about this person in the setting she will be working in. I noticed that she arrived early and dressed respectfully, which tells me that she is organized. She didn’t order the most expensive item on the menu because it is free (for her), and it didn’t take her long to decide. So she is budget mindful and can make timely decisions. Her manners were impeccable, and she was aware of our waitperson, saying thank you and please.”
Colin was so impressed. He continued. “She spoke clearly and confidently with an instance of how she had solved a problem I mentioned we had faced in our community. Her interpersonal skills are excellent. There is no doubt this candidate is manager material. I can see her working with our foodservice and nursing teams with great success. Oh, I forgot to mention, never once did her cell phone ring or did she check it. I never saw it during our entire hour and a half. I don’t think we will need to be looking for anyone else to fill that position, now or until she retires.”
Knowing what to look for in a candidate when you are hiring for a management position is a key factor in hiring the person who will be part of your food serving team, will encourage food servers to be aware, have the desire to improve their performance, and be part of training sessions. Kind Dining♥ requests management to attend the training sessions for staff and encourages building relationships in your community. The right manager will inspire others around them, including residents and their family members.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: You and your staff have an important role to play in helping residents.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Rumor has it that Henry Ford would read a candidate over lunch to determine if they were suitable for the job. If the person salted their food before tasting it, he would discount them immediately. He believed the habit divulged the individual to be a weak decision maker and would not gauge a situation before taking action.
When interviewing a prospect for a management position in food service, it makes good sense to see them in the environment they will be working and guiding the foodservice team. After the first round of interviews, invite your candidate to lunch (off sight) to converse with them in a relaxed, neutral atmosphere. This will reveal their skills or lack of abilities that will affect your decision whether this particular person will be the long-term asset you want for your company. Notice if the applicant arrived before you or at least on time, how long it takes them to decide from the menu, what price range they ordered from? These items reveal much about the interpersonal skills necessary for desired management.
It is wise to wait until your food and drink orders have been taken before beginning questions. This will lessen interruptions from the server at times when you are most intent. Offer a problem and ask their opinion on how they would resolve it. Does the applicant listen to you while you talk or attempt to give you their view before asking for it? Noticing how the candidate relates to the person serving them exposes their respect or lack of it. This indicates how they will interact with the food serving team they will be working with. Interpersonal skills are vital in a management position. Kind Dining♥ training stresses those skills for all staff serving meals, including management. Do you detect that the candidate will be proficient at building relationships with the team? Encourage improvements of personal growth? Understand how hospitality is partnered with healthcare? Continuing education for individual goals? These are essential basics to know and indicate a bonding of teamwork. The attention paid to these factors will ensure you hire a person who respects your company, your food serving team, your residents, and your community.
You want a person who will love coming to work every day but has the ability to solve problems gracefully, satisfying all involved when those problems arise. Using these guidelines will reassure you that your instinct at the first interview was a solid one to follow up.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Plan and prepare ahead.
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Colleen and Kelly kept their usual lunch date to discuss the upcoming employee meeting in their senior living community. So many changes have taken place over the last two years that they like to stay aware of them. They also enjoy contributing new ideas to help their workplace run even more smoothly. At the present moment, they are working with less than a full food serving staff while the human resources department interviews new applicants. They have built a personal friendship out of Colleen’s mentoring Kelly on the job they both love doing. Both also firmly believe hospitality compliments, healthcare, and go hand in hand.
Labor shortage couldn’t come at a worse time for Long Term Care and Retirement Living communities! The largest number of people is reaching retirement age than ever before 
”Well, I could hardly wait to call you to tell you that my daughter Kate had a class at school in Civility this week. It referred to last August being National Win with Civility Month.” Dolores was talking with her brother Robert. She often discussed problems that arose in the retirement living community where she worked. He enjoyed giving his little sister advice. “Someone must have overheard our conversation last week.” She laughed.
Commonly, being civil is not something everyone is consciously aware of in their daily behavior. Someone, or group, believes we need more civility in our lives because August was appointed “Win with Civility” month. Organizations, companies, and even government departments were offering awards, prizes, and ideas to bring attention to the major problem of incivility in the daily workplace. There are even Civility Pledges offered for those who wish to practice awareness of incivility and change it to civility. We believe every month needs to have civility awareness. In retirement living communities, civility goes hand in hand with Kind Dining♥. It is vital that food servers are constantly aware and practicing civility because they are the main conduits connecting the community with residents multiple times a day. Practicing civility with coworkers is also vital toward building a food serving team that works together smoothly, improving their workday and working relationships.
John and Paul have been challenging each other to a game of chess since they both had a full head of hair, a wife, and young children. When John was widowed after nearly 50 years of marriage he moved into a Retirement Living Community. A few years later Paul followed his lead. They are still trying to outsmart each other at chess.
Senior and Long Term Living newsletters inform us that dining is back! It is returning slowly but safely and steadily by small groups in dining rooms, cafes, sunrooms, and other small areas. Open spaces with scattered seating have been popular for picnics and festive occasions. Outdoor spaces are being utilized, encouraging social gatherings again. Some residents are wary about reentering the social scenes and need to build up confidence after being isolated to their rooms for the last 18 months. Again, the food serving teams are being called upon to help residents by incurring their trust and reliability. Employees are asked to also be aware of the mentality of their fellow coworkers; to be alert if reassurance is needed and to offer it if it is. The food serving teams are asked to be supportive, be social, even add some humor into their daily lives and exposure to residents and coworkers alike. It is time for building trust. The culture of treating everyone with respect and dignity remains in place as the staff is asked to exhibit their empathy. Older adults, in particular, have experienced fear and anxiety during these past pandemic months. Many will need to advance slowly back into a social scene again. Food servers have the perfect opportunities to assist in drawing residents into a comfortable alliance. Opening lines of communication will open trust and courage the resident diners may need at that moment.
Tom paused the old footfall game on the TV. “It’s good to be getting back to normal after this last year and a half of Pandemic–caused changes. It feels like little by little we are opening up to life again.”
It isn’t only a resident that can be a bully! Sometimes a member of the food serving team is a bully and creates difficult problems to overcome. Other members of the team may not want to ‘tattle’ on the person thinking it may reflect badly on them. They may fear losing their own place on the team or face retaliation from the bully. The bully may not even realize they are being a bully. Kind Dining♥ training sessions can alleviate this problem without pointing a finger at one person but by bringing better ways of working into the virtual practice sessions. By introducing everyone on the team to food serving skills, no one will be singled out. It is essential that anyone who carries even just a glass of water to a resident is included as a server and need to attend all training sessions. It is an added way to create a team working toward the same goal and dissolving the problems from anyone who has acted like a bully, even once. Holding open discussions on a regular schedule with the entire serving team and encouraging new ideas from the very people who do the serving, instills leadership qualities and trust in their fellow coworkers including administration.
Chad was talking to Sherry during their lunch break after a morning training session. “I like this new routine of discussion meetings every week and the training refresher course we’re taking. To be honest with you, I didn’t think I needed it. After all, I waited tables in a fine dining restaurant for five years before I came to the community as a food server. But I like to keep an open mind and was curious to see what was offered in a training session.”
