by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
April was having a conversation via a computer Messenger with a friend who called her for advice about how to choose a senior living community. She now lived in a different state so she couldn’t move to April’s community.
“Do you remember when I was in the hospital before you moved to your daughter’s?”
“Sure do. You were complaining about the food before you could barely sit up. I remember it well and laughed at it, not realizing how serious you were.”
“Sam. His name just popped into my head! That was the man who brought my meals every day. He made me laugh even while I complained. Sam saved the day! I looked forward to seeing him come in. He also gave me some hints on which foods to definitely avoid that were listed on the menu. I wonder if he still works there or has taken his super service to someplace that appreciates him. I’ll have to check with Barbara. She’s still a nurse there.”
“I’m amazed that you remember him and his name, too!”
“I can only tell you that he was the highlight of mealtime, not the food. I mention this because that is what you want to do. When you tour the senior living communities, ask residents about the food and the service. It is the most important part of the day, every day!”
It’s true! Mealtimes are still the most important part of every day for your residents. When Kind Dining♥ training programs are part of your food servers’ lives, your community is more likely to keep the same familiar faces your residents like to see. A server gains confidence from what they learn in the training sessions. This gives them the confidence of good performance on their part. Add contentment from their competitive salary and they will carry an assurance in the community. When you have a reliable employee and one that you will not need to waste time finding a replacement and begin training again. Everyone wins you have the right food serving team. Residents are happier with seeing a familiar face and knowing they can rely on their service. Recent labor shortages have made it even more difficult to find the right person to work in your community. If you have a good serving team, you want them to be content in all matters that concern them, including the salary earned.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Recent polls reveal that most senior living communities spend less than two weeks training new employees. A food serving team gains its confidence when they know what their responsibilities are and that they are doing their job with peak performance. To expect good performance it is imperative to provide the best tools-good training and enough of it. Two weeks is not enough time to learn all the multiple skills and details necessary to achieve efficiency in your food servers’ work when you set high standards for your community.
It takes even longer when long-term employees are attempting to acquire different ways to improve the work they have been doing inadequately. After they have accepted new applications into their work habits, a food server may realize that their work has become easier and more efficient. That is the point in retraining and eliminating old habits which no longer work.
Working in a senior living community not only means the many skills you need to know on a daily basis but incorporating hospitality into the service. Unlike some other foodservice positions, the service in the community varies daily. It’s vital to be at your top form, to know what is expected of you and these are taught in Kind Dining♥ training sessions. It is a challenge that keeps your work interesting and keeps the residents you serve delighted to see you. It is common sense for the company to invest in their employees by presenting good tools (training) to make their work better and results better. It is foolish to waste time and money on seeking new employees because the present employees have been ignored. Good service is the result of good and reinforcing training. It is also the responsibility of the company and for its best interest, to attend to satisfactory wages. The pandemic has bitten into the labor market and you want food servers who are competent, quick to learn in training, reliable, and faithful to the community. Being selective at the hiring stage also keeps from wasting company finances. You want your employees to be content with their job, not checking with other senior living communities for one that will respect them by offering them higher wages.
Feeling confident, knowing you have built good relationships with the residents you serve, the waitstaff you work alongside, and that you are appreciated in all that you do, creates a food server who loves to come to work every day. That is who you want as part of your community workforce.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Practice your Kind Dining skills every day; they will soon come naturally!
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Martha sat on a bench in the park sharing an impromptu picnic lunch on Sunday afternoon with her friend Kathryn. She was bubbling over with excitement stumbling to find the right words after she told Kathryn that she had important news to share when she just let them tumble out.
“I’ve been chosen as Employee of the Month!” she said. “I’m not bragging, just surprised and could hardly hold it in and not tell you on the telephone!” Martha has worked as a food server at an assisted living community for 9 years. “It’s a new program,” she continued, “and this is the first month! It was announced at our monthly employee meeting and the committee chair explained how it works. They presented me with a beautiful gift basket that held a gift card for Target for $50! Plus a fancy box of chocolates, nuts, cookies, and other specialty foods items. There was also a card signed by many of the people I serve on a daily basis.”
“Congratulations! Knowing you as I do, I’m sure you earned every bit of the applause you received.” Kathryn said.
“Thank you. There was applause from everyone in our monthly discussion meeting. I’m not used to the spotlight, was a little embarrassed by the attention but very pleased. A Certificate of Achievement was handed to me and my picture was taken to hang on the Event Announcement Wall in the lobby. Next month I’ll be on the committee to choose the new recipient. I feel giddy with the good wishes from my coworkers. I care what they think. You know, I just go along trying to do the best at my job, think about the people I bring meals to and how difficult it is for them sometimes. I never think about whether anyone notices or not. I love what I do and have fun with the residents, especially the elders. They are always so happy to see me. The last year has been tough on them.”
Kind Dining♥ training encourages sincere praise of employees that have an uplifted, positive attitude and does their best to give individual attention to each person served. Food servers build confidence when they know they are appreciated for extending kindly care and particular attention to residents. They are in touch several times a day with residents and make an impact that is vital to the company, too. Surveys have revealed appreciation makes a deeper impression than the amount of money the employee earns. Healthy working relationships between staff and coworkers and between employees and residents don’t just happen. With Kind Dining♥ training sessions (available online now) your food serving team can learn how to build a team where everyone is a winner including the community and the company. The team includes each person who serves food or a beverage, only once in a while, every day, or only on rare occasions. It is still teamwork and everyone likes to be appreciated for the work they do!
B♥ Kind ®Tip: If you see a coworker having a tough day, ask if you can help.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Appreciation Day in Assisted Living and Long Term Care communities is a way of saying thank you for the personal attention your food servers and all employees extend to the residents they serve. It is a way of saying that we, the company, care about you, too. This past, long year of the pandemic has brought all those who serve the residents, to the attention of grateful families and the companies who manage the communities. Commitment, work standards, proper serving techniques, personal bonding with residents, and even coming to work daily are accomplishments to be noticed and rewarded.
Another way of showing appreciation is an Employee of the Month program to honor those who go a step further to reassure a resident when delivering meals, asking a coworker if help is needed. Making small talk to extend friendliness to a resident is comforting. A server’s attitude affects everyone within her range of motion whether serving a meal, passing a coworker in the hallway, or helping to restock the pantry. Leadership qualities seem to be born in some people but others can learn how to become leaders through Kind Dining♥ coaching (available online, too) sessions that bring out skills some employees didn’t even know they had. Hanging the picture of the Employee of the Month, giving a Certificate of Distinction, and a gift basket full of delights are items to consider. The employee recipient then joins the committee for selecting the next Employee of the Month who in turn replaces her/his spot on the committee.
To show appreciation, the company may also give points for perfect attendance and reward with a gift card. These ideas are not setting up a contest but recognition of an employee’s awareness followed by thoughtfulness. It is a way of celebrating personal achievements and milestones of efforts to improve one’s performance. Other factors to include, but not limited to, are attitude, emotional intelligence, quality of work standards, attendance, and length of service, communication with residents and coworkers, and leadership abilities. Aside from hanging the Employee’s picture in a prominent place for residents to see, a picture and some personal information can be sent in the monthly newsletter, included in the social media posts, and blog posts. A card on the employee’s anniversary of the first workday with a small gift card tells your employee the company is happy he/she is part of their community. The amount may increase at various milestones, along with personal conversations over lunch with a manager and a couple of co-workers of the employee’s choosing.
Kind Dining♥ is nearby to guide you with continuing education, the key factor in keeping knowledgeable, food servers and staff that make your community a wonderful place to live and work. People are rarely born with and not often trained in the most vital skills that make a positive difference in others’ lives.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Has someone helped you out today? Thank them.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership, Resident Centered Dining Service
Meal and snack times are still the most important hours of the day for Senior Living communities. That fact makes it most important to have the cream of food servers. They are the window of customer service on the job multiple times per day. The food servers are the community’s ambassadors working on your behalf. You want them to have the finest hospitality etiquette, the neatest appearance, the smile that lights up a room when they enter, and a food serving team that loves the work they do. Why you ask? Older adults in your community respond to these traits that include kindness. When residents are happy, they stay content where they are and they invite former neighbors and friends to come to join them. A happy resident means a space staying filled, not needing to spend extra monies attracting new residents to that space. New residents are attracted to an improved culture of hospitality and healthcare. They recognize the loyalty of a staff that has been long term.
Employees described above are not a dream, but a goal for your community to reach for and attain. There is a way you can have employees carrying those qualities in your community. Training. Kind Dining♥ training offers Virtual training sessions that you can continue to use with new employees and part-time food servers, too. Training will teach food servers the skills they are lacking and better ways to do the work they have been doing. They can open doors to culture change and understanding those who have different customs and backgrounds. A happier staff is a healthier staff. The happy staff creates commitment. The committed staff stays in the community and recruits other high-quality employees. When employees stay, the high cost of employee turnover and searching for new replacements can be used elsewhere in the community.
Highly successful communities have already started to improve their determined retention of employees trained in healthcare and hospitality for the improved person-centered culture. The opportunity for growth is here. Training classes for good citizenship and productive staff is an excellent investment. Commitment to good training is fundamental in meeting the commands of culture re-organization. Customer satisfaction is imperative. The wisest company holds onto its residents by supplying the individual service they expect. Food servers are still the company’s best representatives. Investing in them is an investment in stability and continuance.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: A food serving team has the power to make a big difference in residents’ happiness!
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership, Resident Centered Dining Service
A table of six artists gathered together at their local cafe after having their COVID 19 vaccinations. They had stayed virtually in touch for more than a year and now rejoiced at finally seeing each other in person. At first, everyone spoke at once wanting to relieve themselves of all the pent-up information they wanted to share. When the over-excitement settled, one artist thanked everyone for welcoming her friend to this table of long-time friends.
“Look at us,” she said. “We are like Rockwell’s Freedom from Want painting of the Thanksgiving table but besides being multi-generational, we are also multi-cultural and so diverse! Plus, you welcomed a stranger. It reminds me why I chose you all as friends, besides your being top artists, of course.”
Everyone laughed at the comment about being good artists. Another artist spoke up and said, “Well, why wouldn’t we? It’s who we are and have been since we all met in art class so many years ago.”
“All my classmates in college did not respond in the same way. I painfully remember my first time in the cafeteria when I was discouraged from sitting at some tables. I was new, young, different-looking, and hated eating alone. I still don’t choose to eat alone. I like company and conversation with good food. Actually, any food.”
Everyone laughed again but remembered those early days of becoming adults and how rejection felt.
Many dining rooms in older adult communities are reopening. Some residents will face the problem of being rejected from a dining table if they are recently new to the community. Enter your well-trained food serving team. It’s a situation they can help a resident avoid if the food server is alert and aware that these incidents still happen. Those college-age kids are now retiring adults. Some have never changed. Kind Dining♥ coaches how food servers can guide a recent resident to tables they know will welcome a new resident with pleasure. This is one of the many skills that can improve a food serving team’s performance. With awareness and practice, your food servers can accept more responsibilities and become more confident of their place in the work they do. Adding responsibility adds self-esteem which increases leadership competence. In turn, this will open the door to bonding food servers to work as a team. A team working toward the same goal gains strength as they become aware of their own importance to the company who has invested good training for their betterment.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Sandra and Chloe met early before the Book Club meeting to share some herbal tea and catch up on the latest news. Sandra recently retired from being a senior living administrator.
“Remember Lucy who used to babysit for my daughter? She’s wrapping up her first year in college, majoring in English. She came for some needed advice.”
“Really? Not to your daughter?”
“She spent last summer and her college-break times working mostly as a food server at the Assisted Living community in town. Once her college went on Virtual classes, she added extra time working there. She came to love the ‘grandparents’ as she calls them, and the personal connection with them in her work. She wants to change her major and go to work full-time in healthcare as a career. She’s drawn to the foodservice end of the business and wondered if I had any inside information to give her from my years in service.”
“Good for her,” Chloe said. “So many kids don’t know what they want in the first year of college.”
It’s happened before and will again. Once some young adults work in a field that really draws them in, they realize that it is better to spend working hours doing what you love instead of focusing on the how-much-money-can–I-make aspect. Well-trained part-timers will return to the job at each opportunity and may desire to become full-time employees. Capturing this passion to hone a person’s skills creates a cycle of self-improvement and job enjoyment.
Kind Dining♥ training helps people enjoy their work by understanding their importance in the daily lives of residents they serve. They also become emerging leaders assuming more responsibility. They tend a diverse group of older people who are no longer strangers to their next-door neighbor or the people they see in the activity rooms. Well-trained food servers in the community know how to create relationships with those residents and guide them to build friendships with each other. Enhancing the quality of daily life by improving the dining experience is ultimately the bottom line for the business end of the administration.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Remember your vision to build stronger mealtime relationships.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Many changes have taken place over the last year due to the pandemic. Even without the major chaos, we have lived through, it’s forward-thinking for the company to invest in bringing everyone in staff up to date with the changes and additions to the foodservice culture. Consider it a makeover to refresh serving techniques and a brush up on social skills for newcomers and long-time servers who have worked together on your team. I conducted graduate research in a community for older adults, revealing resident’s service priorities. While serving at mealtimes (or anytime really), courtesy and a positive attitude were at the top of their list. Good social skills are not inborn. If they are not taught at a young age, adults can learn them through training and practice sessions. Social skills are vitally important in any connection with the public.
Proper serving techniques have gained attention because of the number of Baby Boomers entering senior living communities. That generation of retiring adults is more sophisticated than their parent’s generation and will not accept less than they are comfortable within their present lives. The shift in attentiveness is toward person-centered hospitality and care. It is good to begin with greeting the person you are serving with a cheerful smile and offering your name. Also, learning the names of the people you serve forms a stronger connection. Anyone serving a meal may as well do it right with joy, empathy, and friendliness. Residents are not part-time and prefer to know who is bringing their meals. Allow a positive attitude to come to work with you every day, and it will serve you well.
A virtual Kind Dining♥ coaching class is ideal for adapting new skills and refreshing aptitudes in anyone serving meals. I am convinced that confident staff serving meals who strive to continually improve their service make for happier residents. These are the hidden secrets leading the way to your success! Remember, our highest goal is to have residents enjoying every meal and bonding with the people who are serving them. Honing the skills of servers increases their confidence, capability, and empathy, which creates a bond between servers as well.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Meet residents’ expectations.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Helen started working summers and school holiday vacation times in a senior living community while she was in high school. She realized that she not only enjoyed working with older adults but had a natural vocation for this type of work. After graduating high school, she furthered her schooling in spurts since she didn’t have the finances to attend higher education full time. In time her dream of degrees in gerontology faded because life got in the way. She also knew the natural beauty of youth was fading, and she wasn’t sure what to do about that either. One day she came across an article in a magazine that mentioned having a makeover. That was it, she thought to herself. Time for a complete re-do!
And she did invest in a physical makeover altering her thoughts about her appearance. Next, she spoke up at the meeting the staff held each month in her senior living community. After telling everyone about her makeover refreshing her self-image, she suggested they do the same for all of the staff regarding their work. It was time for some fresh training sessions to bring them up to date on new rules and regulations and maybe improve their work performance. She believed it would help newer, inexperienced members of the food serving team and bring additional life to those who had been on the job for a long time. It’s time for the company to show how they value us by investing in the further education of our food serving skills. Every one of us on the staff has performed as food servers even if we do not serve meals daily.
Investing in a remote Kind Dining♥ training and coaching program is what Helen had in mind. While having lunch with a friend recently, who is also a food server but in a different community, their conversation slipped into their work, as it often happens. She liked the idea of interaction and practice, not just lectures that her friend described to her. She said it was essential that we understand our role in being a vital part of the community on the food serving team. Our courtesy, social skills, and proper serving techniques make a big difference. They matter! Residents expect it, and we want to keep our residents happy. Her friend called them the secret to success, reminding her that the books on service standards in the dining area do not mention this part of being a top-notch food server. Federal guidelines and state regulations don’t suggest courtesy or positive attitudes either. Helen learned a lot from her lunch companion and looked forward to the Kind Dining sessions she convinced her boss to invest in.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Is there a new food server on staff that needs a helping hand?
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
These pandemic times have, more than ever, taught us that it takes extended skill in a good food server to give the body the nutrition it needs and craves to create a whole, healthy person. The server’s job encompasses bringing a meal to a person along with a smile, saying hello, how are you, tell me what’s on your mind today and have I told you….. These pleasantries feed a person, too. When food servers feel valued, appreciated by the administration and their coworkers and keep a calm demeanor because they do, they can naturally carry this relaxed, considerate, and kind ambiance. It is part of them, and they share this confidence with everyone they meet. This is not a temperament one is born with but has evolved into over years of growing. If a food server doesn’t have this way about them, it can be developed (you’ll be happy to know) with proper Kind Dining♥ coaching sessions now available by virtual accession. Residents that have chosen your community to live in desire nutritional health, wellbeing, and quality of life. Wouldn’t you be content if your food servers can give them emotional nutrition without added investment other than the training all food servers deserve?
Your food servers who have easily learned these skills through our training sessions and practice can display their leadership qualities by assisting other food servers which may need extra encouragement. This is a basic kindness that displays how kindness can form respectful relationships between coworkers and build a solid foundation of trust. This is the ideal working ambiance that everyone blossoms under. Kindness is something many of us take for granted, but others have never become aware of a lack of guidance as a child. This, too, can be taught to anyone at any age.
In this pandemic, we are all doing our best, not only to survive but to lift others. We want to inspire food servers to combat fear, overwhelmed feelings, loss of control, and disconnection with residents. Their expectations have far exceeded being served good food by a pleasant food server. They are your residents. Don’t they deserve the best you can provide for them? Your food serving team is your company’s most valuable asset, and mealtimes are still extraordinary opportunities to triumph at person-centered care. It is a time to impress yet make that impression daily. Your staff may not instinctively have an etiquette or be aware of how they can improve their work performance and lift their own self-value at the same time.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Stop. Look. Listen. What does good service feel like to residents?
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Read, read, reading everything that comes into view that demands my attention, and that was how I discovered the term emotional nutrition in the New York Times column of David Brooks. Ah, I am overly delighted that someone else knows what I have been teaching and persuading others to refine in senior retirement, assisted living, and other long-term care communities. Perhaps it has been the coronavirus pandemic that brought it to the attention of this noted writer. Still, I want every one of those communities across the country to be aware of emotional nutrition and that they can digest it easier than imagined with some basic training.
Agreed, emotional nutrition is about the loneliness many people have developed during this past year of quarantine. In particular, people in these communities have severely experienced staff absence, the loss of family visits, and mealtimes gathered around the dining table with longtime friends and newly met acquaintances. Our Kind Dining♥ training sessions had addressed this malady long before anyone heard of the coronavirus or the pandemic it caused. Turning around much of that loneliness through the everyday performance of the food serving team is my goal in teaching them a better way and how to do it easily. The food servers who want to improve their daily service through training and practice will find that the people in the community will benefit, but so will they. Adding new skills, such as simply asking and using a resident’s name, improves the relationship between a resident and the food server. It becomes more personal. Add the art of truly listening when that person speaks, and it sends the food server to the head of the class.
Improving service by building a relationship shows that you care and wear away the loneliness a resident may be feeling. Keep in mind that you are serving them in their home, and a person certainly doesn’t want to feel lonely in their own home. When a food server helps a resident lose that lonely feeling, it gives the person a better appetite, decreases unwanted loss of weight and dehydration. Good service incorporates the simple act of hospitality to work for everyone’s satisfaction. The servers, defined as those who bring a meal or solely pours a beverage, perform a complex job. The top servers carry a friendly mood, social graces, etiquette, a knack for creating a relaxed atmosphere for each person they serve. They do it naturally if they have practiced what they learned from Kind Dining♥ hands-on or online training instruction. It will feel as comfortable to them as it does to the person suffering from a lack of emotional nutrition.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Food servers have the power to make a big difference in resident satisfaction!
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Even through today’s mealtimes that are so different from our usual expected normal mealtimes pre-pandemic, your food servers can still provide memorable experiences for the older adults they serve. Food servers will be remembered with gratefulness when they have shown kindness, consideration compatibility, and caring during the recent unstable year. We have managed to live through it in the best way we knew how, by changing routines and serving styles while still building community. Adapting to new ways of serving meals would have come easier to the staff that has had good training. Part of being able to accept sudden changes and showing empathy to the older adults who have been impacted by these changes is part of the skill of an excellent food serving team.
Teaching servers to create an ambiance of genuine hospitality when serving meals can impress caring upon your residents. Now that residents are unable to join their friends in the dining room, they especially look forward to seeing their food servers for a connection to internal news. It is an excellent time for them to form bonds with food servers who may be delivering meals to their doorstep. The food servers’ skill of conversing freely and easily is a beneficial asset to practice. Research shows when residents are highly satisfied with their community dining, overall satisfaction scores rise. Mealtimes are just as important to them during the pandemic though mealtimes have been quite different this past year. Of course, the food itself must be good, but the serving of it is the fancy wrapping of the gift.
Your training program determines your staff’s responses to situations of stress when special skills are called on. Companies set values to direct a clear statement to employees and guide their conduct and attitudes. How food servers treat and respect each other displays how they interact with the residents. Training that does not create excellent performance in your food-serving staff is a waste of time and money. This is the perfect time to add a remote Kind Dining♥ program to your business plan of improving your community’s quality of food service standards. Interactive training builds health and well-being for the staff that inadvertently affects those they serve. Residents that are satisfied do not search for another community, reducing the cost of replacing their empty space. Residents that are content with their community recommend it to others.
B Kind® Tip: Satisfying residents by way of their mealtime experience by utilizing the skills of your servers is achieving the desired goal.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Leah was sitting in a memoir writing class when the instructor said to think back to a moment when you met a turning point in your life. Instantly she thought of the last time her family enjoyed Sunday afternoon dinner together. She was 16 years old, the youngest sibling in her family.
Hear, hear,” Dad said. “I have an important announcement to make. Now that you are all old enough to have other places to be or to go to, we will no longer require you to give up your Sunday afternoons to come home to dinner. It’s Mom’s turn to take the day off or spend them with me wherever we plan to go. It will include dinner out in a restaurant for us.”
She wrote about how much she missed those Sunday afternoon dinners. Although she was a teenager, her time away was not as demanding as her two older brothers and sister. Sure, Mom certainly deserved time to herself or going out with Dad. They did have supper together during the week but there was always someone or two missing from the table for one reason or another. Sundays were special. She missed the conversation, the catch-up of news, and the laughter. Often a guest joined them. Holidays were a replica but it was never the same as those Sunday dinners.
Sharing a meal with family or friends is what older adults have missed the most this past pandemic year. Mainly for the same reasons, the catch-up of news, camaraderie, sharing, and laughter. Of course, the food is an important part of the meal but it isn’t only about the food. When your food serving team is preparing, packing, and again beginning to serve meals under the new guidelines of social distancing, they are a vital part of re-creating those memories for your residents. If they didn’t know before the pandemic, food servers learned their value to their communities in this year of restrictive and sometimes solitary living for residents.
As the creator of Kind Dining♥ coaching sessions, I know the influence a food server has on mealtimes. It is proof of the necessity of good, interactive training where food servers learn the value of serving skills that include attitude, civility, relationship, and the caring that shines through when a food server does it right. Is it any wonder the effect they have on the health and well-being of those older adults.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: How you serve meals makes an impact on an older adult’s day.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Major changes have taken place in all our lives this past pandemic year. Retirement and Long Term Care communities have been hit hard. They needed to make important decisions, extensive changes, and fast. Gathering together at the table with family and friends at mealtimes was the focus of many and was drastically ended. Alternate ways of keeping residents fed, content, and without fear were a challenge for many communities. Strong, informed leadership took charge and smoothed the rough spots as they appeared. Mealtimes were altered to door deliveries, smaller assemblies on each floor served buffet-style, socially distanced, and pick-ups also socially distanced. Foodservice teams were working at peak performance, adapting to different ways of working other than their normal routines. It took firm leadership with forward-thinking ideas on how to redesign food presentations quickly. All this was planned with quality of foodservice provision combined with hospitality.
Staff usually looks to administration for leadership but this pandemic time was a time for every person responsible for foodservice operations, purchasing, preparation, cooking, packing, carrying, and delivering food to have the confidence of making on-the-spot decisions as necessary. That kind of self-confidence is built with Kind Dining♥ training that encourages individuals to broaden their responsibility and accept leadership roles they have learned in active coaching classes. Administrators acknowledge value and respect when they place faith in their food serving team to adjust and react to situations at hand that come up unexpectedly during these pandemic days. The company that has invested in training for all employees who will be called on, when serving staff is short-handed, to deliver at mealtimes, is empowering food servers to create the knowledge that ‘we are all in this together’ sense of community. The training that focuses on breaking down the perceived barriers between servers of different professions, backgrounds, and ethnicities, to create bonds of working relationships, sharing duties and helpfulness is building that self-confidence. When employees have a voice and are inspired to use that voice, they build self-esteem and see their value to the company. Pride in one’s work enters and promotes relationship bonds with the older adults they serve. The pandemic has called on these food servers to use all their hospitality skills along with their serving skills to assist in calming residents whose lives are chaotic and disorganized from the insecurity of COVID 19.
Satisfying residents by way of their mealtime experience by utilizing the skills of your servers is achieving the desired goal.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Talk and share stories to break up “icebergs” with your coworkers and the older adults you serve.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
Alice’s eyes fell on her daughter’s open book that showed a lovely picture of a butterfly with the caption commenting about the butterfly effect. It stated the theory that a butterfly gently flapping his wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world. Hmm. She immediately thought about the last idea session at the retirement community where she was a food server for the last five years. She recalled that they talked about person-centered care about food servers incorporating small ways in their daily service that would make a major difference to the older adults in the community.
She thought about applying this theory to her work performance, take notes to see how much of a difference it made, and report it at their next meeting. She would enjoy discussing this with the team because their leadership encouraged ways to improve the quality of life for their residents and support the foodservice team. Alice knew the emotional level many of the older adults she served were highly sensitive in this past pandemic year. She had already extended consideration sensitivity to those who seemed to need it more than others. Now she would be aware of all she served and seek where they may need attention but haven’t asked for it. She later reported to her discussion group at the meeting. The butterfly theory worked! Small things can have an impact on complex situations!
The Kind Dining♥ training sessions have long been focusing on person-centered care. Our core value has been including civility, courtesy, and caring as a natural, easy part of a food server’s day with older adults and with coworkers, too. With practice, this new positive attitude becomes a part of who the person is every day. Our sessions are interactive, so your food serving team can get the physical feeling of what is needed and expected. We encourage sharing responsibilities in helping your coworkers and seeking improving ways of implementing your work.
There were movements of change in our industry before the pandemic arrived. COVID 19 just made changes take place immediately. It pointed out the necessity of person-centered care. It also brought out the best in people working in the service industry that held our older adult communities together during this crisis. Kind Dining♥ believes that once learned, good training stays with a person forever, becoming a part of who they are through practice. It’s an investment the company will benefit from, as long as good food servers are needed, whether they are food servers who serve meals daily or ancillary staff from various departments just filling in when required.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: With Kind♥ Dining service, be brave enough to make positive changes.
by Cindy Heilman | Resident Centered Dining Service
This past year the coronavirus took over, changed our lives and the way food servers perform their daily work. These food servers became heroes overnight along with many others in service positions. Knowing the importance of their presence in the community they didn’t stay home, call in sick or whine about long hours on the job. Food servers took ownership of their posts, accepted the additional responsibilities, and changed their routines and schedules to benefit the residents in the retirement and long-term care communities. When coworkers needed help, they were there to pitch in to keep the preparation and flow of meals being delivered to residents in their rooms. They gave extra time to communicate with those residents, reassuring them with personally carried local news, keeping them in the loop so they would not feel too isolated until new programs were set up to divulge information. The food serving teams spread kindness wherever they happened to be. Well-trained food servers easily adjusted to new roles as they carried positive thoughts and uplifted behavior with their presence.
At Kind Dining♥ we know the value of well-trained food servers and the difference they make in a community. Good manners are basic to many of us but not to all. Some people need to be coached to set higher standards for themselves and be awakened to how kindness is given, spreads to create a happy atmosphere in the saddest situations. Patience for a senior, whose meds may be off or maybe struggling with aging, can be incorporated into one’s education. Learning how to assess a bullying situation and how to defuse it are all part of a trained food server’s knowledge. They know how to stop, look, listen and they have been brave enough to take on new challenges to attain a higher goal they have set for themselves through practice. Loving what they do has come to them with the assurance that they matter, to the residents, to the community, to their coworkers, and to themselves. Strong mealtime relationships with the seniors they serve and the food serving teams they are a part of, reflect on the community as a whole bringing recommendations to friends and families that your community is where they want to live.
Growth comes from forward-thinking leaders who are willing to put forth the effort of change even in the challenging, historical times we have managed to survive and actually improved on.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: You can take a leadership role by setting a good example today.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
“It’s true that when I witness a random act of kindness, I smile, no matter how upset or sorrowful I happen to be at the time. It is so much more than it appears to be. It’s like there is a place deep inside where we hold this sack of kindness and when it is needed, we reach in, pull it out, and make someone’s life better. Not only the person we extend the kindness to but anyone who happens to see it and it makes us happier, too. How could I not feel better giving someone else a bit of joy?” Lisa was talking with Trish whose grandmother lives in the retirement community where Lisa is a food server.
Trish has been concerned about her grandmother being in quarantine when she was used to their big family gatherings. Lisa reassured her by explaining part of what she does on a daily basis. All of us food servers have made the effort to get to know those we serve on a personal level so we can ask ‘How is your granddaughter Trish doing?’ Laughing at the example she used, she continued to reassure Trish that there was no need for concern.
“In our community, all staff has attended the Kind Dining♥ training program that showed us what a difference we make by reaching out in a personal way, doing random acts of kindness, and being in the present moment with the seniors we serve. It is part of our job and it comes naturally, after some practicing following our training, and later in our discussion meetings. I’ve come to know the seniors in my sections of service really well. They have become a little like grandparents to me. By the way, that fills a spot in me because my grandparents have all passed away. So, it’s truly a give-and-take situation. Mealtimes have always been a social time for the residents. I like to think that we keep it social in our own way. We are there to bring their meals, to listen, and to help in any way we can. Yet, it is so much more than just bringing in a tray of food or delivering packaged meals that can be eaten right away or reheated later. Between meals, we also visit with snack carts. So, you see Trish, we share time with our seniors several times a day. I think our time (and training) makes a positive difference in our community.”
B♥ Kind ®Tip: Food servers have many opportunities to perform random acts of kindness.
by Cindy Heilman | Leadership
Mary was new to this senior long-term living community. Susan recognized that and struck up a conversation with her as they filled lunch carts to deliver to residents. Susan asked how she came to work here as a food server.
“I worked at a different facility for five years,” Mary said, “and I wasn’t happy there anymore. A new food server was a bully, caused problems between long-time coworkers in foodservice. The new administration wouldn’t correct the situation even though it was brought to their attention. My friend Betty has been boasting about how good it is to work here for a long time and encouraged me to apply for a job. I was nervous about coming to a new place and learning new ways, but I am so glad that I did and I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks. What a difference!”
“Have there been other differences?” asked Susan, curious to know what it was like in other communities. She had worked only at this one, was content, and had no reason to leave.”
“Well, to start with, if we had been caught talking like this, we would have been called into the office for a reprimand for wasting time. Talking with other food servers was discouraged. ”
Susan laughed. “But we aren’t wasting time, we’re still working. Besides we are encouraged to know each other and to ask for help if we need it. We work together and depend on each other. Remember to also get to know the residents you serve. They like knowing who is bringing their meals and are more comfortable asking for help when they need it. When they are happy, we are happy. It makes for a better place to work.
“We also have a great administrative staff that jumps in to help serve meals when schedules are tight.” Susan continued. “Our Kind Dining ♥ training taught us that if we have a problem that needs solving, we can bring it to our meetings. We discuss problems with the administrative staff that attend, too. We work as teams here. It makes a big difference.”
Food servers, as well as other employees, stay on the job when they like who they work with, when they can count on their coworkers to work as a team and when there is a way of solving problems that arise in a working day. Employees look forward to going to work when they know their fellow workers are teammates.
B♥ Kind ®Tip: When it comes to Kind Dining♥ service, we can all be leaders.
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Meal and snack times are still the most important hours of the day for Senior Living communities. That fact makes it most important to have the cream of food servers. They are the window of customer service on the job multiple times per day. The food servers are the community’s ambassadors working on your behalf. You want them to have the finest hospitality etiquette, the neatest appearance, the smile that lights up a room when they enter, and a food serving team that loves the work they do. Why you ask? Older adults in your community respond to these traits that include kindness. When residents are happy, they stay content where they are and they invite former neighbors and friends to come to join them. A happy resident means a space staying filled, not needing to spend extra monies attracting new residents to that space. New residents are attracted to an improved culture of hospitality and healthcare. They recognize the loyalty of a staff that has been long term.
Helen started working summers and school holiday vacation times in a senior living community while she was in high school. She realized that she not only enjoyed working with older adults but had a natural vocation for this type of work. After graduating high school, she furthered her schooling in spurts since she didn’t have the finances to attend higher education full time. In time her dream of degrees in gerontology faded because life got in the way. She also knew the natural beauty of youth was fading, and she wasn’t sure what to do about that either. One day she came across an article in a magazine that mentioned having a makeover. That was it, she thought to herself. Time for a complete re-do!
These pandemic times have, more than ever, taught us that it takes extended skill in a good food server to give the body the nutrition it needs and craves to create a whole, healthy person. The server’s job encompasses bringing a meal to a person along with a smile, saying hello, how are you, tell me what’s on your mind today and have I told you….. These pleasantries feed a person, too. When food servers feel valued, appreciated by the administration and their coworkers and keep a calm demeanor because they do, they can naturally carry this relaxed, considerate, and kind ambiance. It is part of them, and they share this confidence with everyone they meet. This is not a temperament one is born with but has evolved into over years of growing. If a food server doesn’t have this way about them, it can be developed (you’ll be happy to know) with proper Kind Dining♥ coaching sessions now available by virtual accession. Residents that have chosen your community to live in desire nutritional health, wellbeing, and quality of life. Wouldn’t you be content if your food servers can give them emotional nutrition without added investment other than the training all food servers deserve? 
Read, read, reading everything that comes into view that demands my attention, and that was how I discovered the term
Even through today’s mealtimes that are so different from our usual expected normal mealtimes pre-pandemic, your food servers can still provide memorable experiences for the older adults they serve. Food servers will be remembered with gratefulness when they have shown kindness, consideration compatibility, and caring during the recent unstable year. We have managed to live through it in the best way we knew how, by changing routines and serving styles while still building community. Adapting to new ways of serving meals would have come easier to the staff that has had good training. Part of being able to accept sudden changes and showing empathy to the older adults who have been impacted by these changes is part of the skill of an excellent food serving team. 
Leah was sitting in a memoir writing class when the instructor said to think back to a moment when you met a turning point in your life. Instantly she thought of the last time her family enjoyed Sunday afternoon dinner together. She was 16 years old, the youngest sibling in her family. 
Major changes have taken place in all our lives this past pandemic year. Retirement and Long Term Care communities have been hit hard. They needed to make important decisions, extensive changes, and fast. Gathering together at the table with family and friends at mealtimes was the focus of many and was drastically ended. Alternate ways of keeping residents fed, content, and without fear were a challenge for many communities. Strong, informed leadership took charge and smoothed the rough spots as they appeared. Mealtimes were altered to door deliveries, smaller assemblies on each floor served buffet-style, socially distanced, and pick-ups also socially distanced. Foodservice teams were working at peak performance, adapting to different ways of working other than their normal routines. It took firm leadership with forward-thinking ideas on how to redesign food presentations quickly. All this was planned with quality of foodservice provision combined with hospitality. 
Alice’s eyes fell on her daughter’s open book that showed a lovely picture of a butterfly with the caption commenting about the butterfly effect. It stated the theory that a butterfly gently flapping his wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world. 
This past year the coronavirus took over, changed our lives and the way food servers perform their daily work. These food servers became heroes overnight along with many others in service positions. Knowing the importance of their presence in the community they didn’t stay home, call in sick or whine about long hours on the job. Food servers took ownership of their posts, accepted the additional responsibilities, and changed their routines and schedules to benefit the residents in the retirement and long-term care communities. When coworkers needed help, they were there to pitch in to keep the preparation and flow of meals being delivered to residents in their rooms. They gave extra time to communicate with those residents, reassuring them with personally carried local news, keeping them in the loop so they would not feel too isolated until new programs were set up to divulge information. The food serving teams spread kindness wherever they happened to be. Well-trained food servers easily adjusted to new roles as they carried positive thoughts and uplifted behavior with their presence.
