A friend of mine told me of a conversation she had recently. She asked her friend what it is about her job that makes her love going to work. The friend replied, “My coworkers are happy to see me and greet me with a hearty Good Morning! What a great way to begin my...
If speaking kindly to plants helps them grow, imagine what speaking kindly to humans can do. A friend saw this sign hanging in a winter garden and knowing how I champion the word and the act of being kind, emailed me immediately. After a generation or two of Me...
My friend said that when she was growing up she was exposed to other ethnicities, especially at the dining room table and especially during the Christmas holiday season. I appreciate her sharing her experience and carry that image when I conduct my Kind Dining®...
In helping her mother find the best retirement/assisted living community that would fit her personality, a friend of mine decided the best time to look was during the Christmas holidays. She paid special attention to the dining room. She learned a contest was held for...
A friend of mine told me of a conversation she had recently. She asked her friend what it is about her job that makes her love going to work. The friend replied, “My coworkers are happy to see me and greet me with a hearty Good Morning! What a great way to begin my...
Some time ago a particular community called me in for a training workshop. I sat in the Administrator’s office with, I’ll call her Anna for anonymity, to learn the issues that were preventing a higher resident satisfaction rating. She was discouraged that her food...
Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want must be one of his most revered paintings. It shows the grandparents placing the turkey on the Thanksgiving table with the family sitting happily around it. I think so highly of it that I have used it in my presentations. It is the...
A friend of mine told me about a recent dining experience she suffered through. Her words, not mine. “We were excited, out to an upscale restaurant new to us and celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. Of course we mentioned that fact to the perky young lady that...
Every generation seems to complain about the younger generation in the way they dress, in their awful language, and especially in their lack of the good manners taught to the earlier generations. It’s true! There is a new trend begun in the last few years that shows...
It’s usually easier to train new people to the community than to update new training to those who have been doing their job their way for a length of time. That’s where Kind Dining® comes in. With skill, experience, and the new rules and regulations at hand, we will...
The lessons learned in life are often as important as the first ones we learn in school when training for a career. This happened when the state surveyor pulled me into her confidence by telling me how much better I could be in my career by embracing the changes and...
Some time ago I was explaining the importance of learning new skills for nurses during a training session of Kind Dining. One individual balked at the idea of needing to do anything different than she had always done. She was so adamant that her arms folded across her...
In a successful community dining room, every staff member needs to perform their individual part to please residents, just like each musician in an orchestra plays from his sheet music to deliver a unified audience-pleasing performance. Executive Directors tell me,...
I recall a teenage kitchen worker in one Kind Dining® class. He was looking for a job and found one in this community. His focus on just earning money changed after he noticed how the residents became personal to him. “It didn’t take long for me to realize that...
My friend’s brother Bob, who owned a bistro, told me about the difficulty he had with a chef. The food she prepared was excellent. She even brought some of her own recipes. But she refused to come out of the kitchen to say hello to the steady customers who wanted to...
When I was in my mid 20s I was working in the wilds of Alaska at an isolated camp where 100 young adults, ages 16-23 from multiple states came together for conservation work. This was bare bones living and working! There were no luxuries or electricity! Gracious, we...
A friend of mine, who married very young, told me about leaving an unhappy marriage after fifteen years and entering the workforce for the first time. She started by taking orders from the salesmen for a wine wholesaler. Practicing the pronunciation and spelling of...
The leader in the community that is afire with passion for being the best at working toward a common goal inspires every other employee who becomes aware of that devotion. That dedication is contagious and will spread to your employees who also want to be the best at...
One day an instructor called me, very excited, about a community where she had been conducting Kind Dining® training sessions.“The Licensed Nurse Aides (LNAs) have been serving meals in the dining room and came to me to ask permission to buy decorative baskets for the...
A Kind Dining® instructor called to tell me of an incident showing a big result from one of her Kind Dining® training sessions. One of the servers donned an apron just to see what reaction she would get. Surprisingly a resident told her she looked like Kind Dining®...
A friend told me that without revealing her professional interest, she’s asked friends of friends that live in a retirement community what made them choose a particular place for the expected final home of their lifetime? They invariably made an overall comment about...
My friend’s brother opened a small lunch only bistro in a small town back in the 90s. The ambiance was warmth with black and white tiled floor and checkered tablecloths. Toulouse Lautrec hung on the walls. His wait staff was welcoming in French apron over black pants...
Last week I ran into an old friend that I had not seen in a long time. After exchanging the polite pleasantries, we decided to have coffee and really catch up. Soon we fell into conversation about our work. She’s been a high school teacher and guidance counselor for...
I read in a blog that Glassdoor named a Senior Living Community one of 50 Best Places to Work in 2017. It noted the passion of the employees who stated that they loved the residents and valued their wisdom. Here are three direct quotes from the employees: “I find joy...
A friend told me about me her stay at Duke University Hospital during her scheduled heart surgery to replace a defective aortic heart valve. “I talked to everyone, the man who wheeled me down for an x-ray each day, the lady who cleaned my room, the nurses on the...
The culture of hospitality is the key factor in senior care community and the dining room is the heart of that factor. It’s usually where strangers come to first meet their new lifetime neighbors, to dine, socialize, and generally get to know each other. It‘s also...
A friend of mine told me that she put her house up for sale. She followed all the tips the Realtor® suggested about staging the interior of her home. When one couple came to look at the house, they struck up a conversation. “I noticed how clean all the streets in the...
Every senior housing community, whether retirement or skilled healthcare, must provide the best dining experience it can offer. In order to reach that goal a new mindset and skill set ought to be put in place. It’s time for the organization to realize that residents...
My friend, who comes from a restaurant family, told me how everyone in their restaurant worked as a team. When the dinner hour became truly busy, the wait staff took a moment to clean a table to help the busboy, the sommelier and the host-both in tuxedos-carried a...
Watching a well-trained professional team work through a busy mealtime is like watching a theatre production of a top rated director. It gives the viewer pure pleasure to see each person have a part to play and interact gleefully with everyone else. When your...
Every industry has its focal point, the most important center that every other part of the production surrounds. In community living that focal point is the dining room. In my first job in health care after years of experience in the restaurant industry, I learned...
I took note when the “Greatest Coach of All-Time” UCLA coach John Wooden said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." This brief statement overflowed into all areas of his long, successful life and it does the same for every area of your dining room. You want your...
Arlene - the state surveyor - sat down to interview me, and it changed how I could make a real difference. I had spent the first two weeks on the job organizing the inter-workings and cleaning of the kitchen, reading the notes from the nurses on each resident’s...
