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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their holidays are now vastly different.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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