Are You Prisoner to A Monthly Calendar?
Ready, Aim, Print…
It is July 10…the deadline for the August calendar is now. Ready, Aim, Fire… to the printer it goes. Fingers crossed nothing changes, because, well we just committed to 31 days of programming all the while knowing something always changes. The actual truth , everything always changes. Yet we rinse and repeat this nerve wracking cycle month after month. It is just the way it is. The way it has been. The way we continue to operate. The mandate from regulatory bodies. The design we have re-invented now to a digital format, but still a prisoner to planning a month well in advance.
There is zero wrong with planning in advance. Preparing in advance in noble. In order to be organized in any facet of life it requires planning and preparation. As someone who misses the planning more than not, I get the disruption it can cause and the lack of clarity it pushes on others when you fail to plan accordingly.
But who really plans out every hour of their next month weeks in advance? It is like writing your first draft of an important letter or memo in permanent marker. Similar to filling out passport forms and you get one chance before you start over. By version #5 you may find success and correctly input all the right information in the right color ink with 0 mistakes.
People Cause Changes
We are a people business. All sorts of different people with variables far beyond our control. When you think of programming success, it is almost entirely dependent on people. Whether that be the participant or the leader/facilitator. There are always two must have components. Technology may be the other component in addition to the participant, but let’s not even go down the path of who of us believe, without doubt, it is just as simple as “turning it on” or “clicking the link”.
Positions change. Trips rearrange. Volunteers cancel. People get sick. Employees leave. Resident’s move. Weather happens. Supplies do not arrive. Space constraints emerge. Connectivity breaks. Technology fails. Accessibility impedes.
What Does This Look Like in Real Life?
LE3 - Hey leader of resident programming… We have some really cool opportunities to engage the residents staring in the next couple of weeks. They are pilot opportunities and because of funding and other logistics they will start mid month.
Community Programming Department - Oh, that sounds so awesome. We would love to do it. But we have already posted our July calendar and can not add it. Can we just start a few weeks later so we can add it to the August calendar?
This is not an uncommon response. There is a group of 10k resident programming people on Facebook and the latest post about the uncertainty and anxiety they have to send a calendar for print weeks ahead of time had over 500 likes and 250 comments, all stating the fact they know it will never be truly accurate. They will have changes arise in a day and they will be left marking out, reprinting onsite, posting clarification flyers and scrambling when the planned plan fails.
So What is the Answer?
Eliminate a monthly calendar! Revolt! Go Rogue…
No! Instead try these;
Still plan in advance. Plan the big things! Plan one-off’s. Happenings that need an update or heads up. Rethink meals, mail delivery, morning coffee, daily trivia at lunch as calendar additions. If something occurs everyday at the same time that is not a program or an activity, that is a routine offering and community expectation.
Look at your own calendars. Your family calendars. You work calendars. Do they come anywhere close to resembling the calendar that is dictating the resident experience in your community? Probably not.
Ask residents what needs to be on the monthly calendar? What is their suggestion? What do they need reminders and heads up notice for?
Print a weekly calendar and note changes or additions.
Create an environment that is fluid and open to plan B.
Post daily updates and offerings on signage throughout the community or post where visible.
Acknowledge and own the changes. Life Happens - here is how we problem solve. Own the variables that make daily life interesting. It does nt have to be a miss if you are able to pivot.
Leave space for spontaneity. If every hour is planned, using all resources and space on hand for the entire week, how are you empowering individuals to purse their own passions, assimilate a group on the fly, meet up in a common area, ask someone to take them out to a meal or outing on a whim? Do you schedule your grocery store runs or shopping runs a month in advance? When we over plan for the sake of offering a ton of options, we reduce the organic happenings that are the heartbeat of community.
Sometimes remaining steadfastly devoted to the one approach you have known, regardless of trust and confidence in the process can squash progress and kill the opportunity of disruptive innovation.
New Normal or New Unknown?
Since normalcy has begun to resume and people, vendors and programs are back in half swing, our monthly calendar has come back after months of ad hoc options here and there. This is a time to ask what we can do differently. How to appreciate planning, but truly respect and leave space for spontaneity, resident led opportunities and needed downtime that is not overproduced or extensively curated.
This is an exciting time. One where we can truly pause before going directly back into the old way of doing things. Community life for older adults should not look different than our normal day to day life. Every day brings something new. A mix of unexpected and a bit predetermined. Think about how you would feel if you looked at tomorrow and knew everything that was going to take place, at what time, in what space and for how long?
I have to believe our current customer and prospect is informed enough to realize that just because something is listed on the daily offering does not mean it happens 100% of the time. If I left for a couple days and may family showed me the schedule how they were going to clean and mow and pick up toys while I was away, yet I cam home to messes everywhere, I could care less about the “schedule” of what was supposed to happen. It didn’t happen. That’s a miss. Probably a good reason, albeit. But I am disappointed. We need to be real and acknowledge the ebb and flow of community, not overpromise, defend and fall victim to the misses that will always be present.
Next Steps
Pause. Reset. Reimagine. Reinvent - Reap the rewards!