Stop Trying to Define and Let's Focus on the Goal of Engagement
Enrichment, Engagement, Experience, Activities, Wellness, Well-being, Lifestyle – merely an array of titles and approaches that have caused confusion, copious revisions of job descriptions, disparate standards, varying skill sets for staff, a significant variance in pay ranges and the list continues. I myself have re-written job descriptions at every organization, but in all honesty, it merely renames the same approach, and few things change year over year.
Why Do Things Not Evolve or Change?
Maybe we are too busy measuring the wrong things. What is the metric that determines a successful implementation of programs and success of a staff member? The problem we must solve is not in a title, name of department, or probably not even in the candidates hired to do the job. The problem lies at the lack of clarity and minimal tools to measure “success”. This miss sends organizations on a path for their own pursuit of a branded and “better than” engagement programs. Truth be told, I am not certain there will ever be just one approach that will suffice for the individual variety and experiences of all involved. Resident, family, staff, level of care, demographics, geographies, etc. There are so many dynamics at play that influence the outcome; either directly or indirectly.
For example, the programs and people in the community of a rural town of 20k will, and should look drastically different than a midtown setting rooted in walkability, shared spaces, history or revitalization.
The Struggle is Real, and Personal…
Ask 20 executive’s what “engagement/enrichment/activities/lifestyle" means to them and you will get 20 different answers. Ask 20 residents the same question and you will hear 20 different responses. Then you layer in staff and family. Why of course it is messy and ends up being an argument of rights vs wrongs instead of acceptance that this seemingly simple activity world of engaging residents is actually intensely complex.
It is not as black and white as leads to tour to lease conversions or buckets of cold, warm or hot leads. Nor is it as clear as black and red when you speak about operating costs, labor and KPI’s.
This is not in itself a bad thing, rather a profound illustration why a resident engagement philosophy is such an arduous and all hands-on deck approach. Ten years back, our best solution was to establish company standards and uniform parameters. The corporate entity began to heavily standardize and dictate programing. This allowed for quantification. So, we started quantifying the most logical way possible; measuring the frequency to what people do regarding scheduled programming. A simple approach, but we overlooked the difficulty in manually tracking what 100+ different people do in a given day, many on their own accord. We are all guilty of assuming this data capture is much easier than it really is…and even manual entry in a software solution is cumbersome.
Hence, the world of “insert your program name” is always at the mercy of a personal, bureaucratic conversation that never has enough time on the agenda to complete; therefore the can gets kicked further down the road and we go back to sales, marketing and operations.
Engagement is a moving target, always in motion, always evolving, always innovating, and dependent on personal experience and personality. This will never change, nor should we rein it in. Instead, as organizations and leaders, we have to embrace the complexity and re-evaluate why we do what we do. Why we sell what we sell. The approach of a website narrative rich in resident programs, abundant options inside and outside the community and big parties and celebrations is obsolete. It is a more subdued story that is 100% contingent on the support offered and celebrated personal skills and talents of a collection of individuals creating the community a great place to live.
What is Constant?
The outcome of Enrichment, Engagement, Experience, Activities, Wellness, Well-being, Lifestyle is constant. The end goal is a desire and inspiration to wake up and participate in life. Not to be overly philosophical and add more subjectivity to a completely gray landscape, but simply put, does someone find joy in life. Not just getting by, making it through the next day; somewhat satisfied with the 24 hours in review. Rather, someone being able to believe they matter to others, have an impact on this world in whatever way they deem worthwhile, and something to look forward to.
Here we begin to see engagement is not about age or a setting, but an outlook and an approach. It does not matter what great event you put on, what decorations you hang, prizes you give or gourmet food you cook, if someone does not wake up wanting to participate in the day ahead, the fireworks and programs are merely a short term fix. They are not wasted per se, but they may not be as effective as we intend, or assume.
So how do you measure an “inspiration to wake up and participate”? Maybe you equate the term to purpose. How do you measure purpose?
Well-being Assessments vs Straight Participation Tracking
Think about your own life. Now, think about how you would answer a few questions. It can be as simple as Yes or No, or use a 4-point Likert scale.
1. I know I matter to other people.
2. I have skills and talents others find of value.
3. I am surrounded by neighbors and friends that care about me.
4. I am intrigued and curious about things in the world.
5. I am able to participate in community life despite any limitations.
6. I have friends I value spending time with.
7. I have something to look forward to in the coming weeks?
8. My body can support the things I want to achieve.
Are these the exact questions to ask. Not so much. That is not the point. There are many standardized assessments to measure quality of life, happiness, loneliness, etc. The take-away is that engagement is multi-faceted and fluid, not just a point in time one day out of the year that we conduct resident assessments.
How much farther along would we be if we focused efforts on communicating the why and reporting the direct outcomes to programs and philosophies deployed. If we can prove quality of life, happiness and socially connected resident well-being as outcomes, at the end of the day, tracking 15 minutes in this and that activity labeled with a subjective dimension of wellness and noted with an arbitrary participation grade are the least important factors. How will you measure success in the new world of activities?
Small disclaimer, I do not believe this is the same approach to resident in memory care of care settings who are unable to communicate and self-assess their needs and wants. The programming must adapt to such instances and by all means expressions, passive, active and visible and verbal cues become extremely important.