Sacred Cows

By Steve Moran

I can’t even remember exactly which book this idea came from, but the author suggested that organizations need to be aggressive about killing their “sacred cows” . . .

They defined “Sacred Cows” as being those things an organization does that everyone knows does not work or has no value. My definition is a bit broader including what I think are largely dumb or untrue ideas or just things we tolerate that we should not.

I got to wondering what the senior living sacred cows are. I made a list then asked for suggestions on my feed at LinkedIn and in the Senior Living Leadership Group on Facebook (which we would love to have you join). What follows is my list based on my own thinking and input from others.

I apologize in advance to those of you who love one or more of these “sacred cows" and acknowledge that I might be wrong about some of them. Let me know what you think; let me know what else should be on the list.

I have written about some of them and will write about some that have gotten little or no airtime in the fast.

Sacred Cows That Need Slaughtering

1. Employees who are “good at their job” but are unpleasant to work with
2. That you need a salesperson plus an executive director
3. That senior living communities can only afford to pay a little more than minimum wage
4. That the increasing average age of entrance suggests we are only picking the low-hanging fruit
5. That residents cannot be trusted to be employees of the communities they live in
6. That no one wants to work in senior living
7. That working in senior living is hard
8. That we need to serve three big meals a day
9. That workers are changing jobs for $.25 or .50 an hour more
10. That more policies and procedures are the way to fix problems
11. That when something bad happens more training will fix the problem
12. That we don’t provide new team members enough initial training
13. That there is no money in low-income senior living
14. That 90% occupancy is the norm
15. Big bosses who come in from the outside think they know everything but all they create is storms, frustration, and chaos
16. That we are behind the times in what we do, particularly with technology
17. Top-down execs who believe they have all the answers and don't need to ask their staff for ideas and solutions
18. That memory care units must be secured
19. Staff uniforms are a must
20. That we should hire only young attractive people to be EDs, regardless whether they know anything
21. That we refer to the sales staff as "sales and marketing" even though they do NO marketing 
22. That having salespeople create a false "urgency" to get seniors to decide to move in is a good way to increase occupancy
23. That the current business model of senior living is sustainable
24. That the way we do dining is the only way to do it (-- I will tackle this one very soon)
25. That panel discussions at senior living conferences are a good way to transfer valuable information
26. That as a vendor you need to exhibit at a trade show
27. Painting the community bus to look like an advertisement with silly pictures of seniors and big letters that says assisted living and memory care community is a good way to attract residents
28. Keeping team members who have been around for years, can do their job well from a task perspective, but have a crappy and negative attitude
29. Wearable tech can't be improved in design and comfort
30. That we should not publish rates online

What would you add to the list? Which ones are wrong?

This article was first published at Senior Housing Forum on 10/3/18