Is the Senior Living Industry Stuck in the Past?

I’ll start by saying my background is primarily in business ops. It’s flavored with an accounting degree, a tattoo of the Pi symbol on my left hand to ensure a lifetime membership with nerds everywhere, and a deep love for systems, processes, and efficiencies. Nothing gets me going like a good routine! Seriously though.

Enter in Starbucks. I learned an incredible amount related to business administration and operational excellence throughout my time with the Bux. Standardization across thousands of locations on a global scale while highlighting brand reputation and customer experience is nothing short of a masterful work of art. The millions of moving pieces all coming together through strategic and precise execution are straight magic. I did mention I was a nerd, right?

When I got into the Senior Living industry in 2018, I thought that because we were serving human beings, a vulnerable population no less, our systems and structures would reflect that fact. I thought the technology, mindset, and industry would mirror the seriousness of being trusted with providing quality care and quality of life to the residents in the communities. LEAN and Kaizen, here we come!!

From the outside, they painted a great picture of happy, healthy, aging adults, but over the years, that wasn't my biggest takeaway.

What I had seen was an incredible concept that was being managed through archaic systems, practices, and beliefs. Instead of spreadsheets, I saw pencil and paper. Instead of automation, I saw manual errors. Instead of systems, I saw fire drills. I saw it throughout communities and within the research I was doing as part of a doctorate program in Business Administration and Organizational Leadership.

I couldn’t understand why it seemed that the many baristas I had trained over the years were more dedicated, moved faster, and worked harder than many of the employees I was seeing in various senior living communities. It certainly wasn’t for lack of heart. So maybe I was misinterpreting something?

So many of the CNA’s and care staff I spoke with had tremendous loyalty and compassion for the residents they served. Many of the other hourly staff, whether in the kitchen, the housekeeping department, or elsewhere, took great pride in knowing the residents by name and building relationships with each of them. The staff looked forward to engaging and actively participating in the lives they had been entrusted to watch over. I loved all of that and still do. That kind of love and care is the sweet spot. But, still, something was missing.

I repeatedly kept witnessing this mindset that kept asking for operations to lower the bar to make things easier for the residents. Sounds good, right? Instead of sending an email, print out a flyer. Why? Because it’s easier for the resident to read. Logical.

Instead of teaching residents how to use their smartphones, a phone with four buttons was recommended. Instead of encouraging residents to learn new games, they settled on bingo. (There is absolutely nothing wrong with bingo, but you get the point.) Instead of requiring employees to be proficient in basic technology, sticky notes and scratch paper ran the show. You know the adage, “use it or lose it,” right? There was so much being lost with this mentality.

The motivation for these decisions came from a good place, but it wasn’t producing effective results on a larger scale. The systems were missing. Efficiency was not a focus. Processes had fallen by the wayside. Worse, it lowered the bar for the staff and the results they were required to achieve. The pandemic only exacerbated this dynamic. We all saw countless articles of senior living communities failing to protect their residents or report their information accurately. It was devastating.

What was the difference between effective operations like Starbucks, Amazon, or Toyota versus senior living? How could these giants effectively empower and trust hundreds of thousands of their employees to make independent decisions, in the moment, while serving millions of customers while the senior living industry was still trying to figure out how to use excel. It didn’t make any sense. The technology and methodology were available, so where was the breakdown?

Coming from the Ops perspective, one reason is not having a systematic approach to managing the community. Another reason was the lack of utilizing best practices. Where were the LEAN principles? Where were the Kanban boards or the PDCA cycles? Granted, Senior Living is not a manufacturing plant, but Six Sigma methodologies and tools are so adaptable, so why wasn’t there even a hint of these in place? Where was PowerBI? Or Slack?

Can you genuinely expect global efficiency, productivity, or profitability if you’re not managing your organization by adopting best practices? If our goal is to provide quality service to the residents on a 24/7 basis, best-in-class operational foundations must be in place if you’re going to deliver.

At this juncture, we don’t have to go to any extremes, but my point is that instead of lowering the bar, we have to find creative ways to encourage resident growth, development, and wellbeing. Why? Because water seeks its own level, as they say, and because we begin to conform to those we’re closest to, it's just human nature. If most of those around us are declining physically and cognitively, we’ll find ways to meet them there.

The opposite is also true. If we surround ourselves with people who are more intelligent, more creative, more driven, more grounded, or more (fill in the blank) than we are, we tend to push ourselves and rise to the occasion. What that means for senior living is that we have to find ways to elevate the resident experience by thinking outside the box instead of painting the box a different color or finding ways to minimize the box entirely. This goes for operations and the resident experience, alike.

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but we do have to look around at the best practices in other industries and say, “Hey, that’s going to work here, too. Let’s put that in place.” We must evolve and transform how we do business; it’s not about aging in place anymore.

It’s about successful aging. Positive aging. It’s about empowered and meaningful living that promotes and celebrates autonomy and individuality. It’s about championing the cause of our demographic and providing them a space to be inspired. To be motivated. To be fulfilled. To share their hopes, to set new goals, and to continue growing.?

I’m reminded of my grandma. She was an incredible woman who came over from Italy and worked exceptionally hard to make a beautiful life for herself. She woke up early, said her prayers, and went to mass every single day of the week. She fasted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, volunteered at the senior center, and made rosaries and quilts by the hundreds. She gardened. She cooked. She threw a great feast every year on St. Josephs Day, opening up her home and giving all donations to her parish. She was full of life and kept herself busy from dawn to dusk until the day she passed at 94 years old.

Isn’t that what we all want? To age upwards, to dream, to feel that we’ve lived a life worth living? To seize the day and give it our all as opposed to aging through a slow decline?

That’s what I want.

And that’s why I love working for Revel. From my perspective, we’re a portfolio of communities that are designed to create an environment that inspires and motivates our residents to be their best selves. We do this by continuously improving both operations and the resident experience. We’re not about aging in place; we’re about real, vibrant, quality living. Revel Living. We’re about innovating. We’re about evolving and transforming. And I can’t possibly think of a better time than right now, post-pandemic, to bring best practices and new ideas to the senior living industry.

So, I’ll finish where I started. Is Senior Living stuck in the past? In some places, absolutely. But not everywhere. That’s why I believe in the concept behind Revel Living. Revel allows me to offer our residents new ways to think, new ways to live, and new ways to be while still enjoying the comforts of home. In addition to BBQs, pool parties, and holiday celebrations, we get to offer ziplining, ax throwing, mixology classes, acupuncture, sex therapists, grief counselors, life coaches, and far more. We get to hold space for our residents to ask questions relevant to them, regardless of the topic. Whether it be about cannabis and psychedelics, meditation and mindfulness, finances, eastern medicine, world religions, or different cultures, we continue to find ways to bring these topics into the community because it’s what our residents deserve.

As far as senior living goes, it's a no-brainer for me when it comes down to choosing between focusing on wellness and growth or aging and declining in place. It’s wellness all the way. ?

With all that being said, I invite you to come into one of our communities and see the magic for yourself. If you're in the greater Seattle area, come schedule a tour at Revel Issaquah, seven days a week, or simply walk in. We’d love to meet you!