Radical Hospitality – How Do We Get To Yes?

In our day to day responsibilities, we may get wrapped up in rules, regulations, policies and procedures or the way we have always done things; all the while, maybe overlooking what our residents prefer. Additionally, it may cause some dissatisfaction and we may not meet the resident's or the family's expectations.  We don't do it intentionally.

So what can we do about it?  We can take a few minutes out of our day and think through our actions or any resident interactions that day.  Is there anything a resident shared with you that they wish could be done differently? Anything that stands out, that if the roles were reversed you would not want to have happen?  For instance, would you want to be woken up at 6:00am to be dressed for the day when you like to sleep in until 8:00am?  If a resident asked you to not get them dressed until 8:00am but the schedule given to you was to get them up at 6:00am, what would you say? Do you feel like you could say yes?  If not, stop and ask yourself, “How do I get to yes?”

“How do I get to yes?”  Seriously, every time a resident or family members asks a question about a service we provide, we should ask ourselves “how do I get to yes?”  Are we really going to be able to say yes to everything?  Likely not, but how close to a yes can we get or what can we compromise on?  Who do you need to talk to about what could be done differently? Perhaps a supervisor, HR or even the resident's family?

Let's go back to the example of waking someone up at 6:00am. Why do we wake them up at 6:00am? Is it because that is when we start getting residents up to ensure we have enough time to help all of the residents assigned to us? Is it because most of the resident's like to get up at 6:00am? Is it because “that's what we have always done?” If the resident didn't want to get up until 8:00am, how could you accommodate their wishes? Are there other resident's that like to get up that early but you aren't able to get to them until later in the morning?  Could those residents be switched?  What else could we look at doing so we didn't have to wake her up until 8:00am?

What are some other situations this could apply to?  I am sure we all encounter many of them each day.  Could we turn that “no” into a “yes”?  Let's remember to take the time to ask, “how do I get to yes?”

Author Info: Cheryl Knupp

Cheryl Knupp is the Senior VP of health services here at Beatitudes Campus. Learn more about Beatitudes