In helping her mother find the best retirement/assisted living community that would fit her personality, a friend of mine decided the best time to look was during the Christmas holidays. She paid special attention to the dining room. She learned a contest was held for the residents to make the decorations for the tables. The staff held a decorating social … Continue reading
A friend of mine told me of a conversation she had recently. She asked her friend what it is about her job that makes her love going to work. The friend replied, “My coworkers are happy to see me and greet me with a hearty Good Morning! What a great way to begin my work day! I know who I … Continue reading
Some time ago a particular community called me in for a training workshop. I sat in the Administrator’s office with, I’ll call her Anna for anonymity, to learn the issues that were preventing a higher resident satisfaction rating. She was discouraged that her food servers weren’t performing better. When I asked whether she would be attending my training session, she … Continue reading
Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want must be one of his most revered paintings. It shows the grandparents placing the turkey on the Thanksgiving table with the family sitting happily around it. I think so highly of it that I have used it in my presentations. It is the very essence of my beliefs of bringing warmth to the table in … Continue reading
A friend of mine told me about a recent dining experience she suffered through. Her words, not mine. “We were excited, out to an upscale restaurant new to us and celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. Of course we mentioned that fact to the perky young lady that came to us, announcing her name was Brianna and she would be our … Continue reading
Every generation seems to complain about the younger generation in the way they dress, in their awful language, and especially in their lack of the good manners taught to the earlier generations. It’s true! There is a new trend begun in the last few years that shows people are leaving high-income and high-stress positions in big cities to return to … Continue reading
It’s usually easier to train new people to the community than to update new training to those who have been doing their job their way for a length of time. That’s where Kind Dining® comes in. With skill, experience, and the new rules and regulations at hand, we will show your serving staff training and how it benefits them to … Continue reading
The lessons learned in life are often as important as the first ones we learn in school when training for a career. This happened when the state surveyor pulled me into her confidence by telling me how much better I could be in my career by embracing the changes and broadening my expanse of expertise. My value to my community … Continue reading
Some time ago I was explaining the importance of learning new skills for nurses during a training session of Kind Dining. One individual balked at the idea of needing to do anything different than she had always done. She was so adamant that her arms folded across her chest looked like they would block any new information from entering her … Continue reading
In a successful community dining room, every staff member needs to perform their individual part to please residents, just like each musician in an orchestra plays from his sheet music to deliver a unified audience-pleasing performance. Executive Directors tell me, “Resident caregivers grumble about serving food or pouring coffee.“We didn’t school to be wait staff and resent this part of … Continue reading
