Treat others as you want to be treated.
This is not a new idea or theme, but it is more important today than ever before. Treat others as you want to be treated. If you are not certain how you want to be treated, you need to ask yourself why you have the friends you have. More than likely the underlying answer is that these people treat you with respect. Simple really.
What is your workday like? When you see people arriving at work, do staff members say hello to one another? Does the boss say hi as he/she walks into the department? Does the Senior Leadership stop and ask questions of the staff wanting to know how things are going or what she can do to help them with their job during these difficult times? If you answered yes, more than likely you work in a good environment and staff are probably happy to work there.
If the answer is no, I am betting that your patient or resident satisfaction scores are low, and the staff are stressed out and not happy at work.
Set a good example and lead by example.
You know your work on the front lines of this crisis is important and there are patients and residents counting on you and your team to do a good job preparing their meals. Every day. Every meal – period. Regardless of what is happening during the pandemic.
So where do you start? Start with yourself. Set a good example. Keep a smile on your face and help reduce the stress everyone is feeling right now. Be helpful to the team
The next time you come to work, say hello to every single person you encounter. Get out from behind your desk and round on your department and see how the staff are doing. Find out how you can help them. Find out why things are difficult for them and work with them to make the work easier. While taking over a new operation, I once found out that the reason why the utility staff was having a hard time keeping the floor clean was that they didn’t have decent brooms, dustpans, and mops. They had them the next day and the floors started to get cleaned.
Before the food is served, go out to the kitchen and taste all the food and critique it. Be honest, fair and give positive feedback. Keep records and update recipes as needed. Show them new ways to prepare food. If you don’t have a chef, show some training videos to the staff, such as those offered by the Pineapple Academy. Get the cooks excited about food and cooking. Yes, even during a Pandemic. Your residents and patients are counting on you.
And don’t forget, if you catch team members doing things right, thank them and let everyone know. We will get through this as a team.
Greg Gorgone, Co-Founder
March 2020