Every once in awhile in a very unexpected way there is a collision of ideas, concepts or challenges that hit my brain at the same time.

By Steve Moran

Every once in awhile in a very unexpected way there is a collision of ideas, concepts or challenges that hit my brain at the same time.   

The slow burn part of this story is the focus Argentum has placed on the human capital problem.   

Collision One

The collision occurred when I was reflecting on my presentation at Tony Mullens sales conference on how to create a culture that leads to 95%-plus occupancy. I realized that every single story about folks doing culture right for their teams came out of the skilled nursing world . . . AND NOT THE ASSISTED LIVING OR MEMORY CARE WORLD.

That was disturbing.

I know there are great stories in assisted living — at least I hope so — about treating team members as extraordinary, but I am honestly not quite hearing them . . . or at least not remembering them.

Collision Two and Three

Today someone posted a link to a blog post by Seth Goodin titled A dollar more (vs. a dollar less) and subtitled “Consider a race to the top.”

He asks how can rideshare service Lyft possibly compete with Uber? He goes on to suggest, rightly, that if Lyft’s only play is to be cheaper than Uber, it is a recipe for disaster. This particularly caught my attention because just last week I was at Lyft headquarters in San Francisco to learn about some really cool things they are doing in the healthcare and senior living world, something I will be writing about soon . . . and collision three.

The Twist

He then poses this idea:

What if Lfyt were to say “we will always be a dollar more than Uber . . . and . . . we will spend 100% of that dollar on the drivers.”

He then asks . . . this question:

“What kind of person buys the cheap ride with the stressed-out angry driver?”

Would It Work In Senior Living?

This is brilliant!

I found myself imagining a senior living company sending a letter to residents that reads like this:  

“Working in Senior Living is hard and our team is dedicated to providing the very best care. We are committed to providing them a living wage. In order to make this happen we are raising our rates $100 per month and 100% of that money will go to our line staff.”

And if you really wanted to race to the top . . .

In that same letter put some of your own skin in the game. Tell them that you will match some of that . . . maybe 25% or just 10%. I don’t know, but what kind of prospect or prospect family would say, “I am going to cheap out and move mom into the place that pays the lowest wages to save $100 per month”?