By Jack Cumming
Many thanks to Andrew Christman, whose December 26th article in Senior Housing News, brought my attention to Dan D. Williams’s book, “The Turnaround Blueprint: Transforming Senior Living Communities from Struggling to Spectacular.” If you haven’t already, get yourself a copy. There’s much wisdom contained in its 300+ pages. Moreover, it’s practical and proven, written by a person who’s seen it all.
Executive Director Orientation
The need for such a book is evident from the start. Mr. Williams describes his first promotion to executive director. With about two hours “training,” he was on his own. “No guide. No mentor. No handbook. Just a stack of manuals I never opened and a community full of people counting on me to know what I was doing.”
Does that seem familiar? There’s not much out there to help aspiring executive directors, and Mr. Williams has gone an extra mile to fill that void. The only comparable resource I know of is the three volumes of material assembled by Amy Allen for the Certified Aging Services Professional (CASP) program that LeadingAge once endorsed. Unfortunately, that CASP material has never been made publicly available. I imagine that LeadingAge still has a copy somewhere. If they don’t, I do. It deserves publication.
Positive Possibilities
After reading Mr. Williams’s book, I’m not convinced that “turnaround” is the right word to describe the positive vision that Mr. Williams sets forth. There’s nothing wrong with senior living except that it falls short of its own potential. Mr. Williams sets forth a guidebook for how senior living, specifically senior housing, might thrive in the years ahead. His interest is in providing valuable information to the young people now rising in the industry who can deliver that promising future.
Front and center, Mr. Williams takes for granted the vital role of the executive director. The executive director he empowers is not a subordinate official, beholden to a hierarchical superstructure. Mr. Williams’s executive director is able to make key business decisions. In my imagination, I picture not a central office filled with executives but a council of executive directors coming together for mutual support.
The book seems to see those higher-ups as necessary, often inevitable, but something to be managed. He counsels, “Be honest. If the reason is ‘corporate says we have to,’ own that. Then explain what you can control.” There’s no significant mention of a central office or a council of peers in the book.
Mr. Williams wisely counsels caution: “Keep corporate or ownership updated.” That reminds me of Jack Ma’s advice about the Beijing government. “Love the government,” he counseled, “Don’t marry them.”
Don’t Forget the Residents
Although he also doesn’t mention those hidden gems of competency among the residents, it’s obvious that he respects the residents in a way that can seem obscure to those who have little real contact with residents. My sense is that it’s common to think of most residents as being like those poor souls ending their lives in skilled nursing or high acuity assisted living. Mr. Williams takes it for granted that that’s not most residents.
On page 263, Mr. Williams makes a point that really resonated with me as a resident. He writes, “If you’re serious about growth, stability, and standing out, technology isn’t a sideline. It’s the main event.” Residents expect cutting-edge technology. They may not be comfortable with using it fully themselves, though more and more residents seem more tech-savvy than many who have IT in their corporate titles. Still, residents expect to have the same benefits from automation as those that benefit everyone else.
Doing More with What’s There
That brings me to the takeaways that I gleaned from this important contribution to the industry’s literature shelf. Mr. Williams takes it for granted that executive directors are the key fulcrum that makes a senior community either succeed or fail. That said, he’s not advocating visionary change in this book. He’s just suggesting that the industry turn its attention toward doing more with what’s obvious.
To better understand the industry in which you work, settle down this weekend for a good read with Dan Williams, “Turnaround,” and then start on Monday to put it to good use. In addition to the book, there’s a wealth of helpful resources at https://dandwilliams.com. I confess that when I first saw that URL, all I could think was “Dandy Williams.” This book is a “dandy,” though for some it may be a “doozy.”
