By Steve Moran

A leadership/culture lesson from teaching 5th & 6th graders . . .

I have a bunch of non-senior living passions, and #1 is that every Saturday morning I spend an hour teaching a bunch of 5th and 6th graders at my church. It’s honestly kind of a tough gig. Too often kids find church boring. And even more often, by Saturday morning, parents are exhausted and find it easy to skip the kids’ classes and just go to the main worship service or even just skip out on church altogether.

For a teacher of 5th and 6th graders, this is a problem because the kids are, of course, completely dependent on their parents for transportation.

My Sneaky Underhanded Strategy to Beat Parent Laziness

I knew I had one sneaky underhanded strategy to fix this problem and that was to make my class so compelling that these kids would drive their parents crazy to get to church on time (wasn’t that a song title way back when?).

What is interesting was that my formula was (is) really simple:

  1. Food
  2. Prizes, think Dollar Store, for being on time
  3. Lots of fun games
  4. Teaching them things that are helpful
  5. Being consistent week after week and year after year

How is it working? Check this out:

This came from a pastor:

And this from an incoming kid:


Even though the class is completely dependent on transportation, it is the best-attended class on campus, including those for adults.

The Big Question for You as a Senior Living Leader

Can you make the work experience so compelling for each and every one of your team members that they are like these kids and do whatever it takes to be to work on time? That they look forward to being there, are sorry when they are not there?

I believe the answer is yes!!!!!

There are companies that do this. Not many, but they do exist: In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A and a whole bunch of companies that hire more skilled workers.

You might argue well, yeah, but that is kids and only one hour a week. True enough, but you will find that just like work cultures, this is very rare in church culture. Sure, I have some talent and I have been doing it a long time, but it really is not magic. At the end of the day, it is one thing and only one thing.

That is that I am 100% committed to making it that good.

It is my goal for those who are a part of Senior Living Foresight and I think we are nearly as successful here as I am with kids. If you make that commitment, you can do it too.

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