As the senior living industry continues to grow and evolve, it is becoming clearer and clearer that finding highly educated, knowledgeable leaders is a major challenge.

As the senior living industry continues to grow and evolve, it is becoming clearer and clearer that finding highly educated, knowledgeable leaders is a major challenge. Young people looking forward to college want to be doctors, dentists, engineers, physical therapists, teachers, and so on. It is likely easier to find a four-leaf clover than to find a high school student who wants a career in skilled nursing or assisted living. 

It is not on young people’s radar and even if it were their heart’s desire, there are only a handful of senior living academic programs in the whole industry. 

This is a Big Problem

No one really wants to say this out loud, but too often senior living companies end up hiring “the best they can find” rather than the best of the best. The usual path is someone who started out in a line position and worked his/her way up. 

There is nothing exactly wrong with this, but there are not enough with skills and desire to meet even current needs, let alone projected need. In addition, as the industry becomes more sophisticated and complicated, on-the-job learning frankly is not enough. Professionals need to be exposed to multiple ideas and ways of doing business. They need more than just a single point of view. They need more  education than a series of 90-minute breakout sessions at an ALFA, AHCA or LeadingAge conference.

Solutions

Solutions are coming. There are a handful of academic programs, including those at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia; University of Maryland, College Park; University of North Texas, Denton; University of Massachusetts, Boston; and USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Los Angeles. A number of executives are working with academic institutions to develop programs and to beef up existing programs.  

Learning to Shape the Future

One of those partnerships includes Silverado Senior Living, USC’s Marshall School of Business and USC’s Davis School of Gerontology. These three organizations have joined forces to sponsor a weekend executive education session February 6-8, 2014 at USC. This educational event will include the following topics:

  • Leadership in a Service Culture: How to Hire and Recruit Leadership Talent
  • Crisis Communication
  • Social Media and the New Marketing Paradigm
  • Technology and Long-Term Care
  • Thinking Innovatively about Our Industry
  • Senior Housing Building Design and Function
  • The Latest in Memory Care Programming and Operations

Presenters include facility from both USC schools, Loren Shook, CEO and founder of Silverdo, and Patricia Will, Co-founder and president of Belmont Villages. Participants can earn CEUs. 

It is an opportunity for you and your team to up your game.

You can see and download the flyer below.

You can register here:

Register for Shaping The Future