Page 7 - Tale of Transformation

Assessing the Facility
Looking with “New Eyes” at our Organization
High Involvement – Get everyone involved in looking at the facility with new eyes. Below are a number of exercises that a leader or team might consider using to encourage new eyes.
Take Pictures – Give everyone a small throwaway camera (they even make throwaway digitals now). Or invite a number of people to bring in their digital cameras. Ask them to go out and take pictures for the next 15 minutes. Look for signs of home – take a picture. Look for loneliness, helplessness, boredom – take a picture. Look for strong institutional images (equipment cluttering the halls, people lined up, tray carts, signs and notes on the walls, etc.) Develop the pictures and meet the next day to review them. Or, if digital – transfer them immediately to a computer and project them on the wall. Have people share what their thoughts were when they took the pictures. Perhaps group the pictures into challenges. Dining Challenges, Challenge to Increase Pleasures in Daily Life, Bathing Challenges, Privacy Challenges, etc.
Pair up and Explore – Ask people to pair up. Cross departments, shifts or authority levels when you create the pairs. Give each pair a clipboard with two columns – one entitled Institution, one entitled Home. Have them tour the facility for 15 minutes and jot down what they see in the appropriate column.
Interview Staff and/or Residents – Provide note pads and send people out to do a 10 minute interview with a resident. Suggest that they interview a resident that they would love to get to know better. Choose a topic for the interview. For example: What simple daily pleasures did you enjoy when you were living at home? Or what would make our facility a better place for you to live? How could we make it more homey for you? When the team returns and shares their interviews, discuss what could be done with this new information. Be ready to set up teams, to accept volunteer efforts for individual residents, to tackle broader problems.
Don’t forget to involve residents in these exercises.
How? By walking through the building with a fresh set
of eyes and ears. Choose a friend, a relative or a small staff team of two or three. Observe the actions of residents and employees. Together, listen to overhead announcements and anyone who passes by. At times close your eyes and listen to the general noise.
Sit in a wheelchair and roll around the building at different times of day to get a feel for the building from a resident’s perspective.
With the organization’s permission, browse manuals, employee handbooks and schedule sheets. Read signs, instructions, bulletin boards, activity calendars, even the refrigerator door. Sit in on staff trainings and meetings.
Ask staff open-ended questions that invite the other to share their view.
Finally, speak with and listen closely to residents in halls, the dining room, learning circles, and in private.
Become empathetic observers and reporters, discuss what each of you saw, comparing and contrasting your observations with your own home life.
Share your experiences and conclusions to inspire others to join the movement for change.
That’s how culture change starts. Lead the way.
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