The importance of investing in training in the care sector

Geoffrey:
I'm Geoffrey Cox, I wear two hats, if you’d like. One is as the managing director of Southern Healthcare, which is a group of four Devon nursing homes, which I've had for 21 years. And my other hat is as the CEO of a training company, which is associated with an American company with the same name. We have a license agreement, if you like, called the Eden Alternative, which is a training program around culture, team building, taking persons centered care to a higher level, if you like, and enhancing resident well-being and that sort of thing.

Shaked:
Why is it so important to invest in training?

Geoffrey:
Training and support and nurturing and encouragement, they're all critically important. People whose management work I read and studied, Richard Locke, he said, When you are running a business or you're a manager, you know, one of the top things you need to understand is that your job is to see your team as your customers. If you don't look after your customers, they'll buy elsewhere. And when you get in to that way of thinking, you realize in the hierarchy you're at the bottom of the pile and your job is to serve everybody else. And if your team feel they can relate to you as a person, I believe as an individual, the door is open, They can ring you, speak to you, and it becomes like a win-win.

Shaked:
So you have, you call it the Eden model of care.

Geoffrey:
The Eden Alternative training is a if you like, It's a modern model of care in that respect It's like the absolute opposite of a medicalised model of care. Caring means growth. You know, that might be quite challenging to have a 90 year old with immobility and maybe dementia. So how do we still find a way to support this person to grow as an individual and experience life?

Shaked:
So how does this training, this new method of training you brought from the US to the UK actually look like in real life?

Geoffrey:
There is a massive challenge even to take our entire workforce through the mandatory subjects. You see there are a lot of gaps and it is quite frustrating. What does it do exactly? It's a program that's designed to address the challenges that people living in care, with experiences of things like loneliness, helpless and boredom. It encourages providers to adopt and build an environment of love and companionship. We're trying to encourage them to do as much as they can themselves and to be partners in the care journey, to include the families. And if they feel part of what's going on, then they're happy. And to address boredom, which is a big thing, we just have to build an environment, which features continuous activity, fun, spontaneity, things that are very much related to what people love to do. They’re variable and they're happening all the time and also enriched by a kind of partnership working and a feeling of loving relationships, etc., which helps to flow things along between the fun things happening as well.

Shaked:
Is that involved with technology, with tools that you're using that are different than the average sector?

Geoffrey:
If we’re gonna make training fun, so make it fun for people to be engaged, it's got to relate to them. What's in it for me? And it's not rocket science. In the care sector, what drives people is they want to do good. They want to give of themselves, give to other people. And the more they do, the better they feel. Recognize that, appreciate that, celebrate that, honor that. Do more of the things that make people in the team feel better. And that's what we're looking for.

Shaked:
When you started with this training method, what was the number one complaint that you received from your care staff, that you said, okay, I'm going to change that?

Geoffrey:
The care sector is notorious for having a turnover Something like 30% of staff in a year. That means within three years you got a complete new staff set. That's not helpful. Our retention is around seven years in Southern Healthcare. And I thought I've got to find ways to slow that down. So what is it that motivates people? What is it that causes them to want to leave? And I think we just had to be stronger in our vision, better at sharing our vision, better at supporting and appreciating the people who are helping us to deliver on that vision. And if our vision and their vision meets and fits on all fours, if you like, they take your vision as it's their own. And that is embedded and it's a kind of win-win-win.

Shaked:
What does it mean and how does it look on a day to day basis?

Geoffrey:
People know that if they are having a bad day or not feeling well or something has happened, the rest of the team are going to put their, metaphorically, going to put their arm, or physically going to put their arms around them. So they take care of each other first and foremost.

Shaked:
How would they feel this kind of culture when they're out there in the field?

Geoffrey:
Sometimes without even realizing, we're just so used to it, we adopt the language everybody uses. There is a huge emphasis on choosing words and language carefully. It's got to be appreciative, It's got to be respectful, It's got to be sensitive, It's got to be subtle. Because it creates a different feeling.

Shaked:
Do you also use technology in order to bridge that gap and to foster advanced training, culture, empowerment of employees, especially when we have all the generations working together under one roof?

Geoffrey:
We use a software system called Person Centered Software. It makes it really quick and fast to log an activity. It really drives brilliant care and makes it easy for us to track the care, document the care, enhance the care. But we also use electronic administration of medication. Other systems for empowering the team to make sure there's no errors between the amount of hours they work and what they get paid. Planned holidays without having to go through filling out forms, they can do it online. If the rota changes, they'll be sent a notification immediately, be reminded of shifts. They can change a shift, swap a shift with somebody if they want to. All these things will make people's lives, I hope, a bit easier and less stressful.

Shaked:
If you could give one piece of advice to new care providers, what would it be?

Geoffrey:
Love your staff like you've never believed was ever possible, because if you do, they'll repay your investment, your trust, your vision, your hopes, your prayers tenfold. If the entire organization is a co-production between the ownership, the management and the team ongoingly I think you can build something very special, in my view.