Who’s At Your Decision-Making Table?

It is written that Abraham Lincoln once said, “A man who represents himself, has a fool for a client.”

My take-away is this: When we act alone and do not seek out those who are better suited to provide guidance, insight, and knowledge, we risk making ill-informed decisions that can have grave consequences.

Who’s at your table?

As a sales and marketing professional in senior living, I come across this practice all too often where one person or department is making critical decisions that impacted the entire company without having all the facts, data or input needed to truly understand there impact. One example of this I see is the act of setting prices or rate increases. Often these are done based on operational and/or financial goals but do not consider market conditions or competitive landscape when determining the rates. On paper you may have a perfect proforma or budget, but in reality, it may not be realistic given the current market conditions.

The examples don’t stop at marketing. What about staffing, food, activities, maintenance, and every other facet of your operations. How are decisions being made? Do you have the right voices at the table that can provide expert advice and data to help inform policy making or strategic planning?

Some of you reading this are probably thinking if there are too many voices, you’ll never get anything done. I certainly understand that sentiment, but is there a middle ground that doesn’t have an all or nothing response? I like Jeff Bezos’, founder of Amazon, two pizza rule: Every meeting should be small enough that attendees could be fed with two large pizzas.

As a Sales and Marketing consultant in the senior living field, I’m usually called in when occupancy is not optimal. The requests often revolve around getting more leads or getting more move ins. And while increasing both of these metrics are great, it is my experience that tells me this alone will not overcome poor occupancy performance. At Adept Senior Living Solutions, we take a wholistic approach to solving occupancy challenges with the goal of creating a sustainable solution not just a Band-Aid that will fall off and leave you once again exposed to census swings.