The Sweet Spot

THE SWEET SPOT

Every day you are bombarded with messaging that assails every sense telling you how you should be.  That you should be more fit. You should be better informed.  You should be a leader. You should be a team player.  You should work harder.  You should meditate more.  You should be happier.  You should reach for the stars.  You should rest more.  Frankly, it’s exhausting just thinking about all of things you’re told to do and be…and that’s without even having done any of them.  There are some days when all of that can happen with a brief stroll through social media before even getting up out of bed.  It’s amazing that you don’t just turn off the alarm, roll over, and go back to sleep.

It’s not any different in a long-term care or senior living environment.  Does your organization have a corporate culture that it asks its team to “fit in to”?  Chances are it does and it should have one that makes sense with the environment it operates in.  Issues within the organization emerge when the formal or informal culture within the company are in conflict with the views of its employees.  If a conflict exists, the organization will show decreased employee engagement and retention. Asking some simple, direct questions to employees can easily test the waters for culture conflict.  Do you feel you have to compromise who you are with the culture of where you work? Do you change your fundamental nature in order to be lauded, promoted, or even simply continue to be employed?  Do you know of other organizations that are more closely aligned with our own values? 

As leaders in organizations, you are charged with finding the “sweet spot”.  In other words, a culture that makes sense for your organization and your employees.  Where is your sweet spot?  In other words, when you wipe away all that you’ve been taught by someone else, what are your own core values?  What do you want your own legacy to be?  If you had to write your own mission statement, what would it be?  Finding the sweet spot as a team is difficult but rewarding work and a sustainable business model that provides high-quality, long-term care for seniors is impossible without it. 

Successful teams share an understanding of the common goals of the organization as well as its mission and core values.  Fostering emotional intelligence within your team will create an environment where consensus replaces conflict.  When these conditions exist, diversity will be a welcome addition to the team and the organization as a whole will find itself with more engaged employees.  This is the cultural “sweet spot”.

When you drift away from your “sweet spot” you tend to find that you lose clarity around what you do every day because it is not in alignment with what you really find truth in.  On a broad scale, this can cause all kinds of organizational chaos.  On a personal level, increased anxiety and stress levels are common results. 

If you are in need of support to find clarity around your organization’s culture, core values, mission, vision and to provide tools for an empowered and successful team please contact Apple Blossom Unlimited, LLC at appleblossomunlimited@gmail.com.  Creating a long-term care environment with a robust culture that supports an engaged staff that cares for an extremely satisfied group of Residents is a pretty sweet deal!