At the 2006 spring meeting of ORANJ, Dennis Koza, CEO of Medford Leas, described the five “Truths” a CEO needs to believe for effective communication with residents of a CCRC.
The first truth is: The residents pay my salary. This is probably the most important of the truths and the one which he reminds himself of every day. As a consequence, he feels constantly obliged to tell the residents what he is doing and what he will do to earn that salary. What flows from this is the need for fast responsiveness regardless of how the communications come to him. He takes special pains to welcome all new residents warmly, with a welcoming letter immediately after arrival and with a lengthy visit of one to 1 ½ hours within a week. There are over 90 resident committees in his community. He attends as many meetings as possible that deal with issues that impact the majority of residents. At minimum, he attends every biweekly meeting of the residents association, food/dining committee meetings, finance committee meetings, and health and diversity committee meetings.
The second truth is: Communication runs both ways. In other words, listen carefully before you speak. For example, his CCRC has been engaged in an ambitious expansion project. To bring the residents aboard with the plans, he has had innumerable meetings and coffees with small groups of residents both in independent living and assisted living in order to find the common threads in the discussions. He has argued with the residents when they disagreed with him and carefully considered less ambitious plans put forward by the residents. After achieving a meeting of the minds, he kept the residents informed of progress in the construction with daily reports on in-house TV.
The third truth is: Sometimes the truth hurts. This is almost inevitable when the annual monthly assessments are announced. To minimize the pain, he works intensively with the resident finance committee to explain the entire budget process. Very early in the process, he goes over the underlying assumptions, e.g. what are the anticipated occupancy levels, staffing changes, and what are the best estimates of inflation, etc. He also has each department head explain his budget to the resident finance committee. As a result of bringing the residents into the process, he has been able to say “NO” in response to some of the residents’ suggestions. At other times he has accepted alternative plans suggested by residents. He has found that when the budget process is clear from the outset, the residents are far more accepting of the painful increases that occur each year.
The fourth truth is: It’s never enough. No matter how hard you try, some residents don’t understand and this can lead to unhappiness and destructive rumors. Accordingly, he makes virtually endless presentations to the board of the CCRC, to resident association meetings, to resident meetings, and staff meetings, always with the same message. At the same time, he tests constantly to make sure that he was heard correctly. If not, he renews his efforts. He also mentioned that the board of the CCRC is very helpful because members frequently attend resident meetings and give the residents an opportunity to vent their concerns. He noted that Medford Lees does have a resident on the board and that his role is not as a resident representative but as a participant in the board’s long term planning projects.
The fifth and final truth is: You’re only as good as your last message. Sometimes, despite his best efforts, he cannot live up to his promises. In some cases, a change of plans may be necessary or a postponement of a desired outcome. When that happens, you have to tell the truth. That is the only way to minimize damage and stop rumors before they start.
These truths are so self-evident to a listener that the only question is: why don’t all the CEOs of our CCRCs adopt this approach to communication? What are they waiting for?