Leveraging the Predicative Index for Your Own Gain

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Transcript

Erin: 0:35

Hi, and welcome back to another episode of the Aspire for More with Erin podcast, where today, the wonderful David Hopkins is here. Hi, David.

David: 0:46

Hello, Erin.

Erin: 0:47

we get to talk about the Predictive Index and ourselves in the Predictive Index. So David is a David, why don't you go ahead and tell them what the official title and official role you have, being able to use the predictive index and why.

David: 1:07

Yeah,

Erin: 1:08

and then we'll go into it from there.

David: 1:10

Yeah. So predictive index is a, a personality profile kind of study. it's based off of years and years of science. They have over 75 years of data that compile into creating these different kind of, types of people and how they work. and it's based on work. It's not based on personalities, like an Enneagram, right? Enneagrams are really focused. It's great for relational status and, working with your spouse. My wife and I take it and it helps us to understand each other when we're communicating. Predictive Index is how you work in the environment. And, I am a certified, Predictive Index, person. I am allowed to interpret. I've gone through a bunch of classes. I like Predictive Index in the business sense because it does help teams. Understand where they are, what their strengths are and how to best formulate a team because everybody says, Oh, we want a diverse team, right? then you get nine people in the room with all differing opinions and you never get anything done. You're like, why didn't we get anything done? Yes, you have to have diverse opinions, but you have to have people that are willing to compromise, work together, and you have to find those strengths for me. I don't like finances. that's just boring to me. I would, give me a spreadsheet in Excel and tell me I have to create a pivot table with three tabs. you might as well send me to hell at that point in time. I'm just done. Seriously. Because that's not my passion. That's not my strength. That's not where I'm good at. If I want to do something about leadership and culture, oh yeah, I'm gonna, I'm Biden. I'm all in on that. My passion is high. My, tenacity is high. My intelligence is high. I'm working on all nine cylinders at that point in time for me. Spreadsheet? Eh, two? Maybe two cylinders? And it's not fun for me. And you're not going to get the best product where somebody who's an accountant and super driven into that is going to go so far beyond and create this amazing table. Why would you let them do it versus me? And people talk about, strengthening your weaknesses. if I'm going to strengthen my weakness only three or 4%, but I could strengthen a strength. another 10%, that's such a much more return on your investment versus trying to increase my weakness and hammering me through something that I'm not going to enjoy and not really produce in a good perspective. I like this predictive index. I'm certified in it. I use this in the, in the business world, because especially for us, like EDs in the senior living, you're in that juxtaposition, right? You're leading a team from a building, you support a team from corporate, you may see your regional person once every two weeks. If your census is low, they're probably there every day, some days, and you've got that kind of in between Push and pull of you've got to be able to interpret, things that come down from corporate. And, sometimes you get that email and it's all these attachments and this is our new policy and procedure and we've detailed it in your quick easy study guide of 19 pages and here's your PDF and I filmed a video for you to figure it all out and you go through it. And you're like, okay, got it. And you turn around to your staff. They're like, what are we doing? Hey, instead of clicking this button, click that button. And that was the whole job, boiling down the 19 page quick guide that they have, and some people are really good at it. Some people like you, Aaron.

Erin: 4:37

Yes. based on my predictive index that, David has. So graciously allowed me to take and has assessed and dove into it to the inner workings of my brain. Yes. I don't like the full 19 pages. I really want to know, I would really want to cut through and figure out, okay. I do what, when, where, and the biggest thing is I want to know why, because if I know why everything else falls into place, so I think in my career, a lot I've always left out the why, and I never really understood the context of a lot,

David: 5:19

and

Erin: 5:19

so I could figure out the steps, but if things didn't make sense to me, it was a bit of a struggle for me,

David: 5:27

right?

Erin: 5:27

we have learned through this test that you and I, Are a lot alike.

David: 5:33

We are a lot alike. So in this predictive index, it will qualify you so you can generate a personality profile. And this is a work profile. Now listen, here's the hashtag, nomenclature, whatever legalese that you want to put after this. All personality profiles do is give you information. It's not ever going to nail you a hundred percent. It's never going to not nail you close to what you're doing. This is a lot of scientific data that's gone into it. Each personality profile, whether it bases it on the personality, work styles, you've got Myers Briggs, you've got strength finders, all these pieces can give you clues if you're really trying to do some deep dive discovery into yourself and figure out what kind of leader am I? How am I as an employee? Who do I work well with and who do I not work well with? And if I don't work well with you, how do I put in structure and places and procedures that I can work well with you, right? As an ED. You've got an activities director who's way high on the energy scale. You may have a maintenance director who's low on the energy scale. And you're still have to meet them where they're at as a leader to help bring them along. Again, why is a huge question for a lot of people? Why am I doing this? Why do we need to work on this? Yes, I understand our goal is to, in senior living, take care of our residents to the best Way possible, but why are you changing this whole procedure that we've been doing for the past five years? Because now you think this is something new and then the rumor mill starts flying. It's oh, they pay less on this product and blah, blah, blah. And then all these things start going on when you can just say, Hey, we really feel like this is a good win for our residents and we want to move them forward. So I really need you to understand this piece of it. Let's Put it into practice and start moving it forward. you want to dive in? Ready to expose Erin here and give all the secrets away on, a maverick and

Erin: 7:38

Me and you? A maverick and a maverick? Okay. Maverick and

David: 7:41

a maverick.

Erin: 7:41

Yes, I am a maverick. And a maverick is an innovative, outside the box thinker who is undaunted by failure.

David: 7:50

From an

Erin: 7:50

Enneagram perspective, I am almost just as much an Enneagram 2, which is high level people pleaser, as I am an Enneagram 3, which is a high achiever, right? So I'm like a people pleaser high achiever, which is certainly a recipe for a complete flame out, which I did, experience. So now we have from the work perspective a maverick outside the box thinker who is undaunted by failure.

David: 8:17

I

Erin: 8:19

would say I am undaunted by failure now after an emotional day or two of being daunted by failure. It no longer holds me back the way that it used to and I would say that failure inside of a community e Did not daunt me as much as the personal side of it. because I think I remember taking the predictive index inside of a community. And I think I was a maverick as well, but again, there was a high heel Aaron and a tennis shoe, Aaron. And so the high heel Aaron, the executive director inside the community, I could fail inside of a community and learn from it and move forward. But there was that personal side of it that, a lot of things held me back from a failure perspective. So, I agree with this from, from a professional standpoint for sure. now that Erin is the same person, and out on her own a bit, I will say that failure, I expect to fail, and you still feel that searing pain a little bit when you fail, but I know how to get back up in a healthy way. You know what I mean? It doesn't define a part of me anymore than it used to. So just saying, I agree with it. I am not, I'm no longer undaunted, but there is a day or two that it does daunt me.

David: 9:48

And it's never going to be the same way every time. So for me, when I used to take failure, I grew up as an only child. So listen, if I failed, it was all on me. There was no brother or sister to blame. my mom would walk in the room and go, who broke the lamp? And I'm looking around okay, either I'm going to get in trouble for breaking the lamp and lying or just breaking the lamp. Hey, I'll just take the lamp at this point in time. And. For me, it built up a tolerance. Now, personally, internally, I took it very hard when I had defeats, and that, that just hurt my soul, and there's a time where you have to figure out how to manage that healthy, because drugs, alcohol, everything else you can use to numb that feeling and get past it is only temporary. You've got to learn how to manage that failure successfully internally as well as externally because you still gotta lead a team. You still gotta put on that brave face. And I think, as EDs, we encounter failure daily.

Erin: 10:45

Yes.

David: 10:45

Minute, minutely, hourly, because, there's always something. Small fails,

Erin: 10:50

big fails.

David: 10:51

Small fails, big fails, Yeah. And I think that's what makes an ED a very, a maverick, a very successful ED is you have to understand failure. You have to be okay with it. And no, we don't want to fail, but listen. Life's imperfect. And the sooner you get around to that and not thinking you're, okay, confession time, right? I love James Bond movies. I think it's so cool. How does he know how to be a wine sommelier expert in all these guns and martial arts and everything else still drive a cool car. And went to a Baccarat table and he knows how to play immediately and all these tricks. I'm just like, I love watching the movie, but it's a fantasy. Nobody can do all those things. Nobody can be perfect at everything. And in the sooner you get comfortable with failure, the sooner you can pick yourself back up. And I think, quite honestly, we have done a bad job of teaching our leaders how to fail because you see everything, right? the only thing that people post on their Facebook on a community is we're a hundred percent occupied. All right. What about 99%? can we. Celebrate that? if I got a 99 on a test in school, you better believe I'm celebrating. But we don't. We celebrate perfection, which is, nice to go for and a good goal, but let's not miss the opportunity of celebrating success and how we define that. sorry, off my soapbox. Let's go back to Erin and Maverick. Do you want to put up your results? We'll show everybody how this comes up.

Erin: 12:28

Well, I agree with what you were saying. So it's not a soapbox. I think that's stuff that people need to hear.

David: 12:34

Okay. So here we are. The predictive index, after you take the test, will give you a report. This is a three page report. Aaron's okay, there's all my secrets up on the screen. The first thing is your self score. And so we have four different kind of, highlights that we're looking at here. So on A, it says you're independent. Year B is a reserved. Your C is steady, and your D is flexible. Now, the median point, where the black triangle is our standard deviation, so you're either going positively or negatively. So we see Erin is very independently positive. She's, her C is, high on the steady mark. She's very consistent. Her reserve, is coming a little bit more to the negative. And I'm going to tell you why in just a second. And then flexibility is for D. So that is coming back to being A little bit more inflexible now. So we look at this, and this is the first set of questions. This is how we perceive ourselves. The second question is going to say, state, how do you think you are perceived at work? And this is our self concept. Now, we're, our goal is to take this line and mirror those. So we don't have a mirror. which is why we're going to use the third graph off of this. But on our self concept, her collaborative is on just north of the positive side on the standard deviation. Very sociable, comes back, her steady is spot on, right there. And her flexibility is still on the lower side. And what this means is in work, You're very independent. You're sociable as an executive director. You've been out in the communities as a salesperson, as a new entrepreneur, you're having to be more independent, more sociable to drive that business. You're still very consistent with the products that you just deliver. And I think anybody who knows or listens to aspire for more with Aaron knows those podcasts come out. Like clockwork, right? And we're all waiting for that, that next nugget of information that comes out. Now, what we do with this is we take this all the way down to the synthesis. And this is how the graphs are going to merge together. So we still see a very high independent cause you're north of the standard deviation on your A. It dials back your self concept or yourself, and then it also moves up your self concept. So we know Aaron's highly independent. She is still very sociable. If you've ever met Erin at any of the, events, I'm sure she's given you up a big smile. Oh my God, it's so great to meet you. There's true Southern hospitality in that interaction. And again, steady, consistent. Her production will always be spot on and I's will be dotted and T's will be crossed. Her flexibility starts moving a little bit towards the standard deviation. And what we see with that is she's becoming more flexible In a community, you're less flexible. And that comes from a Maverick's personality. Now, the last thing that we have on this synthesis. And that's her E. And we see the E at, over a standard deviation on the positive side. E is energy. Think excitement. When you talk to Erin, she's very excited to talk to you. She's engaged. You feel like you are the only person Erin is talking to, whether or not she's got the energy. a line of people standing behind you ready to talk to her. And that is how we find ourselves. So saying all that, Erin, how do you feel?

Erin: 16:18

Good. Except for this flexible thing. Why? talk to me about that. I am independent with reserved being in the negative. What does that mean?

David: 16:29

So reserved is how we present ourselves, right? There's intro think introverts and extroverts. Sometimes introverts have to cross over. My wife is an introvert. She's become a leader of close to 40 people now. Now she has to become an extrovert and that's a stretch for her. She would much rather be home at, in her safe, introverted kind of mentality and her office space, but having to go out and solicit feedback from her team. Scheduling one on ones, engaging with people is a much more sociable aspect than what she is normally wanting to do.

Erin: 17:06

Flexible. I am reserved. But I certainly am also very outgoing. And I do think that I have to have the balance of being, have the silence because I do give so much when I am around people. I give everything. So I need that time to recuperate. I have noticed that, but being flexible, I'm not really like, hard line structured.

David: 17:33

No.

Erin: 17:33

no, but

David: 17:33

your flexibility will come into play, especially when we see this on the map as you're not going to tolerate a ton of excuses.

Erin: 17:42

Oh, okay.

David: 17:43

If you have. an employee that's been working for you and consistently late. You've written them up. You've had conversations. You need to be here on time. We start our shift at seven o'clock. You rolling in at 7 45 with, McDonald's breakfast does not tell me that you're really trying to get here on time, right? Most of the times we would have fired them now with staffing crises is we got to figure out how to make it work, but your flexibility internally to do something now has shut down. you've reached your limit of excuses. You're not going to do that. Now, this is completely different. Again, this is business. This is not personality. This is not your kids and being flexible with your kids. Cause we bend over backwards. This is your business mentality. So you got to put on your business hat. If I'm sitting in an ED chair and this lady comes back in again, Oh my God, seriously, how hard it is it to get to work on time?

Erin: 18:39

So being in the negative of flexibility or being in the negative part of this map or this guide, is that a negative?

David: 18:51

No. Okay. So right away you said negative, and it is a negative deviation. So in statistics, we talk about standard deviations, right? So we have positives and we have negatives. Just like I don't want to do an Excel spreadsheet. If you force me to do that, My flexibility goes down. My sociability goes down. All of those things are going to pull away because I don't want to do it. And this is me personally. This is me internally. And I'm having a hard time being flexible when you want me to do something and I don't want to do it. All right, so let's scroll down next page because this is going to get some good stuff. So strongest behaviors and I talked to you a little bit ahead of time and I hear that. There's a few favorites in here. Yeah, everybody's right now is pausing it so they can read everything and copy down.

Erin: 19:41

Yes. Yes. I really like the idea. it is true. I think one of my favorites is. being able to see the patterns, right? Yeah. Task focused quickly notices and pushes to fix technical problems assertively cutting through personal or emotional issues. That is a yes and no, but has the aptitude to spot trends in data or figure out how complex systems work. That is given enough time and enough data to spot the trends. I am a dot connector, and I do believe that is something that sets me apart. I can find it pretty quickly when it certainly when it comes to behaviors. And I say behaviors loosely because of course I see it with my son all the time, like behaviors or forms of communication,

David: 20:37

right?

Erin: 20:38

So for those who can't always, or will not communicate with words, they do communicate with behaviors and I can try to find the patterns and understand what people are trying to say through their actions. and also. Through it, the sales price process to like, we can spot those patterns. we can understand pain points and connect them and solve problems. I do believe I like that 1 the best. because let me ask you this

David: 21:07

question,

Erin: 21:08

have you

David: 21:08

ever called your regional manager or your support people and go look at, we're going to have a problem here and we need to do something ahead of time.

Erin: 21:15

Yes,

David: 21:16

proactive you see it coming. And then it comes down the pipeline and they're like, Oh, we should have done something. You're like, I've been screaming about this for three months.

Erin: 21:24

I like to say, I'm not a control freak, but I do like to, I can see, this sounds really weird. I can see into the future and I can see that this is a problem based on this, and this, we need to solve this. Or I like control the outcomes based on things that I've seen in the past. You know what I mean? Mike. That is true. We've been doing something for so long. you see it, you can feel it. I always felt the energy in the community and I knew we were at a tipping point just based on feeling the energy and the different patterns.

David: 21:58

And this is what's so great about the predictive index, is because. This is years and years of data, and it's going to tell regional people, when you have an ED, this is something that you should really pay attention to. When Aaron picks up the phone and says, Hey, This is coming down. You should stop and go. Okay. How do we fix it? Because giving you that autonomy to acknowledge there's a situation and fix it ahead of time is a win for both the community and the company because that is an innate ability. That's so built into you. You can fix it. Feel it like you said in the you feel the shift and the change of the community and the environment and what needs to happen and you probably have a couple ways of getting out of that situation to make sure that it doesn't come back.

Erin: 22:46

Yes, always have a backup plan or two. You know what I mean?

David: 22:50

yep,

Erin: 22:51

always prepare.

David: 22:52

what's the other one that you really liked?

Erin: 22:55

I like solves problems as they occur. I used to say solve problems as they occur rather than through advanced planning.

David: 23:03

Okay,

Erin: 23:03

I would say that there was a part of that. That's true. And still, obviously, there are some problems that we have to solve in the moment because we didn't know they were coming. But I do believe over time, advanced planning does solve the problems. It's just that pattern recognition.

David: 23:21

Yeah.

Erin: 23:21

if you're an new in the community, you are going to solve problems as they arise, but when you are 6 months to a year in, you've had some data. and now you can see the patterns and now you can have some advanced planning year

David: 23:35

2

Erin: 23:35

and 3, you're going to have that advanced planning to be proactive with problem solving. I used to have an administrative assistant who say, I live my life as if I got hit by a bus tomorrow. Everyone would still know how to live.

David: 23:52

Wow,

Erin: 23:53

I was like, not that person, this was pre kids, Aaron. Yeah, solving problems in the moment, and now I understand where she was coming from. Although I'm not as diligent with the way that she was, I can respect and certainly more towards that trend. And, I do like innovative ideas, even in the face of failures and popular opposition. If you have the data collection, yeah, it's going to work.

David: 24:27

So I want to highlight one and challenge you a little bit ready. Okay. It's the second from the last one and it's only the half of it. Resourcefully works through or around anything blocking completion of what they want to accomplish. Aggressive when challenged.

Erin: 24:45

some people would say that's true.

David: 24:47

Yeah.

Erin: 24:48

I love the, the analogy of the frog on the log. So in the school, were you taught prepositions by the frog being on the log and you need to go around or under, over, or any of that?

David: 25:03

I remember on my Yankee.

Erin: 25:05

That's true. Okay. So

David: 25:07

not too many frogs or logs.

Erin: 25:09

So I do believe roadblocks and logs are to be you don't stop forward progress because there's an obstacle in your way. You figure out how to go through it, over it, under it, around it, solve it, make it part of the process, all of that. Forward progress does not need to be stopped permanently or for long periods of time. Now, yes, I get, I can be aggressive when challenged. I have had phases of my life where, I would say that would be very true. I have been improving on that area of my life and I think that at the height of it was when regulatory concerns were at play and I felt right or wrong. My integrity of my reputation, the regulatory, proficiency of my community, and the way that things were being rolled down was disrespectful. So I became aggressive. Although that term sounds very negative, but I think it's not

David: 26:22

negative.

Erin: 26:24

I do think that it was, it's probably a correct definition.

David: 26:28

Yeah. and we do that a lot, right? We try to tamp it down to fit in this nice, Perfect box kind of thing because aggressive is a bad word. Listen. No, it isn't Aggressive is great because we want somebody who wants to go get something they want to go get a building, right? I mean you read 90 of the ed must be able to work independently and drive business. Okay, great that's an aggressive person. That's not a very placid person who sits back and be told, waits to be told what to do. Major League Baseball loves to have an aggressive hitter because they have a higher percentage hitting rate and they're on base more. I'll tell you a quick story and it's, I'm gonna avoid the senior living because I have thousands of stories that I'd love to say on that piece of it, but when I was in college I took a speech class and I loved to talk if you couldn't tell, and, but I don't use a lot of notes. I'm very picture driven in my presentations, and that's what triggers my stories for me to segue and move through. And in this speech class, you had certain things. You had to write an outline and do all these different things of how you give a speech. One of them was the instructor told us, you have to use notecards. Seriously, and we had to keep giving the same speech over and over because he wanted to see, the difference of, how do you do an outline, how do you write out a speech, if you just did bullet points. And Literally, I was on my way to speech class, and I had to give my speech again, and now I'm midway through the semester, and I swung through the bookstore, and I picked up note cards, and I unwrapped them, and I took out about six of them. And I walked up and I gave my speech and every time I wanted to pause or change my direction I would look down and I'd flip a card and at the end of the class he said turn in your cards So I turned in my cards and he looks at me and he goes mr. Hopkins. There's nothing on these cards I said you told me I had to use cards. You didn't tell me I had to write anything on them So finding that little nuance to allow me to be Do what I do and be successful in it because I'm passionate about those things and that's what I'm good at Now had you asked me to talk about an excel spreadsheet you better believe All 100 of those cards front and back would have had information on it because i'm not good at that piece of it And that's where I struggle. So I need to do more preparation around those pieces. So Yes, it happens, but don't make aggressive a bad thing. We're aggressive and we're good, and that's a good thing because it drives business. It gets business. It engages people. Sometimes you have to be aggressive with family members, right? Sometimes you have to bring them to a point where you have to make them break down so they can see. The options and the help that they're having. I have a good friend who's trying to take care of her mom. Who's with dementia and I'm trying to get her some help and she can't see it yet, but she will when she gets exhausted and she just physically can't do it anymore. And those are the times that you have to be aggressive and really help them get to a point because overall in the future, it's going to be better for them in the long run.

Erin: 29:33

It's true. And executive directors have to have. That sense, you can be respectful and aggressive, assertive, right? You have to have that. And I understand the flexibility a little bit more now, right? you want to be flexible, but you also have to not be flexible. because we have to have some kind of standard,

David: 29:55

Yeah. let's be flexible and let everybody have the holiday off. Oh, wait,

Erin: 30:00

we can't do that. Yeah. So what would you say yours? obviously we're both Mavericks, but maybe in a different way. Or was it very similar?

David: 30:09

It's very similar. I will tell you, my Enneagram is a seven wing six. So I'm more of an entertainer. I am more of the out there going to meet people. I'd rather have that kind of a passion in my life. I don't need a lot of recovery time when I go and do keynotes or we speak to people and we do consulting engagements. I do need a little bit of time because it's helpful and it's restful for my soul to just reconnect. But. I don't need a full day or something like that. I need an hour, two maybe, and sitting quietly, just regrouping myself and settling my brain to refocus, that's me. And my Maverick is very much the same thing where I will, it, once I find that, why, like you said, I will start charging down the road. come with me if you want to, but I'm not waiting on you to create this, 14 point strategic plan. We got to get some stuff done because in a community we all know operations are key and you've got to run and you've got to get the sales in and you've got to start doing that stuff. And many times I've picked up the phone and called our vice president of sales. I'm like, listen, Yeah, I just lost somebody. I feel like we're gonna have a few more. I don't feel like we're in that position that we've got a strong pipeline really needed, boost up our ads. Oh, we're fine. You're at 90. Yeah. Two months later, I'm like, please, I really need some ads. This is coming. I've got this feeling. And then month four is and now you're behind the eight ball. And they're like, what happened? I've been screaming from the mountaintops for four months and just really need your support to listen to me because I'm an expert in my building. I'm not telling you how to do somebody else's job. I'm just telling you here, this is what's going on here. Yeah. Very similar.

Erin: 31:51

Good. Okay. yeah, we're very similar and our personalities are very different, which is really funny. That's funny. All right. So this management strategy guide, which I find to be, fine. Let me share my screen one more time.

David: 32:04

So when we do this, we give you a report based on yourself. We also give you a management strategy guide. And then if there's a team, what we'll do is we'll create this team and you'll be able to see it on a circle graph of where people are and how you can flex them and challenge them. But if they're high and right on the circle, you're not trying to pull them all the way down low and left. because that's not going to be successful for them. they're not going to do it. They're going to get frustrated. They may quit. You'll have problems. It'll be a huge management nightmare, but the management strategy guide is for your leader. And what this says is, again, we go back through the Maverick gives you your full pattern. Here's the things that are going to be good for Aaron. Here are the things that you need to help Aaron figure out and maybe walk through. And this is where as a leader, it's an invaluable tool because this kind of gives me. a roadmap of how to manage Aaron. provide opportunities to broaden their technical knowledge. Hey Aaron, we're implementing a new EMR. Will you be our super user? Yes. Done. Aaron's excited about that. She's passionate. She's that's going to translate in the teaching and those pieces, giving her a chance to sort that out, figure out what works well for her in the community. Those are going to be great. Strategies on, based on how Aaron's going to take actions, explain that why, right? You already said that. I need to know why we're doing this. If you don't give me the why, like everything else you send to me in your 14 page quick step program is not going to matter. It's just not, because I'm not going to understand it enough, and people are going to see me try to sell this I don't think it's unimportant because it isn't important to you yet because you don't understand that. Why? And then when you deal with the risk in decision making, giving you opportunities to make those decisions and influence the bigger picture, right? That's what we talked about, managing up, saying to the regional, Hey, this is going on. I see this trend working right now. Do you think there's, we could do X, Y, and Z to prohibit that? Yes. Those are the pieces that need to be encouraged and developed and allow you to bring those into.

Erin: 34:08

Yeah,

David: 34:09

and then scroll down to the second page too. We'll hit that one real quick and then you can give some thoughts And so what you have here is, you know What have you done? so this is when you're talking to Aaron and I'm your leader and I'm saying, Hey, what have you done? you're going to list me off all yourself. What do you think you can do better? And that's that, that, that moment where you're like, okay, I've learned how to overcome failure, but I probably could have done this a little bit better, right? or I could have said this differently and develop that action plan for you is helpful because then you see it. You understand the why and you can engage with that. And then what's your blocker, right? You know what those are. We all know what they are. We, those are the things we don't like to do. So call them out. Understand it. Put things or systems in place. I would always hire. An amazing business office manager that would be so aggressive on the books that I would have low Debt out there for non payment or anything like that I didn't have to worry about it Because if I had to worry about it, then I had to get an excel and we all know where that's gonna go And then holding yourself accountable, right? You reset places and times to reevaluate and you can see that coming up. And this makes four steps for a manager to take an executive director or a subordinate and really help them be focused on their improvement, as opposed to this. Hey, Aaron. This is our yearly evaluation. You're going to get a 2 percent raise. You did really well this year. Thanks so much. Great. So happy to be here.

Erin: 35:42

All of that is really good. I think one of the biggest problems in my career was the why. I feel like that's probably a big concern inside senior living.

David: 35:53

Yeah,

Erin: 35:53

obviously, some companies are smaller and they have it. I just didn't my why was just to add value to people, to change people's lives. That was my wife. Very mission driven. I'm not necessarily aware that it was that senior living was a real estate play. I just had no concept of that when I was inside the community. Shame on me, but shame on everyone else because, just wasn't aware of that. had I known, I think that there might have been some understanding of perspectives that would have helped. but I also, I think the more Autonomy and then come up with this plan and then get back with me and let's talk about it. works and when I did get that type of relationship, it really did help. so I think that there's a lot of this is spot on and I guess the main focus to understand is that this is business perspective, not personality perspective.

David: 36:57

Yeah.

Erin: 36:58

And that's key. And these questions are really. Good, you know reflect on what you've done. and what can you do better just the whole self reflective Moment that we have going on in this world is important because it does bring awareness Especially if you can reflect without fear of retribution

David: 37:16

Huge

Erin: 37:17

then you can really reflect

David: 37:19

right,

Erin: 37:20

and then develop the plan like what's real what's not

David: 37:24

yeah

Erin: 37:24

And your own weaknesses and like you said because you knew That you are not good with Excel. You hired for your strengths. you hired, yes, you hired for your strengths, but you also hired for your weaknesses.

David: 37:37

A hundred percent.

Erin: 37:38

You knew your strengths, which meant you knew your weaknesses.

David: 37:41

Exactly.

Erin: 37:42

And you weren't going to be threatened by somebody who could do the Excel spreadsheet.

David: 37:47

No,

Erin: 37:48

it was amazing. I didn't have

David: 37:49

to do it.

Erin: 37:50

Yeah, I think a lot of people struggle with feeling threatened because somebody else is really good at something that you really struggle with, but that is finding the best team there is,

David: 38:01

As an executive director, your job isn't to be the best at everything. You can't be the best activities person, the best business person in the best maintenance man, or in best chef, like it's just physically impossible. Your job is to bring them all together, focus them in the right direction and keep the boat moving together in, in repetition, right? Every day, producing a great product, producing great environments, producing great, Payment that you can pay your staff with that you can hire the best people your job isn't to do the job And that's what we've really gotten away from is. Oh, you'll need to fill in as a server You'll need to do this and blah blah blah and it's like the great business office lady that I would hire She loved cruises done and she's and you need to know one thing when the first time I hired her She looked at me and she goes, I don't leave on the first of the month and I don't leave on the last of the month, but I'll schedule my cruises around that payroll will be done and you won't have to worry about a thing done. I'm out. What do you need? Like I could use a nicer chair. Done. Whatever you need to do that. And I don't have to worry about it.

Erin: 39:10

if I can communicate my goal, like these are the things that are important to me, these, but I am accountable to my responsibilities, right? this is my thing, but here's what I'm going to do to ensure that I can do my thing. Yes, you will be hired. Yes, your strengths, your weaknesses, you are accountable and you are responsible and clearly you can communicate you're with me again.

David: 39:34

Let's go.

Erin: 39:35

Yes. Yes. So if you have those people don't be threatened because they sit here and tell you that this is important to them because they're telling you what's important to them through the lens of accountability and responsibility, which is what you want.

David: 39:54

It's amazing. And the other thing I just want to add on that these things help have those conversations, right? They start that sometimes you may have somebody that you've been working with for years on end and this just opens the door to have that first conversation. I think what we both do is that consulting for an ed is huge, right? Because if they don't have a place to go in either event or discuss or really try and grow authentically without fear of retribution. They go to somebody else. And then there's a rumor mill. Things happen. All these things are negative environments that happen in your community. And I think, we overlook consultants that have been in that to come in. Like you said, I just want to help people get better. And that is so important, especially in the community level, because the regional has, like we said, maybe once every two weeks, you'll see them. Maybe it's once a month. A zoom call here and there, but that's not an engaging leader. That's going to help develop you and grow you. They're focused on the fire. What building has the lowest census? I got to get that up. we can move that forward on the company. And that's where consultants, I think, really help out is you have the safe space. To go to, to confess, to work on, engage and say, how do I get this better? Because not a lot of people are showing up to say, Hey, I'm just really out to, collect my paycheck and walk out the door, not in senior living.

Erin: 41:21

I recently had the amazing honor of being a part of a group discussion. And it was so enlightening for me because it was me, a few years ago. And I already knew that a group coaching. project or program that I invested myself in changed my life. I got to see how it could really change the lives of people inside the community. And you're right. Attention from a corporation or from a company goes to the communities who are low occupied. Underperforming teams, or the ones who are low that has the momentum going up. And I saw firsthand where communities. Were, Struggling that were full, the leader was full and it was because they didn't feel like they were getting, they didn't feel needed. They didn't feel valued. They didn't feel wanted. There's all those things. So it's the same at every percentage of occupancy.

David: 42:28

Exactly.

Erin: 42:28

this coaching and business model, this consulting business model Is a new form of business, I think, hitting the market and, Once you figure out the benefit, I don't think it will go away and I don't like the bandwidth of the corporate office. They don't have it and that's okay. And then if they did have it, how do we know that person's going to stay long enough? And so the consistency of it, the superpower of it stays with the coach. That's their business model.

David: 43:00

Absolutely. Couldn't agree more.

Erin: 43:03

Yep. So that's what businesses like us, David are around and, It's important. Predictive index, knowing your strengths and your weaknesses, knowing how to put teams together, all of that's important. And he's like a little psychic in here reading all of the data, which is impressive. So thank you for sharing it with us. I appreciate you.

David: 43:23

Absolutely. My pleasure.

Erin: 43:25

Okay. Anything else? No, ma'am. We're signing off till the next time, right? So to all my listeners aspire for more for you.