The Power of Feedback: How to Make Sure Your Community Reflects the Thoughts and Ideas of Your Residents, Families, and Staff
Senior living communities these days often talk about how important it is to take their cues from data-driven insights. And thanks to technological advances – particularly around AI – amassing and analyzing data on resident behavior and preferences has never been easier.
But this is really nothing new. Most communities have long sought community input to help guide a wide variety of their decisions and offerings. Why? Because they’ve found that gathering feedback is vital to ensuring that the thoughts and ideas of residents, families, and staff are reflected in their community.
Here’s why feedback remains such an important resource for serving these three key groups – and how senior living technology can help communities build on this timeless practice.
Residents: The Heart and Soul of Your Community
It’s not hard to make the argument that resident feedback is the most significant type for any senior living community. These are your primary customers, after all. But they’re much more than that. These are the people who define the character of your community, and who make it more than just a place to live.
In both of these roles, then, their feedback is critical. What do they like or not like? Are you meeting or exceeding their expectations? Most importantly, does your community feel like home?
Resident feedback can span a wide array of topics and considerations, including…
- General wellness and care.
- Activities and life enrichment programming.
- Facilities and dining.
- Staff interaction and communications.
While surveying new residents on the above topics is a good way to check in and make sure their needs are being met early, the process of gathering feedback shouldn’t stop there. Ongoing pulse checks and regular surveys can let residents know you’re continuously thinking of their needs – and can provide insight into any trends or problem areas that may be emerging.
Families: The Support System
It should come as no surprise that the thoughts and opinions of residents’ families represent a huge component of the senior living community evaluation process. But those opinions don’t become any less important after the choice is made and a resident moves in. If anything, that’s when family feedback becomes even more crucial.
Families want to know that they made the right decision for their loved one. They want to see that the care, comfort, and lifestyle you promised in your marketing materials is what you’re now delivering. And they want to feel like they’re a part of the community as well – they want to feel engaged.
By regularly checking in with families, you’ll be letting them know that their loved ones aren’t the only valued members of your community – they are too. Bonus: Positive family feedback can be a great source of testimonials to share within and beyond your community.
Staff: The Engine That Makes Your Community Run
Looking for a sure-fire way to positively impact the feedback you receive from both residents and families? Keep your staff happy and engaged. Because when your staff feels like they’re being heard and appreciated, it will show up in the energy and enthusiasm they bring to the job every day.
Try gathering regular feedback on topics like:
- How they feel about the kind of work they’re doing.
- Whether the scheduling system is working for them.
- How they’re interacting with residents.
- What you can do to make things easier or more convenient for them.
Checking in with staff and making changes based on their suggestions is a great way to improve their job satisfaction (which can also help you hold onto them in a tight labor market). It also sends a very clear message that their feelings and opinions are just as valuable as anyone else’s when it comes to keeping your community running as smoothly as possible.
Choose the Right Senior Living Technology for Gathering Feedback
Gathering feedback is great, but what you do with that feedback is just as important. And you can’t act on the comments and suggestions of your residents, families, and staff unless you can clearly understand what they’re trying to tell you. This is where the right senior living technology can make all the difference.
A tool like Go Icon’s Feedback 360 provides a user-friendly, customizable way to easily gather feedback from all of these key community groups. And with detailed reporting dashboards and automated actionable insights, you’ll be able to see the results clearly and be ready to respond in a meaningful way. Get in touch to see it in action – and to start understanding your community in a whole new way.