Inside United Church Homes’ EIR Program with Mike Hughes and Linda Dailey | The AgeTech Podcast S4E26

Keren Etkin: Mike and Linda, welcome to the show.

Mike: Thanks. Good to be here, Keren.

Keren Etkin: So when I have people for the first time on the show, I always like to sort of look at the origin story,both of your origin stories and also the origin story for the program. if we were like a fly on the wall when this program was first started, what was happening there?

Mike: first of all, you know, I’ve, I’ve been in aging in health and tech pretty much my entire career. Um, you know, Keren, I’ve certainly known you for many, many years, uh, for the, uh, with your work in age tech and, um, uh, you know, I came to United Church Homes about three and a half years ago as its first that chief transformation and innovation officer. And with that, um. You know, with, with, with that, um, I guess title, um, you know, I really wanted to introduce human-centered design to United Church Homes because, you know, we’re a, we are a hospitality business. We’re a human business. And, uh, if we want to develop things, you know, for our, you know, of those we serve, you know, we have to do it, you know, with co-creation with them. And, you know, I talked to, uh, many, many, um, you know. organizations in the age tech space. And I found that they also sort of have a need for, uh, you know, really getting close to the customer. And they have hypothesis about what might happen with older people and how they interact with their offerings or, or, or, you know, what, what, uh, you know, senior living operations are like.

So I, I think the Entrepreneur in Residence program, Linda, I think it just kind of came like all, all at once, you know, oh, this is a good idea, let’s try it out. And then just, just kind of clicked and, and we’ve just been doing it for, I. Or, or, you know, like a good while. So I’ll, Linda, I’ll let you, you know, share your origin story, the story of the program as well.

Linda Dailey: Yeah. So I have been, um, blessed to be a part of United Church Homes for almost eight years. Eight years this month, I believe. And, um, the thing that that sets United Church Homes apart and makes me happy about being a part of this organization is the, their commitment to the mission to transform aging. building a culture of community, wholeness and peace. And in order to transform aging, we have to constantly be innovative in coming up with new ideas and, and new ways to approach the process. and I can’t think of a better way to do that than involving the stakeholders. Um, to Mike’s point about the human-centered design, we have to bring the stakeholders to the table to see what really works.

We all have ideas. About what getting older is like and what actually what independent living and retirement communities and assisted living and skilled nursing and what those are like. But until you’ve been here and lived here and worked here and been a part of it, you, you really don’t know. So the idea of bringing. These entrepreneurs into the community to involve the actual end user and stakeholder in the process was really exciting. And Glenwood, we love to, um, meet new people and bring people into our community, so it’s been a great thing for the residents here as well.

Keren Etkin: That’s awesome. So how does the program actually work? Does the person come live in one of the units for a few weeks and just go around asking questions?

Linda Dailey: Mike, do you want me to start ?

Mike: Yea, Linda, please. Yeah.

Linda Dailey: Okay. So, um, Mike is able to identify, um, the individuals most appropriate for our program, and then he allows me to sit in on a, a brief interview and if it looks like a good fit, then that individual is invited into our community into an apartment for about two weeks.

And the first few days they spend in, um, observation we’re, we’re constantly adjusting that agenda to, to, you know, we learn from our mistakes and successes and, and make some, adaptions to that. But right now, um, we wanna start with an introduction to the residents. This is your new neighbor. For the next couple of weeks, all of our residents now know that we, who’s our entrepreneur and residents, this.

This month, um, they call it the EIR, who’s our EIR this month. Um, they get invited to meals. Um, they sit with the residents and live among our residents here at Glenwood. Just basically become a part of the community. They’re invited. Um, they sign a confidentiality agreement, of course, so they’re invited to attend our leadership meetings in the morning, um, to see what happens behind the scenes in our retirement community as well as live with the residents.

Um. From their perspective as well. several presentations have been prepared by our entrepreneurs. They’ve hosted activities and brought their gifts to our residents and been a part of the community that way. they’re invited to visit our skilled nursing community, our assisted living community, and our independent living community.

While they’re here for those couple of weeks, and then at the end of their stay, we like to do another round table with the residents and the residents will give feedback on their visit or their. Product, if there’s an actual product or service or idea or design. those have been kind of tailored towards more of the back of the house or the quality, uh, data gathering.

I’m sure Mike will talk more about that, that side of our business. And a lot of times, um, it’s geared more towards the end user or resident portion, so the residents, when appropriate will get feedback on that. That’s been the experience from, my position here at Glenwood.

Keren Etkin: So we, we actually had an interview with Sarah Richard, who was part of the program a few weeks ago, and her product is definitely for the back of the house. I wonder, are residents less excited about these types of products? Because they’re going to benefit from them, but they’re not gonna be able to use

Whereas if it was like a resident engagement product, they would be more engaged.

Linda Dailey: Not from my experience. They’re not, um, the idea that somebody is devoting their, um, project, their time to creating, uh, to transforming aging, basically back to the mission, um, is exciting and welcomed by our residents. We have some of the most generous, gracious residents at Glenwood. I’m sure it’s like that in every retirement community, but I believe the ones here are the best because. the ones I know. Um, but they do get excited. An example, a recent entrepreneur in residence, um, was a physician and, um, he was actually focused more on an end user product down the road that maybe he couldn’t directly bring to Glenwood. But the idea that he was here, that interest, um, the residents gave feedback and ideas and what would be helpful and, and how he could, um, best guess, uh. Market for the lack of a better term, his idea and his business venture. And he also gave back to the community as all the entrepreneurs before him have done by, um, um, a lunch and learn, uh, a topic, uh, heart health, um, happened to be during February, which is heart healthy month. And he presented to our residents, um. Some ways that they can be more conscientious in their heart health and, um, answered some questions for them and it was a great, uh, opportunity. So I think that the entrepreneur is able to give back, whether it’s an actual product or an experience or a process.

Keren Etkin: That’s wonderful that the residents, still get something out of it, even if it’s a back office type of product. . You mentioned that the entrepreneurs in residence first reach out to Mike, and then Mike, , sort of selects who are the ones who are going to go through the interview process. I wonder, , Mike, when you select these entrepreneurs, are you looking for entrepreneurs who are solving specific challenges that you, , are looking to solve for United Church Homes?

Mike: Um, I don’t think we have an agenda that, that, uh, of what we wanna solve for United Church Homes. I think we really just want to have more opportunity to bring these entrepreneurs into our environment because it is just really, I think, a value add to everyone. I mean, the residents love it. I think the, I believe the staff appreciates it. Uh, and the entrepreneurs, I mean, just the energy that we feel from these entrepreneurs after their stay. I mean, it’s been quite remarkable. I think the, the biggest, you know, I think the, the, the, the biggest. Piece of the encouragement to keep this going. I mean, foundationally, you know, you have to have the res, the residents come first.

They have to accept, you know, this program and then the staff and then, but the, the energy that these, these entrepreneurs get after they finish their stay is just quite remarkable. And, and, um, that really sort of keeps my enthusiasm going. Um, yeah. And then initially, you know, you know, I’m, I’m taking a look at people who, uh, would like to, um, you know, be part of this program. Uh, but the final decision is always going to be. With Linda, um, because, you know, we want someone that, I think has just a, you know, a compelling hypothesis or idea about, uh, what they’re trying to create to serve, uh, folks that, uh, we also serve. And then, um, you know, based upon that hypothesis, you know, we try to see if the environment at our Glenwood community is going to be suitable for helping advance advance it. So, um. It’s, it’s tough to sort of say what’s in scope and what’s outta scope. You kind of know it when you see it. Um, but usually, you know, when somebody comes to us and says, you know, you know, interested in, in working with you or, or, you know, just, just getting to know your residents and working with your residents.

If it’s not a fit for the Entrepreneur Residents Program, we’re usually able to give them some other value added, um, support like interviews with some of our staff or interviews with some of our residents or other folks that are in our network. Um, and I think, you know, I mean, you know, attitude helps as well.

Um, you know, we want somebody who is are good listeners, um, and really that are not afraid to really dive in there and do front end tasks. You know, change bedsheets, serve food, uh, really, and really just, you know, get to know, you know, our, our, our staff and our people and, and, and just understand the lived experience.

So, um. We haven’t had any attitude problems or anything like that yet. Um, and it’s just one of the things that I really enjoy about being in the AgeTech space is that everyone here has such good hearts and are willing to help each others out and are really working with purpose towards their solutions. Um, but yeah, it’s just, you know, that people come to me, I tell them to write a, um, just a, a. Quick proposal, again, laying out, you know, what is your hypothesis? What do you think you’re gonna learn from this experience? And then when they, you know, finish their stay, they’ll, they’ll write a final report, say just, you know, you, was the hypothesis true or, you know, what surprised you the most?

And, and, um, it’s really interesting, I think, um. Linda, you know, maybe you’ll have some perspective on this as well to kind of see all these final reports kind of stack up against each other and really kind of get these, these, these outside eyes looking in from various perspectives to really talk about what they thought of Glenwood and then maybe even. This is what I thought about how Glenwood operates and then maybe if you want improve things, you want to do this or you’re really doing an amazing job at doing that. So it’s just kind of cool to see all of those, those perspectives kind of like stack up.

Keren Etkin: Absolutely that, actually leads me to my next question. , Did you learn something new out of this program that really surprised you? Did you have any aha moments over the. The past eight months.

Linda Dailey: Yeah. Um,

Yeah.

actually did it. It’s interesting, as Mike was talking, I was thinking about the fact that this whole program is a win, win win. Um, so we all e all of the participants gain something from this program and, and that specific question that would be, um, I guess the leadership team here at Glenwood or the organization, and so. we, when we live among our residents, we kind of get, you know, we can’t see the force for the tree sometimes because we think that we know what’s happening. But when a fresh perspective comes in and has the opportunity to be on both, I guess, sides of the table, if you will, um, working or living among the residents and dining with the residents and, and, um, engaged. Fully from that perspective. And then also attending our leadership meetings, they’re able to put together some pieces of a puzzle that maybe we miss. And so the consistency in the after action reports from our entrepreneurs and residents have led us to, an approach using human-centered design and approach. Um. Towards our dining program and some of the concerns that have been issued have been provided from the perspective of the resident or management. This must be the problem and what needs fixed. But when we gathered these after action reports, we saw that maybe that’s not actually the root cause of the issue, um, after all.

And so we’ve brought all of our stakeholders to the table and we are in process of some prototyping and, and, um. Solution focused systems to, to correct something that we’ve been struggling with for quite some time, and it all really stemmed from those entrepreneur resident reports.

Mike: to that, um, Keren, you know, with the program that we haven’t getting at church homes around human-centered design, um, you know, we offer it, um, you know, we offer training modules, uh, you know, to all staff, and when they have time, they’ll, they’ll take it. And, and Linda has certainly been very much a part of that.

Um, but we have a five. Part development program that starts with sort of visioning, is sort of the art of the possible and also what, what, what, what, what space do we have the right to be into? Right? I mean, you know, we can sell used cars or we can, you know, go and do, we can extend our services into the larger community.

You know, what’s, what’s, what’s more authentic than than others? Uh, and then we have a customer investigation program where we really try to understand not what our customers wants, but more about their val, what they value, their lived experience, their values, you know, um, then we go into ideation. We sort of have this really fun two day workshop that we call an idea fun, uh, where we, uh, you know, the first day is kind of the art of the possible big, grandiose thinking.

And then the second day, uh, we sort of, uh, you know, put in boundaries and we actually started doing that program with our residents. You know, we, I, I gave out a thousand dollar grants to, uh, for anybody with the best idea to, to enhance resident life. And the residents have gone on to do some fantastic programs and also. When we do that program with older adults, people from age 65 to over a hundred, and I compare it to doing that exact same workshop with, you know, people that might be, you know, younger people in their twenties, thirties and forties. The creative energy is just the same. mean, it’s really remarkable to see. Um, and then from there we go into, as, as Linda was saying, you know, you, Linda used the word prototyping, testing and learning. You know, that’s, that’s, that’s something that, uh, we also had in the program. But there’s another part of it we introduced this year, really around journey mapping. And, um, you know, Linda, I think when I, when you hear your story about the dining program, I sort of see a handshake between all the feedback we get from the entrepreneurial residents reports about the dining program in particular.

Like, you know, the food is coming out cold and you know, what, what our process thinking and or our systems thinking in human-centered design course that I’ve taken, Linda’s taken from IDEO. taught us to look at the processes in a way that includes, you know, step one, step two, step three, step four, but also includes like, who are the stakeholders in this pro uh, pro, in this project, on this process? Um, what are the underlying kind of mindsets, you know, and, and, and we see that, you know, where can we make small changes for big outcomes? And I, I don’t know, Linda, at this point, are you able to kind of talk about some of the, you know. I mean, ’cause you put together a great cross-functional team at Glenwood using those, those principles, right?

I mean, you, you involve I think everybody,

Linda Dailey: Yeah, so I guess to shortcut. Several month process. Um, you know, the residents assumed that, and, and food doesn’t always come out cold, but sometimes, you know, they’ll have meals where it seems like, you know, why can’t we get our food hot when it’s supposed to be hot? And it’s fair and it’s fair expectation. and the residents assume either we have new servers that need better training or we don’t have enough people to bring the food out fast enough. And the. I guess the people on the other side of the wall who actually see into the kitchen realize it, it doesn’t matter how many people were there, you, you only have so much space and cooks and time to, to get all the food out.

And, um, in, in reality, just again, way shortcut a, a much more complex process. In reality, what we came up with was it really doesn’t have anything to do with equipment, doesn’t have to do with staff, and it doesn’t really even have to do with training and experience. The root of the problem is. 60 residents or more show up for dinner at five o’clock and I’ll sit down at the same time. And it doesn’t matter how many servers or cooks or chefs or we have, we’re not gonna get that food out timely and hot. Um, so. We are actually expanding our dining hours to kind of spread that out a little more like restaurant style dining. We do take orders at the table just like a restaurant. We didn’t wanna stop doing that, but why does it work at Applebee’s and not at Glenwood? And it’s because there’s a hostess, you know, um, setting people out at, at in intervals that are manageable. So, um, we’re kind of changing up our process a little bit. Um, but really had we not taken that approach and brought all the stakeholders. To the table. Table. I don’t know how long or if we would’ve come to that conclusion and that really simple solution,

Keren Etkin: Absolutely. So , take me back to the first time you had an outsider move into that unit and start embedding, themselves in the community. Joining meetings, asking questions. What was the initial reaction from staff and residents?

Linda Dailey: Okay. So going to the very first entrepreneur, that individual brought with them an actual product that they wanted to test, if you will, in our environment. So, um, we already had some volunteers set up. test the product. And so there was some excitement, there were some questions on, you know, how do I get involved in this?

And the entrepreneur was quite gracious and provided additional product and, um, held a lot of interviews, um, and was very interactive with the residents. So it, it was a exciting, there were some questions, um, like, uh, do I have to, do I have to participate? Um, There was a lot of trust to be built, I think. in that initial product, there was some gathering of personal data of course we, we received consent to do and, and what we would do with that data and all of those things. But that was a, a trust and opportunity to build trust with them and let them know that we’re very transparent about what we’re doing. Um, that data wasn’t even necess. Fairly coming to United Church Homes, but just to the entrepreneur and, and what he would do with that data. Um, and, and he really did a great job. I think he was a great first entrepreneur for us because he did a great job in establishing that. Um, trust and transparency with our residents still keeps in touch with some of them.

I think all of our entrepreneurs and residents do they form friendships, um, with some amazing people here. Um. Also, uh, I mentioned earlier that win-win win, there is obviously the win that we’ve already talked about from the United Church Home’s perspective and, and the feedback reports. Um, there’s of course the win for the residents that have that engagement, um, and that learning process for themselves as well, them, for the entrepreneur in that particular case, I believe that that individual was able to glean valuable information and, and tweaking their um. Their product that they, um, marketing and, and moving forward with. So, I think it was well received and, and actually kind of exciting to be on the front end of that innovation.

Keren Etkin: That’s awesome. I wonder if you have any real stories about real products that have already, like, made it out of stealth that you can share with our audience.

Mike: We can talk, we can talk. I mean, like, let’s say, who can we talk? I mean, I think what you’re, Sean Lew with Ping Cares was, was the entrepreneur that Linda was talking about, and he has a, uh, wearable, uh, is sort of a smart watch and, and, and uh, uh, he was just a fantastic with the program because, you know, he was working with a piece of hardware as well as the backend and he was able to kind of over time switch out, oh, we need a larger button.