You only get one chance to build a village culture from scratch
Caption: Jono Palacio Quintero, Lifestyle & Wellness Coordinator; Aaron Barton, Maintenance; Paul Anastasas, Maintenance Supervisor; Chelsea Challenor, Village Manager; Amy Byron-Ross, Senior Admin Assistant; Concierges Zara Sampson, Stacey Hoy, and Sophie Wallace, and Jared Kerr, Chef.
Chelsea joined RetireAustralia in January to lead its new Arcadia retirement village in Yeronga, a southern riverside suburb of Brisbane, after four years and eight months as Village Manager of Aveo’s Forest Grove Retirement Living in Durack.
“I thought it would be nice to start a village from scratch and set the culture from day one,” she said to us at Arcadia’s opening.
Known as “the builder”, Chelsea said one of the most rewarding – and challenging – parts of the role has been assembling a team that has the right mix of skills and personalities.
“I am really loving coming in, seeing the vision for it and hiring the team. That was something I was really excited about,” she said.
“Halfway through the process, I realised there was probably a bit more pressure around it than I initially thought because I was trying to hire a team I hadn’t worked with before.
“You’re not just looking at the skill set; you’re looking at personalities and how everyone will click together. There’s only so much you can gauge from a 45-minute interview.
“I really wanted to get the right fit – not just in terms of skills, but personalities as well. I wanted people who will genuinely love our residents, enjoy coming to work and see opportunities to ask: how can we serve and how can we make this a really special place?”
Creating a team that notices
An important part of the culture Chelsea is establishing is ensuring every team member takes responsibility for resident wellbeing.
She has asked staff to be vigilant and speak up when they notice a change in a resident.
“I’ve already had members of the team say, ‘I just noticed so-and-so is a little bit off.’ We might know they had the flu last week and it could be related to that, or it could be something more. So we’re all keeping an eye on them,” she said.
That extends across different roles within the village.
“Particularly with Jono, because he’s working with residents in the movement space doing tai chi and things like that, he’ll notice if there’s something different with their mobility or if they’re not connecting the dots as quickly.”
Chelsea meets with him weekly, while the broader team meets with the care team fortnightly to identify residents who may benefit from additional support.
“We’ll identify if there are any issues and potentially set up an initial meeting with the home care team and Supported Home team to get the ball rolling,” she said.
“Our Supported Home team can help people register for My Aged Care and obtain a government-funded package, but they can also help put services in place immediately if they’re needed and connect residents with allied health.”
Building community from the beginning
Arcadia is still in its infancy. When complete, the village will comprise four buildings with up to 217 independent living apartments and a 10-suite Care Hub.
Chelsea said the first residents have already played an important role in establishing the community.
“The residents are beautiful. They’ve been really helpful in ironing out all the little teething issues you sometimes get with a new building,” she said.
“They’ve connected really well too, which is lovely. This morning we’d set up all these different tables, but they were bringing the chairs over because they wanted to sit together.
“It’s lovely to see them connect and get along so well from the very beginning.”
Rather than waiting for resident numbers to grow, Chelsea and her team introduced a full lifestyle calendar from day one.
“We wanted residents to experience what life at Arcadia will be like from the beginning,” she said.
“Jono runs tai chi, Pilates and functional flex classes. He looks after morning teas and happy hour, as well as outings. We might go on a local bushwalk, stop somewhere for lunch, or take residents to the shopping centres.”
Letting the village evolve
Chelsea expects the balance between staff-led and resident-led activities to change as the community grows.
“We know there will be an evolution over the next 12 to 18 months as more residents move in,” she said.
“Residents will start to take control of some things, such as happy hour and morning teas, while other things will remain with us as a team.”
For Chelsea, having the right capabilities within that team was an important consideration from the outset.
“I think what sets us apart is that we have this team, so we want to make use of it,” she said.
“I really wanted our Lifestyle and Wellness Coordinator to be somebody who could run classes in-house rather than having to bring external providers in, which becomes an additional cost for residents.
“We’ve got a staff member, so let’s make it somebody who can actually provide those services.
“Over time, the residents or the residents’ social committee might decide they want to ask him to do different things. That’s part of how the village will evolve.”
Tag:building high performing teams, DCM Institute, Leadership development, lifestyle and wellness, Resident Engagement, Resident Experience, resident wellbeing, retirement living management, retirement village community, retirement village leadership, retirement village management, Retirement Village Manager, retirement village operations, retirement village professional development, retirement village recruitment, retirement village staff, retirement village team culture, retirement village teams, team building, Team culture, village management skills, village manager leadership, village manager professional development, village manager training, village staff recruitment
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