Jodi Guffee, the COO at Radiant Senior Living, gets joy from seeing her team reach their potential. That’s why she made Water the Bamboo mandatory reading and part of the onboarding process inside their company.
In this episode, you’ll hear why Jodi takes tasks off team members plates, doesn’t buy into fear as a motivator, and encourages her team to embrace change.
Don’t miss this highly motivational discussion with Jodi Guffee.
Episode Highlights:
01:05 - Why Jodi’s family decided to rebrand Farmington Centers to Radiant Senior Living
01:59 - Where Jodi’s positivity comes from
02:54 - How has Water the Bamboo resonated with Radiant’s staff
05:09 - How Radiant has adapted to the health crisis
07:28 - Who’s in Jodi’s Bamboo Circle
10:06 - The secret to a great culture at Radiant
11:19 - What Jodi is most proud of
13:09 - Jodi’s advice to her younger self
14:40 - How Jodi and her team overcome adversity
17:05 - Routines that help Jodi
19:57 - How Jodi’s team continues to believe in watering the bamboo
22:17 - What kinds of pandas show up for Jodi
24:47 - Jodi’s thinking around mentoring and encouragement of millennials
29:35 - How Radiant’s staff answers the phone
30:09 - Seeking progress, not perfection
30:59 - How Jodi gets her team to make changes to things that aren’t working
32:51 - What’s Going Well for Jodi
36:04 - Why Jodi uses the term “season” when going through a moment in time
45:10 - Why Jodi came on the Water the Bamboo podcast
Guest at a Glance
Jodi L. Guffee is the owner and Chief Operating Officer of Radiant Senior Living, based in Portland, Oregon, where she leads the operations and oversight to all aspects of the business of 17 communities throughout 6 states, ranging from Independent Living to Memory Care.
Learn more about Jodi on the Radiant website or LinkedIn
Notable Quotes
On why the family rebranded Farmington Centers to Radiant Senior Living: “Radiant has everything to do with bringing light into challenging situations and shining a light on a path of sometimes a difficult journey and being a light to people that are maybe seeking a new opportunity in their careers.”
“It brings joy to me to see people reach their greatest potential, no matter what point in life they're at.”
“Water the Bamboo is actually an onboarding tool. So anybody that comes on to the Radiant team at any one of our communities is onboarded with Water the Bamboo.”
“At any given time, we are all still watering, regardless of if our bamboo is flourishing or it's going to take a couple more years before it peaks through the soil, or we need to plant a new crop.”
“Fear has no purpose other than to motivate change potentially needed.”
“I'm not afraid to be vulnerable. I'm not afraid to say I really don't have the answer right now. Let's work on this together. As a team, I'm always comfortable standing back and say, you're the boss of this.”
“the thing that gets me the highest is to see a team member reach their highest potential, or just go right beyond their comfort zone to see what they're capable of doing. And even if they fail, just to see them try to reach a new potential, that is the kind of thing that gets me more than excited.”
“I don't want to say that I'm crazy and that I look forward to losses or failures, but those are the greatest opportunities to self-reflect and make positive change.”
“So that the teams know that I'm not above them, I like to ask them to give me a task each day that I can take off of their plates.”
“I always tell our teams that these are beings made of feelings. And if you're not meeting their feeling needs, then you're not meeting almost anything because their feelings are going to direct their behaviors.”
“I went on a social media diet about a month ago and I'm on that through January of 2021 and is about the best feeling I've ever had.”
“I've just had to look at what has felt like a real challenging time in life and recognize that there are some real bright spots.”
“I always tell everybody on my teams that the one thing that you can count on is that change is going to happen.”
Transcript
Greg Bell: [00:00:00] I'm Greg Bell, and thanks for subscribing to the Water the Bamboo podcast. If you haven't subscribed yet, why not? You're just a click away. Subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:00:28] Being a manager and a leader is not easy. You need to listen, motivate, be strong, be respected, but also be understanding and trustworthy.
[00:00:38] So I'm so happy that our next guest is joining us . She is a master in leadership. Jodi Guffee is here.
[00:00:47]Can you provide for the audience, just an overview of Radiant Senior Living. What do you guys do? What's your business?
[00:00:53] Jodi Guffee: [00:00:53] Yeah, Radiant Senior Living. We actually founded, and it was actually a succession plan from my family's lineage of being in the senior housing business since 1973.
[00:01:05] So as part of a succession plan, we took over. My husband, James and I took over what was a previous company called Farmington Centers. And we rebranded it to Radiant. Radiant has everything to do with bringing light into challenging situations and shining a light on a path of sometimes a difficult journey and being a light to people that are maybe seeking a new opportunity in their careers.
[00:01:30] So, yeah, we currently operate 18 communities in six mountain west states, and we have approximately 1700 units and over a thousand employees, and growing.
[00:01:43] Greg Bell: [00:01:43] Wow. You know, it's interesting, Jodi, when I think of you, I think of positivity, but I also think of Radiant. I think we first started working with you and like 2013, I think it was our first time we did some work with your leadership team. But that radiant positivity.
[00:01:59] Where does that come from in you? I mean, it's really palpable.
[00:02:02] Jodi Guffee: [00:02:02] Well, honestly, I don't think that you can fake it till you make it in our industry. That really just comes natural to me. I think anybody knows me, knows that it's just my personality. So it is natural. It's not really something I have to work at.
[00:02:15] There are days when things are challenging and I have to put on a more radiant face with attempts, but just all in all, it's just a passion. This is a passion for me, from anything from people in their last stages of life to people in their first stages of seeking careers, it brings joy to me to see people reach their greatest potential, no matter what point in life they're at.
[00:02:37] And so that's where we're Radiant comes from.
[00:02:40] Greg Bell: [00:02:40] I love how you said that too. The fake it till you make it. I actually wrote a blog post about that. Don't do that. People can smell it and they know it. And for you, it's really interesting, you've had me come in a couple of times and you buy Water the Bamboo in bulk.
[00:02:54]It's like for your new employees and that, and what about that Water the Bamboo concept resonated with you and your style?
[00:03:03] Jodi Guffee: [00:03:03] Well, so first of all, back to, yes, we do buy it in bulk. Water the Bamboo is actually an onboarding tool. So anybody that comes on to the Radiant team at any one of our communities is onboarded with Water the Bamboo.
[00:03:18] The reason for that is at any given point, the teams are required to be in a chapter. And sometimes that chapter is starting all over. So, you know, perhaps they have a new team and they all need to get back on the same page together and they need to plant the first seed. And, so oftentimes it is chapter one, but every week our executive directors turn in a report to us, we call it our operations report, where they report on about 10 metrics. And one of them is What's Going Well? How are you watering your bamboo? And what chapter are you studying? And so with their department head meetings every morning, they are at any given time in a certain chapter of the book that they are working at as a team.
[00:04:01] I would say that often I hear that we are Messy in the Garden chapter, which is very much understood because sometimes things get messy and we need to start over and replant again, but the point is that at any given time, we are all still watering, regardless of if our bamboo is flourishing or it's going to take a couple more years before it peaks through the soil, or we need to plant a new crop.
[00:04:25] Greg Bell: [00:04:25] Right. I love that idea that you referenced Messy in the Garden, because for me, one of the things that happens is people think success. You know, is this like this overnight thing, or it's going to go in this linear path, but I can imagine, I mean, if your family has been in this business since 1973, there've been so many spins and turns and twists, and you have to be resilient through the messes, if you will, to have the success that you and your company have had. It's just an interesting thing, because I think particularly on the younger set where they, they really think that I just plant the seed and tomorrow I'll have bamboo. But having that long-term view is so, so important. You mentioned something that I think audience would love to hear from you about replanting.
[00:05:09] I mean, in your space with COVID, I imagine there's so much replanting you you're going to have to do, or you have done. Can you just talk a little bit about that?
[00:05:19] Jodi Guffee: [00:05:19] Oh, yeah. So I will go as far as to say, it's never been Messier in the Garden. But that said, we strongly believe there's a purpose for every season and there will be a profit that is produced.
[00:05:34] We don't exactly know what that looks like right now. There's a lot of industry speculation on what it could mean, but right now it's just continued to do the right thing, continue to nurture the relationships. To not be afraid to get down in the weeds with them, especially the teams that might have a community that has COVID in it.
[00:05:54] And just really embracing that they're okay. I think the fear mongering that tends to cultivate these days is what I have to fight strongest against, and it was my own for a while. That really was my own for a while. And I had to self-check and say, okay, everything happens for a reason. Fear has no purpose other than to motivate change potentially needed.
[00:06:20] So I just kind of had to change my thinking of the team's need their leader. To be strong and to be focused and to step back from the chaos and recognize, okay so how do we reestablish this crop, regardless of what it's going to look like? What kind of bamboo we're going to be planting. It might be a totally different breed, but they need a leader to stand back from the chaos and look at it with a global perspective, if you will. So that's kind of been, the focus lately, is really making sure that they trust in their leadership and that we aren't frantic.
[00:06:56]Greg Bell: [00:06:56] A lot of times I advocate that people define the fear, because if you can define it, you can actually confine it. You can kind of dissect it and then create a game plan. That sounds like what you and your company are doing. And also people are looking to you for leadership.
[00:07:11] And how do you stay calm there? And with that said, in the book, we also talk about this concept of a Bamboo Circle. You know, the bamboo here behind me, you know what one thing is really cool about it, as you know is its root structure will grow over a hundred yards for each stock of bamboo. So those deep connections. Talk about your Bamboo Circle. You mentioned James already, but talk about the people you rely on and the things you rely on to keep yourself strong.
[00:07:40] Jodi Guffee: [00:07:40] Well, A) is always first and foremost our faith radiant is a biblically defined term of what James and I needed to capture, and not just being a light for anybody, but being light for the world.
[00:07:53] And so our Bamboo Circle is very much about our faith and that strength and that family, but then the Bamboo Circles that we have just in our home office team, we don't call it corporate, we call it home, because home is where there's safety, security. There might be repercussions to poor behaviors, but there's still safety and security and guidance.
[00:08:15] We have an extremely phenomenal team at our home office, they're just bar-none. Anybody that comes into contact with them, says to James and I, you are so lucky to have a team like this. I often sit back and say, okay, it's about luck. Okay, well, call it that, just call it luck, but blessed for sure. We have a fantastic team.
[00:08:36] And that certainly trickles down to the communities and each one of them had their own Bamboo Circle and they actually get together with that Bamboo Circle every morning. And that's, what's called their stand-up meeting and they get together in that Bamboo Circle and they talk about exactly what is needed from those key members of that team to make sure that the day is productive, fruitful, organized, and that they're supporting each other in every aspect of what's going on in the business, because we're not in the business of creating widgets.
[00:09:04] And everybody has very unique, special jobs that they all have to work together for it to actually be a successful operation. So that Bamboo Circle is very important at each one of our communities every single morning.
[00:09:17] Greg Bell: [00:09:17] Right. I love that notion of home office. I mean, that means a lot, like you talk about safety and security, what most people are seeking is that psychological safety.
[00:09:28] I love how you put that in meeting in your Bamboo Circle and just the way you've organized it. Just on a personal experience, just having worked with your leadership team. Oftentimes, when I go into work with you guys, I always think, I don't know if they really need me here, you guys are thriving. It's really an interesting thing. You guys really embrace the work. So I just appreciate that.
[00:09:48]With respect to your career, you are one of the most amazing leaders I've ever met, not just in who you are, but I've watched your team, how your team grows, how they work together. One of the things I know about culture is based on the conversations I witness, right, and how people treat each other. What would you say is your secret sauce to the cultural piece that you provide?
[00:10:14] Jodi Guffee: [00:10:14] That's a really good question. I've been asked that a number of times, and as I initially kind of came out with that canned response versus really thinking about it and digesting it. I really think it's that I'm not afraid to be vulnerable. I'm not afraid to say I really don't have the answer right now. Let's work on this together as a team. I'm always comfortable to stand back and say, you're the boss of this, you know, this better than I do. A smart man once said, smart people surround themselves with smarter people. And that's what I like to do.
[00:10:47] And I let them know that on a regular basis that I do not sit on some pedestal and I wouldn't even pretend to try to be the best at everything and just empowering them to know that not only do the, I say that, but I act that out and I give them the responsibility to follow through with things. And then I praise them accordingly.
[00:11:07]The consistency in that message is important.
[00:11:10] Greg Bell: [00:11:10] Right? I mean, it kind of goes back with the earlier statement about don't fake it till you make it just be vulnerable, be honest, be upfront, have compassion. That's really cool.
[00:11:19] Another question I have is in your career today, what are you most proud of from any perspective you want to say personal? What are you most proud of?
[00:11:28] Jodi Guffee: [00:11:28] Well, I'll just be corny for a second and say my children. Yeah, I'm super proud of them. They're doing good. This whole online learning thing has been an interesting challenge is what we call it, but they're doing fantastic. So super proud of my family, my kids, three kids.
[00:11:45] And proud of the company that we built. We have grown it. And some of that has been pruning, cutting off some of the bad leaves so that that the fruit can grow stronger and better. And we've gone through that. I am very proud of where we're at today because of that, but the thing that makes me most prideful, I guess I would say, people ask me all the time, you just must love working with seniors.
[00:12:09] And I do. I really do. I genuinely do. But the thing that gets me the highest is to see a team member reach their highest potential, or just go right beyond their comfort zone to see what they're capable of doing. And even if they fail, just to see them try to reach a new potential, that is the kind of thing that gets me more than excited.
[00:12:32] And that's the thing that's really well-known in our company, that there is opportunity after opportunity for, if you will, upward mobility, I just call it growth. But we have people that have been with us for 25 years, actually 27 years. We have staff that have started as activities assistants.
[00:12:53] That are now Regional Directors of Operation. And been with the company for 18 years and their brother and their sister, and so just to see people reach their highest and greatest potential is really what makes me passionate to keep doing what I do.
[00:13:09]Greg Bell: [00:13:09] What advice would you give to your younger self?
[00:13:12] You know, all the success you've had in business success, you've had personally all the things, you know, if you could go back to your younger self, say you're 15, 16 years old, what advice would you give the Jodi?
[00:13:28] Jodi Guffee: [00:13:28] I would tell myself not to take myself so seriously and to just ease up. I think I've gotten a little better with that over the years, but really it's just kind of relax. And when I'm relaxed, everybody else is. So the importance of everything's going to be okay, even if we're in the middle of a fire or a Messy Garden, that is critically important to keep my brain focused on methodically, moving through the process to what's next. And so I would really say, it's just, don't take yourself so seriously and relax and know that change is inevitable and sometimes you're going to make mistakes and that's okay. And sometimes you need to admit to the mistakes and that's okay. Because that builds stronger teams.
[00:14:20] Greg Bell: [00:14:20] Yeah, I like that, that idea of just trying to stay calm.
[00:14:24] I mean, when things are chaotic, especially, you know, you mentioned this idea of mistakes and it's an interesting thing about that. Like, you know, advocate in the one chapter about taking risks, and when you take risks, there's going to be some fallout and also winning and losing is really interesting.
[00:14:40] When you think about in business and in life, it's like, well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. What advice do you give your team in a loss and a situation where you think, gosh, that didn't go, how we planned and just think about the audience, people are in business, they're in their car, they're driving around and they're listening to this.
[00:14:59] How do you advise people to overcome loss? Because I think winning is easy, right? When you're winning, well, you don't need any cheers, you don't need anything, but when you're losing, how do people bounce back from that, in your opinion?
[00:15:09] Jodi Guffee: [00:15:09] Yeah, that's an excellent question because we probably face that quite a bit right now, which feels like loss. In the case of, you know, some of our residents and staff that have contracted COVID, that feels like loss and it is loss.
[00:15:24] So what we've been doing lately is how do we look at loss? Is loss a failure, or is loss an opportunity? And I really think that you addressed this in your book, too, is that all of the lessons that I've learned in life have been from a failure or a loss. And so I don't necessarily say look forward to that loss, guys, but I might say, look forward to the opportunity when you have to rely on each other and nothing else to get out of this situation or get to the next best place. So I don't want to say that I'm crazy and that I look forward to losses or failures, if you will, but those are the greatest opportunities to self-reflect and make positive change. And I know that firsthand myself and it hurts. And there's nothing comfortable at the time, but if you can get through those things and not be bitter because of them, but look back at them from what you learned from them to make you be a stronger person in a team going forward, then it was a win out of a loss.
[00:16:29] Greg Bell: [00:16:29] Right. That's that's really good advice because I think, Oh man, I just see a lot of people sort of get stuck and defined themselves by the losses. But what you're saying is how do you turn that and look at it.
[00:16:42] You have this really skilled way of reframing. I mean, I think that's a really good thing for a leader to have is to be able to reframe the perspectives and then be able to communicate that to your team and those around you.
[00:16:54] I think that skill is just so, so valuable. I think being able to sort of take that story and kind of frame it up, like, what can we learn from this to move ourselves forward?
[00:17:05] But one of the things that I know about successful people, successful leaders like you, is they all have some routine, some secret routine, something that gets them back on track. Give us a little insight, what's your secret routine or a routine that you think helps you, like when you're at your best? What, what have you done to get there?
[00:17:26] Jodi Guffee: [00:17:26] Oh boy. Yeah, that's a really good question. And I would say there's different seasons of what my routine is. My routine is definitely that my feet don't hit the floor before I've spoken to the Lord. That just frames my day, grounds me, and what I know that I, what I'm going to accomplish, whether it's great or whatever, that kind of a day, I know that I was grounded in what I needed to be grounded to make the decisions I need to make for the day. So that is definitely routine one. Some of the other routines that I have are kind of habits. I like to write notes, memos, notecards. I have stacks and stacks and stacks of just note cards, thank you's or birthdays or congratulations or whatnot.
[00:18:11] Oh, shoot. I should go get them. We even have Water the Bamboo ones that say "keep watering" and all kinds of fun stuff. So I like to make sure that I do that personal touch on a regular basis. And then I also like to, so that the teams know that I'm not above them, I like to ask them to give me a task each day that I can take off of their plates.
[00:18:35] And it could be anything from picking up a phone and calling one of their leads and introducing myself and saying, thank you for the opportunity for us to meet your needs. Or it could be one of my regional directors is swamped and I say, You know, turn your phone over to me today, turn your calls my direction, or, you know, I'll take that task for you.
[00:18:58] And sometimes that feels odd to them as though they wouldn't want to burden me, but I take such pleasure in being able to do that for them, that I've made that a routine. What can I do for you today? And. Sometimes they squirm and, and don't like the idea that they would give me one of their tasks to do, but because I do it with servanthood and grace and appreciation that they would allow me to that's become a pretty good habit.
[00:19:24] Greg Bell: [00:19:24] Wow. That's really good. Leaning into your faith. Writing notes, this idea of taking a task off someone's desk, my word. That would make me feel uncomfortable. You know, it's great that you do that. I mean, that's real, and I you've said it a couple times about servant leadership and that's like what I experienced, not just in you, but in your team. That idea of servant leadership, is your team is thriving, even in the way you answer the question, not thinking about yourself, but how do you get your team to thrive? I really admire you for that.
[00:19:57]What question, if you were me, would you ask yourself?
[00:20:03] Jodi Guffee: [00:20:03] From your perspective...
[00:20:05] Greg Bell: [00:20:05] What question should I be asking you that I'm not asking?
[00:20:09] Jodi Guffee: [00:20:09] Perhaps, how do your teams continue to believe in this idea of Watering the Bamboo?
[00:20:16] Greg Bell: [00:20:16] Yeah, that's a great question. How do your teams, you know, really continue to sort of go, I mean, this has been what, seven years now? Like I think we first worked with you 2013 maybe before, I'm not sure.
[00:20:30] Jodi Guffee: [00:20:30] Yeah.
[00:20:31] Greg Bell: [00:20:31] But how do you get them to continue to go? Like, how do you, how do you do that? What's the secret.
[00:20:36] Jodi Guffee: [00:20:36] Well, we have the radiant 10 commandments and the first commandment is consistency.
[00:20:41] And so it's consistency. Every meeting, whether it's a, the morning standup meeting or it's a quarterly meeting or a monthly meeting, or our Monday morning ops teams meetings, every meeting starts with What's Going Well? And so we frame everything around What's Going Well, you know, depending on who's part of the group, if it's, you know, my core team, everybody needs to share something that's going well, and it can be, you know, my kid just got an A on a test or I made it to the gym or I got up today or we had a great success with an event, whatever it might be.
[00:21:18]It's something to frame the attitude of the day. So that consistency is also at each of the community levels. They are to start each one of their morning standup meetings with What's Going Well to frame the day because everything else is going to get in the way. So as you preach it, well, why not start with what's positive because there's going to be plenty of negative that's going to get in the way. And the onboarding and that consistency too. There's not a choice as to, if you're reading the book, if the choice as to what chapter you're studying.
[00:21:48] Greg Bell: [00:21:48] That's so awesome, that is good. But I love that idea of having 10 commands that's and then having some consistency. I mean, that being the first one, because one of the things that I noticed is a lot of leaders and individuals, kind of flavor of the month.
[00:22:03] Let's try this, let's try that. And Water the Bamboo, as you know, is about long-term... it's really about the watering, and you get that. And the bamboo will take care of itself if you do the watering consistently, and it's not drown the bamboo by any stretch, but one of the things I always warn people about, and that is pandas.
[00:22:21]What kinds of pandas show up for you as a leader? Think about that. Like what kind of things can get in the way or distract you or your team and then how do you overcome them? I think I would ask that question.
[00:22:32] Jodi Guffee: [00:22:32] Well, number one, I'll say with half sarcasm, half total truth, is the regulatory environment that we operate in.
[00:22:40] It is a giant Panda. Sometimes, it's beneficial and oftentimes it's a really special needs Panda. So operating in the ever-changing regulatory environment that we are in, it's challenging at times, and frustrating to the teams. That's probably one of the bigger pandas, but the biggest Panda is the turnover in our industry, not in, you know, top level management or, or department head type positions, but in the, the line staff teams that are oftentimes the millennial mindset: challenging to motivate.
[00:23:22] And at one point I did a training with our teams that we were all just frustrated with this lack of a work ethic, if you will. That wasn't going to change. So if that wasn't going to change, then we were going to have to change with it because just because we perceive this as somebody or group of cohorts that don't have a work ethic like we do, does that make them wrong? Because we need them. So how are we going to reframe our thinking around this? And so we did a lot of training on, it seems strange to have to say to someone, thank you for coming to work today, you're so valued, but that is what we have to do.
[00:23:58] So really nurturing that kind of younger mindset that hasn't quite lived the way we did with work ethic and somewhat feels entitled, where does that come from and how we can, how can we motivate it and not, it not be a negative thing? How can we turn that into a positive thing? That's easier said than done.
[00:24:16] We talk about it. And some teams are really great at making it happen, but the turnover and retraining people and re-motivating people to want to, this is our why, is what we call it. Why do you want to be here? That urnover is challenging.
[00:24:33] Greg Bell: [00:24:33] Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, you named some good pandas, I mean, everybody loves paperwork and red tape, right?
[00:24:40] Jodi Guffee: [00:24:40] Oh yeah. Especially when it changes weekly, daily, oh, we're going to do it with this kind of tape now!
[00:24:47] Greg Bell: [00:24:47] One of the things though, when you think about Radiant and the love you guys have for your employees. And your folks in your facilities, what's interesting is you can get through the red tape if you love them enough, right? That's really where I think it's really important to think about. And I like how you talked about reframing your thinking around millennials. I've been on this rant for a while. Everyone's been that age, you know, all of us have, what did you need at that age? Well, you needed coaching and mentoring and encouragement.
[00:25:18]You know, it's exactly what you're providing is so important from a leader leadership perspective. It's really, it's interesting if you just say, Oh, they're just millennials and well, what are you going to do? I mean, that's not going to help you at all, but I like how you spin it positively with your teams, that's really good.
[00:25:34]Jodi Guffee: [00:25:34] Everybody wants to be a part of something. And so if we can retrain our thinking to that seems like a behavior that you don't like to what is that behavior? What is the motivation behind it? Because people don't want to be bad people. They just need to understand, where do they fit in here? What's their value? What are they a part of and what do they contribute that's of value. And how do you make sure that that's known and recognized? As I said, it seems kind of funny to say, thank you for coming to work today, but that continual stroking of you matter, you mean something you're part of this, we couldn't do it without you.
[00:26:14] It has to happen. It really does on a consistent basis. And that's kind of frustrating to some of us who are like, ah, you get a paycheck. So that's what you get.
[00:26:25]Greg Bell: [00:26:25] Einstein said the fish is the last to know about water, but knowing you, you're so skilled, you don't even realize you do this, but people need three things.
[00:26:34] Connection. And the way you connect with your team. It's just fascinating. I just love that. I love just witnessing it. I love that you use Water the Bamboo, that connection is just so important.
[00:26:44] I also think they need acknowledgement. Acknowledgement is so, so important. If you give people connection and acknowledgement and you give them clear directions, you can really influence them.
[00:26:56] But if you don't do the first two, clear directions, don't matter, they'll listen to you for a moment, but they're not connected to your community, the way you guys connect people and acknowledge people for their effort, it's really hard to give clear directions and you guys do that really, really well. So I just want to just throw that out.
[00:27:14] Jodi Guffee: [00:27:14] Well, I, you know, that old adage that people will not necessarily remember what you told them, but they'll remember how you made them feel. And that's really, my focus is if I made you feel better about what you're doing, if I could, by taking a task from you, if that made you feel something, rather than just hearing me say it, that just goes so much further. And so I think, you know, we're beings made of feelings and I always tell our teams that these are beings made of feelings. And if you're not meeting their feeling needs, then you're not meeting almost anything, because their feelings are going to direct their behaviors. So we've got to make sure that we know what they're feeling.
[00:27:57] When a resident moves into our community, each one of them gets their very unique and specific care plan that we create based on their needs. And that care plan is so specific. It's down to, you know, a finite detail of their wanting coffee with one sugar, one cream. When they are assisted with bathing, that they want this colored towel and that kind of soap.
[00:28:24] And they want, when they are given their whatever at night, they want their slippers right here and their pajamas laid out there. They need help putting on the bottoms, but not the top. And so the real finite detail that we get into a care plan, I tell our teams, that's just as important when you're onboarding a team member or anybody that is part of the team.
[00:28:46] Each one of your team members needs to have their own care plan and you should be able to identify their needs from that care plan. And how will you do that? If you haven't had a conversation with them about their feelings and what motivates them and what they need to be successful in whatever point of life they're at.
[00:29:06] Greg Bell: [00:29:06] My word, you're a spiritual leader, a psychologist. Wow.
[00:29:11] Jodi Guffee: [00:29:11] I'm going to pick up one of these guitars and play you a song.
[00:29:15] Greg Bell: [00:29:15] You're amazing. Well, that's really great though. I just love that you get it down to the detail and this idea of beings with feelings. I'm going to sort of take that from this. That's a really good insight because we don't address the feelings. None. None of it matters. Right. Really? That's. Wow. That's really good.
[00:29:35] How do you guys answer the phone over there?
[00:29:37]Jodi Guffee: [00:29:37] It's a Radiant day at Pioneer Village, this is Jodi, how may I brighten your day?
[00:29:42] Greg Bell: [00:29:42] I love that. I just wanted you to say that I, I love it when we call over there, you say it's a Radiant day.
[00:29:47] Sometimes I just want to call over there and just hang up. I just wanted to hear that message.
[00:29:53] Jodi Guffee: [00:29:53] It can diffuse the angriest of customers.
[00:29:55] Greg Bell: [00:29:55] Yeah, I love that. It's really nice that you keep the theme of radiance all through what you do. And just wanted to acknowledge that. Just that you talked about your 10 commandments and being consistent.
[00:30:09] Is there another commandment that you want to share though? I just want to go back to that. Is there any others?
[00:30:14] Jodi Guffee: [00:30:14] Oh yeah. Oh, another one of my favorites is seek progress, not perfection. And then one of ours that you will appreciate. And is from you, but the team says it's from me because I put it into our commandments is micro-motivate.
[00:30:29]And so that is actually one of our 10 commandments too. And I love it when people ask me, well, what is micro-motivate mean? Well, what do you think if I was saying micro-motivate, what did it sound like before I had that in it? It said, Oh, micro-manage. Yeah. So what would be the difference between manage and motivate?
[00:30:47] Greg Bell: [00:30:47] Good stuff. I love that. That's really cool. My brain is sort of going off in all directions here, because you brought up a lot of things you even brought up the pruning of the bamboo, you know, sort of how important that is. You know, we've got to weed the garden, you've got to prune a bit. And the importance of that for you, how do you do that? Do you just, you get your team together and say, Hey, what do we need to stop doing here? How do you sort of approach that? Whether it's on a personal level or on your professional?
[00:31:14] Jodi Guffee: [00:31:14] Well, we have a program called stop, start, continue. And we sit down with the teams every so often and we say, what should we start doing? What should we stop doing? And what should we continue doing?
[00:31:27] Either it's a whiteboard conversation or every individual on the team writes down a few things, and then we compile that all together and we have discussions about it. And if we can see that there's consistent themes that the team does not like doing this particular thing that they want to stop.
[00:31:42] Well, then what are we going to start in that place of that.? So if it's something that's necessary, we still do, how could we do it differently? So that stop, start, continue really helps us with the pruning process. And we do that on a regular basis.
[00:31:56] Greg Bell: [00:31:56] That's awesome. I'm going to stop watching the news.
[00:32:01] Jodi Guffee: [00:32:01] Yup. I went on a social media diet about a month ago and I'm on that through January of 2021 and is about the best feeling I've ever had.
[00:32:11] Just cleansing and being like nothing else. The only thing that I will do is with LinkedIn professionally, I won't go in and surf around, but if someone asks, you know, to connect with me and it's appropriate, I will go in and accept that. But other than that, I'm staying away from it. It's just negativity.
[00:32:31] Greg Bell: [00:32:31] Yeah. Well, I'll give a nod to my new book What's Going Well? That sorta had a lot of traction with me. I love your practice of thinking about your faith and then going through the notes in that. One of the things I do is I ask myself, one is a part of my routine, is I asked myself in the morning, What's Going Well? And at the end of the night, ask what went well?
[00:32:51] Just from me to you, What's Going Well for you? Just tell the audience What's Going Well?
[00:32:56] Jodi Guffee: [00:32:56] I would say that this strange time that we've been living in, and I'm a very social person, and I like to be in our communities, and I like to embrace physically, hug our team members and our residents, and this has been a very difficult season for me because I can't do that the way that I usually do.
[00:33:22] And so having to do that a different way as kind of pushed me out of my comfort level, but it's also shown me that there are ways that I can do that and connecting with our teams in different ways. Then watching my kids, honestly, through this, recognizing their growth and how they reach out to others, how they reach out to friends in need that aren't getting quite the support. Maybe they don't have the loving, supportive family that they do, really reaching out to their friends and saying, it's going to be okay. I'm really proud to see that, you know, that. Do what I say, not what I do, that somehow we've mirrored something good in our kids because they really are lights to a lot of people.
[00:34:09] And our son just told us that he wants to be a leader for one of the young life groups here for his sophomore boys group and what that looked like. And there was no prodding and he brought that to us on his own. And. Then our youngest, Rodan, same kind of a thing. And our oldest who's supposed to be at her first year of college, didn't get to go because of COVID.
[00:34:31] And she's got two jobs now and she's doing her college online with the same university, Grand Canyon University. And she's thriving. So I've just had to look at what has felt like a real challenging time in life and recognize that there are some real bright spots. And through my faith, I believe that we are given these kinds of seasons to discover something.
[00:34:56] To find something better or to slow down. And we know that we have been going at the pace that we normally do, mach 12, one of you going here, one of you going there, the other going here, us going there. And instead we've had this season of real togetherness that really could have driven us crazy, but it hasn't, we've really kind of come together and then I've seen this outreach to the community in my kids that has given me encouragement that it doesn't have to be me all the time.
[00:35:26]Greg Bell: [00:35:26] That's a true Bamboo Farmer. When you see the roots of your family and your community growing like that, that's really interesting. That's a, I love that. Yeah. You said this a couple of times and I got to call it out because I think for the audience it's really important to understand this, you said seasons a number of times, like this is an important season.
[00:35:46] And what I think about when I think about Bamboo Farmer, obviously it's, there's harvest time, there's planning time, I think having this analogy of a farm is so critical, but when you say seasons, this season, I think about, well, it's temporary right? Being in COVID is horrible. Right. But it's not going to last forever.
[00:36:04] Jodi Guffee: [00:36:04] Right.
[00:36:04] Greg Bell: [00:36:04] But when you have the language of season, that's super helpful. So talk just a little bit about that. Just where you, why you say that even.
[00:36:12] Jodi Guffee: [00:36:12] Sure. I would say seasoned because I think life is full seasons, regardless of COVID. Seasons of change. That's what we do, right? We go through change, we're human beings. That's the one guarantee. That's what I always tell everybody, you know, and my teams is the one thing that you can count on, for sure, is that change is going to happen. And so what is this season look like? It's a change season. And is it a growing season or is it a pruning season? Is it a drought season?
[00:36:42] All these things need to be recognized as important for your crop, your team, your family, your person, your spirituality, your world, your community, your state, your town. Living in Portland right now could really fracture somebody, being as we're from here, Greg, we love this town, this beautiful town that how does a town get part of a national presidential debate overnight? I mean, goodness sakes. It's heartbreaking. And so talking about seasons, you got to look at this as a season and what are we going to learn from it? I can see a lot of things that we're going to learn from it, and we won't get political or anything like that, but I can see a lot of things that we're going to learn from, but never in a million years did I think our beautiful city of Portland would be in such a chaotic state. And what does that mean? It means obviously we needed to do some pruning because there was some real bad crop.
[00:37:42]Greg Bell: [00:37:42] I love that idea though, that, you know, change is the constant thing and it's temporary, but then what are the lessons there? Like what can we learn? I just wanted to also give you a chance to , how do people get ahold of you or Radiant, like people that may be interested in employment, people that may be interested in staying at Radiant Senior Living. How do people get in touch?
[00:38:03] Jodi Guffee: [00:38:03] I think probably the easiest way is just always the internet, radiantseniorliving.com. That's our website. We're in a redesign right now. So there's some changes happening, but it's neat. So Radiant Senior Living. It's Radiant with a T. And then also we have another website called RadiantCareers.com. That's another great platform.
[00:38:23] We also have a platform called Radiant Voices, and that's where you can hear from all of our team members that work with us, what it is like to work at radiant and or just what it's like to work in senior housing in the industry.
[00:38:37] What it's like to be a caregiver, what it's like to be an executive director, what it's like to be a director of environmental services, or activities really give people an understanding of what would that be like? Would that just be working with old people? Is there something that stirs in me about that?
[00:38:55] Because we've got a cohort of seniors coming into our industry and we do not have the employees to support. The amount of seniors that we need to provide services for. So I really encourage people to look at this as not just a job, but a potential career. And as I mentioned before, there's lots of opportunities for growth, especially with Radiant. We really nurture that and encourage that.
[00:39:22] Greg Bell: [00:39:22] That's super helpful just before we do the Water the Bamboo oath, is there anything else you want to tell Bamboo Nation? Anything you want to say?
[00:39:30] Jodi Guffee: [00:39:30] Well, I would just say if they haven't had you come and do an... in-person will happen again, and I know you're doing your virtuals and whatnot, but if ever the opportunity was there and you hadn't taken it to get Greg to come and spend some time with your team, you know, you might be a great leader, but Greg has an energy and a way of connecting with people that is uniquely special. And some people would use that analogy. Like when you're talking to Greg, you feel as though he you're the only person in the world that he's talking to at that time. And that's a sign of a real great leader.
[00:40:04] So I would encourage you, I don't think you can have that experience with Greg, unless you have been one-on-one with him. So take the time to make that happen.
[00:40:14] Greg Bell: [00:40:14] Oh, you're so kind. Thank you.
[00:40:17] Yeah, I have my band on, maybe you don't, but I'm, we're going to have to do the Water the Bamboo oath okay?
[00:40:21] Jodi Guffee: [00:40:21] Can go get it. I have like 10 of them. I didn't even think about it. I'll show you my Bamboo Garden. It's huge.
[00:40:29] Greg Bell: [00:40:29] That's awesome! Use your right hand and repeat after me. Okay?
[00:40:33] No matter what challenges come my way.
[00:40:36] Jodi Guffee: [00:40:36] No matter what challenges come my way,
[00:40:38] Greg Bell: [00:40:38] I will.
[00:40:39] Jodi Guffee: [00:40:39] I will
[00:40:40] Greg Bell: [00:40:40] Continue.
[00:40:41] Jodi Guffee: [00:40:41] Continue,
[00:40:41] Greg Bell: [00:40:41] Continue to Water the Bamboo,
[00:40:43] Jodi Guffee: [00:40:43] Continue to Water the Bamboo. You know I will.
[00:40:47] Greg Bell: [00:40:47] Thanks so much to Jodi Guffee. Some great leadership lessons there and some great things for us to look for in leaders. But as we're ending our conversation, there's one thing that we really need to discuss a bit more.
I just don't want to gloss over this, especially now. It's important for us to remember patience and forgiveness as we work to live together through this challenging time. I'm Greg Bell, and thanks for listening to the Water the Bamboo podcast. Keep watering.