Day: February 27, 2020

Categories
Things to watch

He’s back! Matt Church opens the Village Summit…

Matt Church is welcomed back to open the Village Summit 2020 on Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th of August at the Sheraton Grand Hyde Park. 

Last year Matt opened our minds to new ways of thinking about the future skills needed in business.​

See a snippet HERE.

Matt is recognised by International Federation of Professional Speakers as one the top 21 most influential people in the leadership industry on the planet.

Matt is committed to helping people prepare for tomorrow by taking action today. His philosophy can be summed up in one word: NEXT! What is the best next thing you can do to future proof your business or career?

Believing powerfully in the idea that commercial success is best achieved by delivering value beyond expectations, Matt will investigate The Power of Leadership: How to inspire residents to live their best life, how to grow yourself and add value to your community.

Find out more about the Village Summit HERE.

Categories
What the research tells us

The Budget Process from a Resident’s perspective

Recently I had the good fortune to catch up with my good comrade Michael Jones, Chair, Resident’s Finance Committee.

I was keen to talk to him, as an accountant, about what does good financial management look like for residents? And thankfully Michael was obliging to share with me his thoughts from a resident’s perspective….

There was no surprise that the top of his list was regular and transparent consultation with residents DURING the budgeting review process, including them as part of the journey in the development of the new budget.

Don’t just preach the outcome and expect it to be accepted.

He suggested that the Village Manager can play a vital role in supporting the Finance Committee to identify those people in the village with relevant experience or past financial acumen that could benefit the Committee. 

He also offered the following tips:

  1. That operators and Village Managers, together, should undertake sound consideration for both the long and short term requirements of the village and share this review with the Finance Committee so as to provide long-term peace of mind about future financial provisions.
  2. The operator should establish sound financial management systems – not just to meet compliance matters but to also work towards best practice finance processes and systems.
  3. The operator as part of their financial management system should consider regular update meetings with their Finance Committee, this could be a short monthly meeting (catch up on recent changes, raise issues as they arise etc) and then a more comprehensive meeting quarterly to go through the financial statements together.
  4. Providing transparent financial statements on a regular basis helps to build trust between residents and the operator and reduce the unproductive time that it can take to locate answers to questions the Village Manager is not aware of.  
  5. Finally, the operator, particularly those where decisions are mostly made remotely, must include the Village Manager in all decisions that may impact a resident’s finances or the assets of the village. It is also a great idea that from time to time the remote accounting support team are invited to attend a meeting with the Finance Committee to ensure that an open dialogue and mutual understanding is maintained.

Whilst these may seem logical tips and actions, the resident association representatives and regulators continue to share with me that the majority of concerns raised with them relate directly to inadequate financial transparency or poor financial management systems. 

With time on your side, start the process early and consider reviewing your current process to include some of Michael’s suggestions. 

Categories
Things to watch

Tapping into the WizeNomads in your community…

This week Sydney Startup WizeNomads launched a grassroots movement to connect age-friendly employers with experienced people. 

WizeNomads is an organisation based on inspiring experienced people to find work opportunities and connect with age friendly employers. They promote multi-generational workforces and are the conduit between businesses and people via growing generational connections.

WizeNomads connect with pre-screened age-friendly companies, offer learning and advice to inspire confidence and new skills and they are starting to build a multi-generational community and network.

Find out more HERE.

They believe there is a plethora of hidden skills, wisdom and that mature persons in the workplace can have a positive impact on the nature of business. 

When I came across this it resonated with my lived experience. That as Village Managers we should be identifying, engaging and consulting with residents within our Retirement Communities that too may have a plethora of hidden skills, wisdom, connections etc that could be tapped into for the benefit of the village. There is a certain Chairman in a village I managed about a decade ago that very graciously taught me this lesson, you will know who you are Mr Francis if you are reading this.  

One thing is for certain a Village Manager’s role is very busy so if there are residents in your community with a skill set or speciality then I can highly recommend tapping into those skills to help you with research or another point of view. Good communication and consultation is definitely the key to great decision making in my experience.

Categories
Reporting Results

Village sales up!

Reports from the field by the likes of Stockland are telling us that retirement village enquiry, reservations and settlements are up, compared to this time last year, by 10 to 15%. Is this your experience?

Villages that have a clear ‘home care’ support offer are doing particularly well.

Omega Communities in Adelaide, which is two villages that offer ‘family care’ (like private aged care) is consistently running at 95% occupancy. LDK Seniors Living in Canberra, a new village, is selling two new homes a week at over $800,000 each. (They have close to 400 to sell by the way).

They call their offer the ‘One Move Promise’ – their home care support means you will never have to move to an aged care home.

Check their website out HERE.

For your village, having a clear relationship with your local home care providers will help your sales as well. It’s a good idea to have at least a folder of local services like physiotherapists and even cleaners that you can show potential residents. Simple but effective.

Strong sales lifts everyone’s spirits.

Categories
Key things to help you everyday

DCMI announces inaugural International study tour for Village Managers

Sunset at Auckland Harbour Festival 2006. Viaduct Basin. Auckland. New Zealand

 DCM Institute is excited to bring to its members an International study tour to New Zealand in July 2020.​

New Zealand retirement village operators are internationally-recognised as being world leaders in this sector. Delegates on the Inaugural DCM Institute study program will visit a mix of NZ’s retirement villages and co-located care facilities in Auckland and Tauranga. Hosted by DCMI’s Director Judy Martin and NZRVA CEO John Collyns the program is open to DCMI Village Manager Professional Development program members.

Information on the study tour program can be found HERE.

Register your expression of interest HERE.

For information pls contact Judy Martin
E: judym@dcmmedia.com.au or M: 0437 649 672

Categories
Latest industry developments

More than 1,000 villages register for the Retirement Village Code of Conduct – implementing now

The new Code of Conduct is gathering speed.

Close to 50% of all villages across the country have now started the process of building the Code into their operations. Is yours one?

The Code of Conduct was jointly created by the Retirement Living Council and Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) as an industry initiative to further build retirement villages as responsible corporate and community citizens.

In simple terms, the Code is a statement that retirement villages operate ethically and it has guidelines with checks and balances to support you to deliver a consistent, high-quality experience for residents.

You will find it will make managing your village easier. Word from the field is that residents, especially resident committees, are appreciating the structure the Code brings to operations.

It kicked off on 1 January and villages have 12 months to get the guidelines in place.

Two important steps are ongoing training of village management, which our DCM Institute Professional Development program has been designed to deliver, and a survey of residents every 12 months checking up on very particular areas.

We have just designed this survey for you and it will be released in the next four to eight weeks after we have tested it.

You can learn more about the Code of Conduct HERE.