On a weekly basis, I am delighted to receive emails from participants in the Village Management Professional Development program about the many wonderful initiatives that are being undertaken to support retirement living residents in their villages.

Tracey Palser, the Village Manager at Catalina Village on the NSW North Coast, shared with me a simple but yet very much appreciated strategy she has put in place for the dual benefit of residents and local food suppliers. 

On a Friday afternoon, the local seafood truck, a local Fruit & Veg truck and now a coffee van visit the village. This activity has created for the residents the opportunity to gather socially (social distanced of course), support local business and maintain their sense of community.

They have also run a Better Together campaign where residents are able to request or identify other residents in the community that may benefit from some help or just a kind thought.  

It really showcases the benefits of living in small communities where neighbours still help neighbours.

See the picture – a resident had been away nine weeks having medical treatment and upon return, one of their amazingly talented residents created the beautiful Welcome Home card, taking it around to be signed by sanitised hands across the village and delivered to her door along with these cheery balloons.  

This time in suburban Queensland, the team at Wesley Missions’ Wheller on the Park have been putting in place many activities to keep their community engaged.

Balcony exercises, pavement line dancing, a roaming poet, ladies’ choir sing-a-long, a musical duo – these all perform at various locations around the village. They also had a special appearance from Brisbane Jazz Club and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.  Watch the video here.

The effort and creativity that is being displayed around the country is absolutely heart-warming – there is certainly no shortage of ideas. 

Much time is spent during the annual budget review period on the physical assets of the village – quantity surveyor reports, valuations, building inspections – are all actioned diligently in accordance with legislation or company policy.

However so often the very important PERSON ASSETS of the village – the people who make up your team – get overlooked. 

This budget review phase is a great time to conduct Performance appraisals with Village team members.

You can be looking at any increase provisions, training or professional development actions, and that team entitlements are allocated effectively. 

A common mistake when conducting performance appraisals is to make the review one-way, top down, which sees the leader as the judge, jury and decision maker of the employee’s behaviours and achievements.

It is really important to ensure that the process is two-way, and if you really want to look at effective reviews then consider using the 360-degree system. It allows for a peer and stakeholder review as well as self-review.

There are many online solutions to conduct this review – SurveyMonkey even has a template you can use.

Another common mistake when conducting performance appraisals is that there is no investigation of what might be causing an employee not to reach their performance targets.

In my experience, people don’t under-perform for no reason.

Sometimes it can be a case of a simple misunderstanding, a lack of upfront or ongoing training, boredom, lack of support or regular two-way dialogue. Sound familiar?  

So often employees come away from performance appraisals going “so what?” “What a waste of time…” as there is no follow-up action put in place, no ‘What’s Next’! for the employee. 

It is vital if we want to keep people engaged in our sector and communities that we formalise the support we are prepared to provide and invest in their future careers.

For me keeping it simple is important – a simple action plan outlining 2-3 actions for the next quarter/half year, (a special project, a learning activity, increased responsibility) with a commitment of a regular follow up and support meetings is imperative to keep our team engaged and energised.