By Sara Zeff Geber, PhD

Of the many interesting and enlightening sessions I attended at the recent LeadingAge conference, one that clearly stood out was “Residence Involvement in Governance and Strategy.” The panel members were:

  • Dan Murray, the CEO of Pennswood Village
  • Steve Fuller, CEO of The Army Residence Community
  • Lieutenant General Lawson W. Magruder III, Army Residence Community resident board member and chair of the strategic planning committee
  • Jane Mack, CEO of Friends Services Alliance
  • Olivia Mastry, principal of Collective Action Lab

Everyone on the panel made a unique contribution to the message of this session, which was: We need to understand who today’s resident is and why they have a strong need to be involved in the decisions that affect their lives. 

Purposeful Longevity

The Army Residence Community was the focus of the presentation. Every panel member had contributed to the engagement activities at the ARC, which served as an excellent case study for the principles and practices they outlined.

They described the “new age older adult” as treating their longevity as “purposeful” rather than accidental.

Today’s residents (some now boomers) do not look upon the fact that they made it into their 70s and 80s as an accident; they see it as a chance to enhance their older selves in physical, spiritual, and mental ways. They often pursue that quest for meaning and purpose by engaging in what the panel called “out of order living,” which may include activities like additional education, bodybuilding, or the study and pursuit of artistic accomplishment.

I was delighted that the panel included in their description of the new age resident that many are solo agers: adults over 60 who have no living children or family on which to rely. There is also evidence of much greater diversity, cultural and identity, among today’s elders.

However, the two elements of the presentation that I believe are most consequential for contemporary leadership and management of senior living communities are:

  1. Boomers have a long history of challenging tradition.
  2. Everyone has a growing distrust of institutions.

Authoritarianism Vs. Involvement

Distrust in institutions has been growing among all Americans for several years. The five institutions that rate the lowest in confidence and trust are:

  1. Congress (lowest of all)
  2. Big business
  3. Television news
  4. The criminal justice system
  5. Newspapers

So, what does all this have to do with the extent to which residents should be involved in the governance structure of their senior living community? A lot, as it turns out.

With the changes outlined above, it’s doubtful that any senior living community anywhere in the U.S. or Canada could successfully exist without some level of resident involvement, so the questions become “how much?” and at “what level?”

The panel included a very outspoken resident in retired U.S. Army General Lawson Magruder. He described his role as a resident board member and left no question about whether residents at ARC are included in the decisionmaking in that community.

I found it quite interesting that a person as steeped in command-and-control leadership as an army general would be participating actively and advocating participative government. I also found it encouraging for the future of senior living communities everywhere.

4 Areas to Engage Residents In

After clarifying the importance of and reasoning behind resident engagement in governance, the panel went on to offer some guidance for navigating around the obvious and not-so-obvious pitfalls.

They emphasized that it is critical to clarify the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved, whether acting as a board member or as a committee member. They also emphasized that it’s impossible to OVER-communicate. Sharing information again and again is paramount, especially with regard to tricky or divisive issues.

The key engagement areas they called out were:

  1. Values and cultural norms
  2. Governance
  3. Strategy development
  4. Societal engagement

Preventing Strife

For each of these areas they emphasized the importance of being clear about the role of residents, the role of the board, and the role of any relevant committee.

Decisionmaking is where the rubber truly meets the road, and the panel emphasized the importance of being clear about who will make the decision and how it will be made. If there is still disagreement after several rounds of discussion and evaluation of input, who/what body will have the final say?

The members of the panel were all involved in the trials and successes of resident engagement at ARC, and they emphasized that it can be very advantageous to bring in outside guidance for these processes, especially for strategic planning activities. The consultants who worked with them were represented on the panel, and they described briefly how they helped in the process and embedded themselves sporadically for guidance in the activities named above.

Sara Zeff Geber, PhD, coined the term solo ager, which has become the industry standard. She also wrote the book on it: Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers. Dr. Geber is a frequent keynote speaker and author. Learn more about her here.