On the heels of being named a Great Place to Work for the second consecutive year, Enlivant is working on a “diversity, inclusion and belonging strategy.”
“It’s obviously been a very difficult few months of widespread outrage and protest calling for racial justice,” he told McKnight’s Senior Living. “We believe that our mission, vision and values demand that we take a stand to advance equity and diversity, inclusion and belonging in all forms. We also know that as an organization, we can and have to do more to make society a more equitable world for everyone to live and thrive and work in, to help inform our longer-term actions.”
The Enlivant leadership team began hosting small-group sessions, via Zoom due to the pandemic, to hear employees’ perspectives about their workplace experiences to “identify where we can continue to work together to further improve our culture,” Callison said.
The company also hired a third-party consultant, Robert Perkins, to help develop the strategy.
“It will be a multiyear process that we’re going through together as an organization,” Callison said, adding that Enlivant leaders are “incredibly excited” about the effort.
“No matter where we are and where any company is, there’s always room for improvement,” he said.
The latest listening tour, although virtual, echoes in-person action Callison took after he became CEO in 2013 to establish a new mission, vision and values for Enlivant, formerly Assisted Living Concepts.
“It was clear to us then, as we were learning about the organization, that a very dramatic transformation was needed immediately. We were completely focused on building and rebuilding trust with all of our stakeholders,” he said. “So to kick things off, we hosted CEO-led listening tours in communities all around the country.”
At that time, Callison said, he asked for “unfiltered input” from employees about the organization’s culture.
“The great feedback led to a clear foundation,” he said, adding that the mission, vision and values established then “have not evolved.”
“That’s not to say that we aren’t constantly looking in the mirror and asking, ‘Could we be better?’ We do that every day,” Callison said.
Read the complete McKnight’s Senior Living interview with Callison, in which he discusses the important role culture plays in an organization’s success, here.
