Fee Stubblefield, founder and CEO of Oregon-based The Springs Living, recently spent time with McKnight’s Senior Living to share insights into tackling senior living’s biggest challenges, making communities more attractive to the next generation of residents, and other lessons detailed in his new book, “A Culture of Promise: The True Story of a Small Company’s Quest to Transform the Senior Living Industry.” Proceeds from the book benefit The Springs Living’s workplace stability program for frontline employees.
An abridged version of the conversation appears below.. Listen to the entire conversation in this Newsmaker’s Podcast.
Q: You founded the company in 1996. Why was now a good time to write a book?
A: It was a realization that I’m getting older, too. The principles, the culture, the stories, our point of view, how we do things here — I had to get that down on paper.
We all have to share ideas. There’s plenty of business and plenty of people to fill up every building out there. Being transparent and being vulnerable is how we’re going to learn. By putting this book out there, maybe it’ll help someone or show somebody what not to do, and I might learn from them. It can’t help but help us.
Q: Your book talks about a culture of promise. What do you mean by that?
A: We’re in the people business, and culture is basically people and the collective ideas around those people, the values that those people hold and share. And you measure values with behaviors.
You have to know what your promise is. Your promise determines your organizational culture, and your organizational culture determines the best type of leadership style to lead that type of organization. We have to understand our promise to our customers. I think a lot of our quality gaps out there are because we don’t understand that.
Q: Your grandmother had a request: “Never put me in an old folks’ home.” It’s something that families and senior living providers frequently hear. How can providers change the perception of senior living that some people have and also create places where older adults want to be?
A: Changing the perception of senior living is done by understanding what your promise is, fulfilling your promise and solving problems one problem at a time, one person at a time. That’s the only way to do it.
We have to have data. We have to have industry cooperation and transparency. We have to use technology to be able to understand what actually is happening and how we can get better. We are doing that, and we can continue to do that.
You’ve got to start with the clarity about what your promises are to all your stakeholders — not just your customers, but your employees and your investors, too.
Q: Your grandmother ultimately did live in one of your communities. If she were here today, how do you think she would feel about senior living?
A: She wouldn’t want to go, but she had some memory issues, so she might not fully understand.
She’d probably think the food was better, the consistency was better, that we’ve gotten better in a lot of areas. But we also have to understand that this statement, “Never put me in an old folks’ home,” is not just about us as an industry. It’s about that person, too. Even though they know it’s a good decision, any change is a sense of loss.
Q: If there’s one message you’d like people to take away from your book, what would it be?
A: This profession is going to create a lot of positive change in people’s lives. The Wall Street Journal had an article a couple weeks ago about how people are quitting businesses they don’t feel connected with as far as a sense of purpose or making a difference. This business is different from any other business. When you buy a product, it’s about a product, but this is about taking care of people.
Every day, we can see how we make a difference, and I think the future is extremely bright. I work with a lot of great peers. There are a lot of great companies out there, and we are up to the challenge. We’re up to being the next generation to take care of the next generation and to make life a little easier.
We’re on a good path, from an industry perspective. I think all of us in the industry are feeling pretty positive about which way we’re going. There’s a lot of hope out there, and it’s a bright future.
