Blog

Bonnie Robinson, CEO, HBH Senior Living

1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
   Changing your mind when making decisions is okay. This advice stood me in good stead during lockdown as we were having to make decisions at speed and then as new information came to hand, modify them. Being agile and adapting as the situation changed is always the basis for good decision-making, but with COVID-19 this mattered tenfold.
2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
   There were three main challenges. Firstly, as the CEO of an aged care facility, my main responsibility was to continue delivery of our service of caring for vulnerable people and this meant keeping COVID-19 out of the facility come what may. We achieved this and I am incredibly proud of HBH, particularly the staff for achieving this.The second challenge was managing the plethora of information – which either came too fast or too slow! Wading through the information to find the specific parts relevant to us was a challenge. We adopted the ‘Single Source of Truth’ approach and agreed that the Ministry of Health would be our external single source of truth. Internally I formed a team of three, led by me, as our internal single source of truth. For managers and staff this provided clarity; it didn’t matter what they’d heard elsewhere as they knew to refer to the one single source of truth. Lastly, as an essential service we needed to maintain a workforce to uphold the quality of care we provide residents. However, a number of staff couldn’t work due to their own health and there were no agency staff available unless they were employed full-time. There was a lot of juggling and temporary changing of roles to make it work which we managed to do. While it was difficult, the loyalty and flexibility of the team was outstanding.
3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
   One of the first things we did was setup a framework for decision-making. As a values-led organisation, our values always guide our decisions but with COVID we prioritised them and adopted the top three values. These ensured we made decisions that protected the general public, kept our residents safe and well, and ensured we remained viable. This framework, along with the single point of truth, streamlined our process and meant we were able to make decisions responsibly and consistently.The second small change that had impact was making better use of technology. We had it and were using it, but not as well as we could have until COVID-19. There was a mindset that unless you met in person you didn’t value the relationship. Using technology to serve us better, to extend our reach and to connect residents with family members living around the world will now be a part of how we do things going forward and that has been an extremely positive outcome.
4. What’s been your biggest learning?
   The power of a single, unifying goal. This was something I already knew and understood, but it was absolutely reinforced during lockdown. Across the organisation, everyone knew our number one goal was to keep COVID-19 out of HBH and achieving this relied on their respective commitment and contribution. Now that we are back to ordinary life, my challenge is to harness that same commitment to achieving our future goals.
5. What have you been surprised by?
   Our clients (residents) coped better than I thought they would. As older people, they had experienced many challenging times and were very philosophical about the situation. They were great. Secondly the staff, who adapted to new roles, new ways of working, including using technology which many said they found challenging, and they did it extremely well.
6. What’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
   A greater awareness of the power of technology and how it can open up our services to reach more people beyond our current locations. We not only used it to connect residents with families, but also to deliver some of our community services which was extremely successful.
7. What are you most proud of?
   That we kept COVID-19 out of HBH and the commitment of my staff – many of whom turned up for work even though they were scared and worried.
8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post lockdown?
   Two immediate changes have been made. Residents and staff enjoyed the quieter pace during lockdown – life slowed down and it wasn’t all bad. An immediate change we’ve made is to keep visiting to either side of lunchtime based on residents saying they’d rather not be rushed if someone came to visit during mealtimes. And secondly, staff now have more flexibility to work from home if they can and wish to. Many staff found working from home more productive with fewer interruptions and wish to continue to do so for a part of their working week.
9. The future of the non-profit sector is…
   I think this depends on which part of the sector you operate in. Those who are heavily reliant on fundraising may find that it will get harder before it gets easier, depending on when the borders reopen and the economic recovery time. However, the sector, by its very nature, is nimble so in that respect it’s well placed to manage an event like COVID-19.Finally, we are fortunate in situations like these to be in values-based organisations, where we can make decisions based on our values for the good of others rather than on commercial gain.
10. Final thoughts
    It was a true test of leadership. We often didn’t have the information we needed to make a well-informed decision so for me, having a clear set of personal values and organisational values was essential and guided every decision I made. The question of how the organisation wishes to be seen in the future was in the back of my mind throughout and I feel we have grown and landed in a very positive place.