By Ginny Kenyon
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the impact Starbucks has had on our society. They turned an everyday, ordinary commodity – coffee – into an exceptional customer experience. The organization has somehow managed to make paying five bucks for a cup of coffee not only okay, but a privilege.
What’s the company’s secret? Sure, the experts at Starbucks have got all the best marketing strategies in place and know how to promote a cup of joe. But there’s a crucial aspect to their success and the backbone of any business: employees. It all starts with the workers, how they are selected, and how they’re trained. Keep reading to learn the successful training methods used by Starbucks, and how you can incorporate them into your caregiver education.
GO ABOVE THE CALL OF DUTY
During orientation, Starbucks doesn’t just teach new employees how to brew coffee, wipe down a table, and take payments. They go far beyond the basics; they introduce the culture of their company to each trainee.
Starbucks understands that employees represent the company’s brand and the image it wants portrayed to the public. So, training includes a history of coffee, in-depth learning about coffee, customer service skills, and a four-hour workshop focused solely on how to brew the perfect cup.
Going Above the Call of Duty With Homecare Aide Education
In the overall healthcare industry, most aide education focuses only on the basics. But as a home health agency, doing this puts you at a disadvantage. With people living longer than ever, homecare aides must be top-notch. Consider reinventing the homecare aide education wheel when educating your caregivers. Provide an opportunity to learn more than just the basics needed to land any job in the healthcare field.
With advanced chronic disease education your aides will learn how to care for specific client needs. Chronic disease education teaches what to do in emergency situations, how to proactively intervene to prevent hospitalizations, and common medications and treatment methods.
INCORPORATE PRECISE STANDARDS
Starbucks doesn’t just give its customers any ol’ cup of coffee – they recognize that the quality and consistency of their products are key to their continued success. So they implement precise standards by which baristas are required to work.
Recipe memorization, sanitary practices, coffee-making techniques, and ordering procedures are just a few examples of those standards. Incorporating these ensures that Starbucks maintains its pristine image.
Incorporating Precise Standards in Homecare Aide Education
Just like the coffee mogul, your organization needs precise standards on which to base the training process. But what constitutes “precise standards?” For homecare, it’s the ability to observe clients, recognize signs of trouble, and the discernment to know when to call for help.
After completing the appropriate chronic disease education, aides gain a deeper awareness and understanding of what to look for with specific client diagnosis – leading to fewer hospitalizations/rehospitalizations, improved care and more satisfied clients.
MAKE IT APPLICABLE
For Starbucks, hands-on experience is crucial. From the beginning, trainees are expected to jump right in and get to work. Through the process of trial and error, baristas get better over time and eventually live up to the high expectations of their employer.
Making Homecare Aide Education Applicable
With homecare, it’s important to offer that same level of experience – only without affecting the health of real people. The right homecare aide education gives “hands-on” experience with real-world client scenarios created by nurses. These scenarios then allow learners to transfer this knowledge into care practices.
Homecare organizations, heed the Starbucks model! Consider choosing Kenyon HomeCare Consulting’s Aide University to provide advanced chronic disease homecare aide education. Aide University gives your organization everything needed to go above and beyond, incorporate precise standards, and make education applicable. In addition, Aide University is 100 percent online – saving both time and money.
An effective training program that employees can access anytime, anywhere? One that instills so much more than basic knowledge? One that gives your agency an edge over the competition? That’s what you get with Aide University. Educate your homecare aides like Starbucks…get started now!
Homecare Aide Education Like Starbucks first appeared at Kenyon Connects on August 31, 2015.
Ginny Kenyon is the founder and CEO of Kenyon HomeCare Consulting, a home health consulting firm that gives agencies a market advantage, promotes creative product development, and offers viable ways to achieve and sustain organizational and fiscal success.
