Having worked in the senior care industry since 1986, I have seen many different leadership styles in the sub-acute rehab, assisted living and home care settings that I have been part of. As I think about some of the more challenged unsuccessful leaders that I interacted with, I realize that we hire managers in health care settings for a very specific skill set. For example, we hire a Director of Nursing because he or she has great clinical skills, we hire a food service director because he or she is a great cook and we hire a maintenance director who is able to fix and repair things easily.  During the hiring process, very little thought and discussion focuses around their leadership experience and management skills. As I look back on some of the more successful leaders I interacted with,  I realize that the ones who coached and modeled excellent customer service to the people they managed, in turn created a culture of customer service excellence amongst the whole company.  The front line staff treated the customers with the same respect they were given by those managers. I decided that if I could

assist communities in not only teaching the front line staff the importance of customer service excellence but also to train these leaders on how to manage, coach, model,  and hold the employees accountable to exemplary customer service daily, we could make a difference in the senior living industry...and so I started Top-Notch Teams.

​