Our Centre Managers Convene for the 2023 Centre Managers Conference
The Salvation Army Aged Care (“TSAAC”) held its 2023 Centre Managers Conference in Bowral, New South Wales, for the twenty-one Centre Managers who manage TSAAC’s residential aged care centres. The Conference focused on the newly instated 5 Pillars of Aged Care Excellence, for Clinical Quality; Operating Performance and Management; Resident Joy and Satisfaction; Motivated and Skilled Workforce and Contemporary, Comfortable Home Environment. According to the Conference objective, Centre Managers must commit to each of the 5 Pillars of Aged Care Excellence using TSAAC’s policies, procedures and service delivery model.
Residential Services General Manager, Tony Stephenson, notes that the intention behind having a formalised Conference was two-fold. “It’s about an opportunity for all the Centre Managers to discuss their challenges but also a bit of time away from the desk to appreciate being part of the larger organisation,” he says. In a more strategic sense, the Conference also supported the alignment of the Residential Services goals. “I sat down and actually thought about what to do for the Conference, so trying to set an agenda that was reaching for excellence,” Tony states.
He notes that the significance of the Conference extends beyond professional development. “Professional development matters, but it’s also recognising the importance of the overall team. It’s about creating strengths across the organisation and leaders, and so the best way to do that is to talk about what people have done to celebrate their successes.”
The benefit of having an in-person Conference ensured another dimension of connectivity and community for the Centre Managers, who often only meet online and via phone given that their Centres are located throughout Australia. “We included in the program, exercise in the morning and in the afternoon, so that people actually got out and about and talked to each other,” Tony explains. “There was plenty of time for breakout groups and discussions as well during the day; it was really about relationships and trusting each other.”
Five Centres also created videos for the Conference which were played at specific intervals during the presentations. “Each of the videos showed the Clinical Management team and staff with pride in terms of what they are doing, and for me that was the highlight; just seeing those videos and seeing the Centre Manager’s face representing their team during the videos,” Tony says.
Sarrah Debono, the Project Lead and Executive Support for TSAAC, supported the coordination of the Conference. She was instrumental in organising the branded collateral for the Conference and reiterated its importance. “We wanted to ensure that we were able to put together a pack that does showcase excellence and that the Managers can take back to their Centres.” she says.
Sarrah’s Conference highlight was the face-to-face interaction with the Centre Managers. “We only get to do these conferences once a year, so it’s really important that we showcase all the hard work that Centre Managers have done and the things they have achieved and also just build rapport and relationships on a more personal level,” she states.
