As anyone who lives in a retirement village will tell you, the village manager’s role is crucial to the success of the village, including the happiness and well-being of village residents. It’s not the only success factor – the village operators and their overriding policies are pretty central; and of course there are the residents themselves. A dominating bully or a nasty gossip in the mix can be toxic for the general esprit de corps. On the flipside, a few relentlessly cheerful and optimistic types in a small community can raise the spirits of many.
But there’s no doubt that a really good village manager can make a really big difference. So can a ‘bad’ one.
Every year the peak body for retirement villages in Australia (the Retirement Living Council – part of the Property Council of Australia) runs an award program among its members to recognise and encourage excellence in retirement village managers.
“The Manager of the Year award puts retirement village managers, who make the extra effort to ensure the community and village they manage is successful, happy and harmonious, in the spotlight,” it says on the website.
While a resident letter of endorsement is required with every nomination, it’s hard to know how much of the input comes from the residents’ point of view. Last year there was only one village resident on the ten-person judging panel – Australian Retirement Village Residents’ Association president, Terry Macdonald. Another judge was from the Lifemark retirement village accreditation scheme, another from the sponsor, Programmed Property Services. The other seven members of the judging panel were village operators – past or present.
The best judge
I’m not remotely suggesting they weren’t good judges and, to be fair, the MOTY award, as it is affectionately known, is an award conceived and bestowed by peers. The Australian Retirement Village Residents’ Association could always go ahead and host their own awards system– and they could invite a single operator representative to join the judging panel!
Also, part of the judging naturally involves financial and operational management skills and frequently sales results – criteria that operators and business people are in a pretty strong position to judge. Without robust management and good financial sustainability, the operators might argue, the ‘successful, happy and harmonious’ outcome everyone is looking for might be academic.
But the experience and perspective of the people who live in the villages is also integral to the judgement of a village manager and at least equally as important as the operator’s experience and perspective. Without residents, they might argue back in this chicken and egg scenario, there is no village, no business to be managed.
Is it just possible that the retirement village industry’s understanding of what makes an excellent village manager is slightly different to the residents’ perspective?
The job spec – an operator’s perspective
Looking at the way village managers are recruited – and what they are paid – is one way of gaining a picture of the skills, strengths and attributes that village operators think are important.
I looked at a current sample of five advertisements for village manager jobs with five different operators across three states (no names, no pack drill). There is quite a lot of variation in what each advertisement includes, excludes and emphasises. All naturally cover off the financial and operational aspects of the role and (thankfully) all describe a relationship with residents.
But the way the advertisements describe or emphasise the resident relationship part of the job is perhaps most varied. In one description, the residents are one of several ‘stakeholder’ groups to be ‘liaised with’. At the other end of the spectrum, resident relationships are front and centre – a core component of the role, necessitating outstanding communication and customer services skills in the would-be applicant.
So there is this job description in one:
- Sales and re-sales of residences
- Marketing and promotional programs
- Financial budgeting and accounts
- Grounds and buildings maintenance
- Development and implementation of village policy and procedures
- Management reporting
- Liaison with a wide stakeholder base such as – residents, service providers, government and industry groups
And then there is this skills list in another:
The ideal applicant will have the following skills and experiences to be a successful Village Manager
- Strong people management, customer service and sales skills;
- Previous experience in retirement village, property, hospitality or aged care management;
- Understanding of budget and cost control;
- Good communicator with a friendly and caring disposition;
- Going above and beyond to deliver organisational outcomes.
Providing an exceptional service to our residents and increasing occupancy are the two most important factors for the success of our business.
There’s also this:
Your strong people management skills, commercial aptitude, application of EHS requirements, along with your ability to work on competing priorities, will see you succeed in this role. Strong commercial acumen with outstanding communication, problem solving and negotiation skills will see you succeed in this role. You demonstrate a passion for the industry and a customer service approach that sees you operate with a high level of integrity at all times.
And this:
As Village Manager at xxxxx, based in xxxxx, your role is crucial to the smooth operation and future success of the village as well as the comfort and happiness of our valued residents.
Only two of the five advertisements provided salary details – one offering $46,700 plus a bonus incentive; the other offering a $100k salary plus super. Quite a difference but it is spookily in line with the advice provided on a website called Payscale that researches and compares salaries for particular roles to help guide both individuals and businesses.
See the image here from the website showing that, based on 71 individual reports, last updated on 31 Mar 2015, salaries for retirement village managers range from AU$40,547 to AU$98,963. “Most people with this job move on to other positions after 20 years in this career,” Payscale.com goes on to say.
Interestingly, the second job advertisement example quoted above – which clearly emphasises the importance of ‘relationship skills’ – is the position offering the salary of $46,700 plus a bonus. (Much could be said about this alone but I shall resist – that’s another issue for another time.)
You be the Judge
Returning to the question, what defines a really good retirement village manager? Is the retirement village industry’s view about what makes an excellent village manager different to the residents’ perspective?
What do current residents demand from the village manager role? What do we value and respect? What, from a resident’s ‘consumer’ perspective, are the services, skills, practices and behaviours we reasonably expect when we sign up; and the qualities that we continue to value? And what are the practices and qualities that really don’t help or that we don’t like? Is there a secret ingredient? How would you describe a ‘bad’ village manager?
And if, like me, you are a reader who doesn’t live in a retirement village, but you are able to imagine living in a village, what WOULD you want or expect?
It’s a conversation we need to have.
This is an opportunity to have the ’consumer’ view of what makes a great village manager heard in an independent and open national forum. I’m looking forward to hearing and sharing yours in future posts. Please feel free to share this post with friends or colleagues via email or social media.
Discussion8 Comments
Having been a manager of a retirement village, I really think that residents want a tactful good listener and one that works hard to make all the villagers feel comfortable and not trivialise their problems, moving into a village can be the most difficult time for residents, leaving their homes of a life time, downsizing, and most often without their partner, a most daunting feat for elderly residents. An actual grieving time for some. That is where a good listener and an empathetic person can make the world of difference.
Hi Denise,
I am currently going through the interview process to be a village manager in the UK – do you have any tips?
Many thanks
Jo
Hi Jo, we can’t pretend to be experts on that – and we are conscious that retirement village communities are a newer concept in the UK than they are here – but our advice would be to make sure you understand the consumer perspective as well as the operator perspective. There is a ‘consumer code’ for ARCO which you are probably aware of: http://arcouk.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-ARCO-Consumer-Code-2015.pdf Age UK will give you a good understanding of some of the issues older people face: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/professional-resources-home/ . But generally researching news stories about retirement villages in the UK is going to give you a pretty good understanding of the main things to be aware of. Not a how-to guide for the interview but you will definitely be well informed! And that’s always a good thing. Best of luck and we would love to hear how you went!
Dear Earnest
Both my wife & I have 13 years experience as RV Managers. Beginning in Victoria then NSW and the last 9.5 years in SE Queensland and your article above is so accurate. From our experience, very few actually put the residents near the top of the tree but instead put profitability and shareholders (Not the NFP companies in the latter case) right up there and therefore they don’t look so much for managers with people skills. We have both taken over management of retirement villages over the years where the previous managers have left so many problems behind them and leaving many residents regretting the day the moved into the village. When you refer to the huge variation in salaries you don’t stipulate whether or not they are NFP or FP companies by I would guess the lower salaries are offered by the NFP companies as that’s what we’ve seen but we’ve also noted that “you get what you pay for” in a lot of cases. Having said all of this, I firmly believe that the responsibility lies with the boards and senior management of RV companies to ensure that a good balance of skills is required in an RV manager if he or she is going to be successful and the residents of the villages are going to be able to live the life they are promised in the sales pitch.
What makes a good village manager:
Competence. Understanding of basic management and business skills, including accounting and budgeting. Knowledge of the relevant legislation.
An understanding of psychology, to be able to handle difficult situations: irrationality (perhaps due to illness), personality clashes, bullying by some residents, neighbor squabbles, and, in the office, good people-management skills to have effective and happy staff.
Empathy with and understanding of older people. A good listener. An ability to sense mood of residents and not just to accept what the Residents’ Committee says. Attention to the needs of the elderly and frail among residents as well as of the more able-bodied, with whom the manager may have more contact.
Must treat all residents the same. Too many managers have favourites amongst residents; and non-favourites. Close friendships with any residents should not be allowed.
Must always treat all residents with respect and courtesy. A worrying number of managers are inclined to intimidate some or, sometimes even many residents.
Communication: frequent written communications to keep residents informed about to what is going on in the village. Whilst some may not be interested, those who are have a right to know what is happening in their village.
A message to the higher levels of the larger operators: do not require the manager to attend too many corporate meetings. Remember, residents are paying the manager to manage their village and not to spend time bonding with managers of other villages in the operator’s “stable”. The manager needs time to tend to residents’ needs.
Sales and marketing, or construction should not be part of the village manager’s responsibility. If these are part of the job, then the proportion of time spent on these areas needs to be known so that this proportion of the salary is paid by the operator and not charged to residents. Sales and marketing, and construction are not a General Service supplied or made available to all residents (for which residents pay), and should be paid from discretely separate operator’s budgets. This is the case under the Queensland legislation: I can’t speak for other States.
As to the Retirement Living Council’s “Manager of the Year”, the selection team you refer to is a joke. A resident letter of endorsement is also a joke. Any manager, no matter how dreadful, incompetent or intimidating he may be, can find one resident to write such a letter. Even a letter from the residents’ committee, if there is one, is not necessarily a good representation of residents’ views (although it is better than just one resident’s opinion.)
To have 1/10 bringing the residents’ perspective to the selection panel is a seriously unacceptable imbalance. Likewise, to have 7/10 giving the operators’ perspective is too biased. The relevant legislation (at least in Queensland) refers to two entities: the operator and the resident. Show a better understanding of the importance of the resident. Why not have a representative from each State’s residents’ association rather than just one residents’ representative? That would provide a much better balance. Without this, the whole exercise is purely a hollow marketing ploy.
To suggest that the Australian Retirement Village Residents’ Association could do their own survey may sound a good idea, but they lack the funds, and they are all volunteer retirees, with their own State responsibilities to attend to. The residents’ representatives can not conduct such a survey. They need to be more strongly represented on the RLC’s selection panel.
Thank you, Earnest, for the opportunity to comment on this very important and interesting question. I hope you get many more comments before long.
Joanne Wheeler
Hello Denise,
I think you are “spot-on”! The sensitivity you convey is so important. Thank you for putting it so well.
Joanne Wheeler, a rv resident.
Hi All
Some great insight and recomendation’s into an industry that has minimal coverage given the growth forecast relative to our ageing population. I have worked in the hospitality industry for over 30 years in a wide range of roles from operations to executive. Can someone provide commentary on Licensed Clubs who have diversified traditional revenue streams and have built or taken over retirement village(s). My research indicates that not many “Clubs” have taken on this initiative and I was curious to find out why ?
My experience is not quite so bright.
The NFP company I work for has 18 villages, I am there only village manager and I manage the largest of the villages.
I have been managing the village for 2 years now.
The problems I have is with the very nasty and poisonous residents committee.
3 of the committee have personal issues with our CEO and Chairperson which existed prior to my employment.
This committee has been overly demanding of the company aided by there misunderstanding and misreading of regulations and the support of WARVRA.
They have managed to pull over half of the residents into there battle by telling them only half the truth or the parts they feel will keep residents on there side, and the situation is now diabolical.
They will not allow me to attend committee or residents meetings, and will not provide minutes etc.
I am regularly verbally abused by residents and as I work the site alone I have no one here to witness the abuse. I do note it all down and report it, but there is not much else I can do.
The remainder of residents disagree with the committee and there actions but do not want to get onto the committee, they just try and stay out of all of it.
The regulations are so heavily weighted in favour of residents that there is very little we as a company can do about the situation.
I am now seeing a counsellor to help me with my stress and nerves.
It is not all sweetness and light in this industry.