EMBR-WGN-AOL Workforce Development Training | Senior Living & Memory Care

Advanced Operations & Leadership in Senior Living

A competency-based certificate for emerging directors and property-level leaders who oversee whole communities, budgets, and cross-department teams.

20 Hours

24 Modules

5 Phases

$3,000/participant

Download Overview

An executive director reviews a printed budget with two department heads at a wooden table in a sunlit senior living community office

"The leaders who run a community well are rarely the ones who were trained to. Most learned the P&L, the survey, and the hard conversations on their own."

Who This Program Is For

Full-time, permanent employees in a supervisory or department-head role, nominated for or recently promoted into property-level leadership. Built for leaders who own results across departments:

Department head (wellness, dining, business office, sales, maintenance, activities) moving into multi-department leadership
Assistant Executive Director or Resident Care Director preparing for an Executive Director role
Experienced supervisor promoted to manager of managers
Newly appointed Executive Director in a first community
High-potential leader on a structured director track

Learning Objectives

Know your own DISC style, manage your emotional reactions under pressure, and connect daily decisions to the health of the whole community
Recruit from non-traditional talent pools, interview for evidence instead of likability, and run a new hire orientation that keeps people past 90 days
Earn credibility across all shifts, build a recognition culture, and make information stick across shifts and languages
Hold direct conversations with employees and across departments, and de-escalate emotional moments with residents and families
Read a P&L, investigate variances, and manage time and priorities strategically instead of reactively
Use technology and AI tools without burning out the team, and build a dashboard that invites coaching instead of blame
Keep the community survey-ready and risk-aware all year
Manage up to regional leadership and ownership without noise or surprise, and lead a team through organizational change
Respond to a crisis with a stabilize, communicate, document, recover rhythm, and facilitate a dementia simulation for your team
Scope, run, and present a real leadership project in your own community

Curriculum Overview

24 modules: a short orientation, 5 phases, and a capstone project, delivered over 20 hours.

Know Yourself First: Self-Awareness, Purpose & the Owner Mindset

The industry as a real career and the ecosystem residents live inside. Your DISC style, managing emotional reactions under pressure, and the owner mindset that connects daily decisions to the health of the whole community.

Build the Team: Recruit, Hire, Onboard & Keep Good People

Why every DISC strength matters on a care team and the shift from "I leadership" to "we leadership." Recruiting from non-traditional talent pools, interviewing for real evidence instead of likability, and a new hire orientation system that keeps good people past the first 90 days.

The Human Side of Leadership: Trust, Communication & Hard Conversations

Earning credibility across all shifts, building a recognition culture where good work becomes visible, making information stick across shifts and languages, holding direct conversations with employees and across departments, and de-escalating emotional moments with residents and families.

Run the Business: Finance, Time, Tech & Survey Readiness

Reading a P&L and investigating variances like a detective, managing time and priorities strategically, using technology and AI tools without burning out the team, building a dashboard that invites coaching instead of blame, and keeping the community survey-ready and risk-aware all year.

Lead Through Complexity: Change, Crisis & the Work Only You Can Do

Managing up to regional leadership and ownership without noise or surprise, leading a team through organizational change without going silent or over-promising, responding to a crisis with a stabilize, communicate, document, recover rhythm, and facilitating a dementia simulation that changes how a whole team responds to distress.

✓

Capstone Project

Each leader chooses a meaningful problem, scopes a manageable project, tests a solution with a clear before-and-after measurement, and presents results to leadership. The capstone is completed on site during the OJT hours.

Delivery Format

Total Hours

20 Hours

4 hrs online + 16 hrs customized on-the-job training

OJT Location

On-Site

Completed at the employer's community, customized to the leader's departments, budget, and current priorities

Certificate

Upon Completion

Issued upon passing a final competency assessment

Eligible Departments

All Departments

Property-level and department leadership across care/wellness, dining, business office, sales, maintenance, activities