CASE STUDY
CONCEPTS IN COMMUNITY LIVING
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT & CLARITY | ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Challenge
Concepts in Community Living (CCL) is an innovative senior living organization that created the first assisted living model in the United States. They were navigating multiple challenges: onboarding and retaining staff across homes statewide, communication gaps between home office and individual facilities, and processing the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on staff and residents. They needed both strategic clarity and practical tools to support their continued innovation in senior care.
Approach
The partnership began with a day-long retreat exploring organizational history and current context, then evolved into an ongoing relationship as a “special projects” partner—stepping in where focused facilitation, training, or organizational design work was needed. Through deep listening to staff, sensemaking about context, and understanding employee needs, we were able to design and build systems that improved the employee onboarding, quality assurance, and communication challenges.
The Impact
- Created practical onboarding tools used across all facilities statewide to support new employee success
- Facilitated understanding of COVID trauma and shared experiences across facilities
- Improved communication understanding between home office and individual homes
- Established flexible partnership model—stepping in where specific expertise was needed rather than predetermined scope
Capabilities & Roles
Capabilities Utilized: Discovery & Sense-Making, Visual Facilitation & Harvesting, Organizational Development, Collaborative Design & Problem-Solving, Program & Curriculum Design
Roles Fulfilled: Facilitator, Interviewer, Visual Synthesizer, Process Designer, Trainer, Special Projects Partner
Collaboration Partner: Sara Rosenau assisted in the COVID facilitation.
