What does it take to lead a thriving 300+ resident community? Find out as Nate Weyand, Executive Director of Querencia Barton Creek, discusses recruitment challenges, fostering a culture of care, and recent renovations to elevate resident spaces. Join us as we explore the strategies behind exceptional senior living leadership.

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Watch the Querencia documentary with The Bridge Group Construction.

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Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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Intro

Welcome to season seven of Bridge The Gap, a podcast dedicated to informing, educating, and influencing the future of housing and services for seniors. Powered by sponsors Accushield, Aline, NIC MAP Vision, Procare HR, Sage, Hamilton CapTel, Service Master, The Bridge Group Construction and Solinity. Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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00:36 - 00:50

Lucas McCurdy

Welcome to Bridge the Gap podcast, the senior Living podcast with Josh and Lucas. Another great episode on deck here at LeadingAge National Conference here in Nashville. A good friend and a great guest today, Nate Weyand from Querencia Barton Creek. Welcome to the show.

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00:50 - 00:52

Nate Weyand

Hey, thanks for having me.

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00:52 - 01:03

Lucas McCurdy

The famous Nate, if you're in Texas. I mean, do you have bodyguards here when you're walking the halls here, just everybody wants you to be the CEO or the executive director of their CCRC.

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01:03 - 01:06

Nate Weyand

I’ve been asked to be a bodyguard. Have you seen how tall I am?

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01:06 - 01:09

Josh Crisp

I was about to say Nate needs no bodyguard. I'll just move out of his way.

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01:09 - 01:14

Lucas McCurdy

That's true. That's true. Well, And your son's a tall guy, too, right? 

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01:14 - 01:17

Nate Weyand

He's a football player, 6’2” 250. He can knock me over.

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01:17 - 01:26

Lucas McCurdy

First, tell our audience about Querencia. What, what is it like at Querencia? And how long have you been in the leadership there?

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01:26 - 02:15

Nate Weyand

Querencia has been in existence since 2007. So coming up on 18 years, we're a part of Life space communities based in Dallas. but Querencia is in Austin, Texas, on the west side of Austin in Barton Creek. In kind of the hill country is what we call it. We're a full CCRC type life care, life planned community. We sit on about 38 acres, a beautiful space inside of Barton Creek. And we've got about 310 residents that live on our campus, all the way through from independent living, all the way through memory care and skilled nursing. And we're really fortunate to be there in Barton Creek. We couldn't recreate that community today. It couldn't possibly be redone. It's a one of a kind in central Texas.

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02:15 - 02:42

Lucas McCurdy

Well, and I've had the privilege of being there and visiting there, and we actually cut a documentary together, which we could put, our producer can maybe you can put a link to that so people can get a real sense of what it is, what it looks like there. It's stunning. We were actually talking before we hit record here. Staffing is a big challenge. Finding good caregivers, good nurses, good people, to come into your community and care for those residents, talk about how you've been able to tackle that challenge.

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02:42 - 04:33

Nate Weyand

I've been at Querencia since early 2012. So coming up on 13 years, it was a great place when I got there. But we've tried to bring a spirit of genuine caring, you know, high integrity environment, and relational service, you know, creating relationships with the people that we serve. I have a healthcare background as a skilled nursing administrator.

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Also spent about a decade in the private golf and country club environment. and taking those experiences, bringing them together. We're in the relationship business. We're in the people business. And so we try to really get to know the new residents that come in, understand who they are, where, where they've come from, what they've accomplished in their life, how they can contribute to our campus, because they have a sense of purpose.

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They want to make our community better for having lived there. And so it's just about finding good people, genuine, caring people. On the team member side, you know, it starts with the leadership team. You know, the group that I work with, my managers, directors, and developing them as good leaders, because I've often found in my travels, in my career that it's those those people that, are kind of, you know, we call a middle management, but it's really developing them as good leaders to develop the folks that work for them. And so we've got 250 people that work at Querencia. And, I'd like to think that 250 are our, and are following that lead when it comes to being genuine with their residents. So far it's worked well for us. And we've got a great team in place.

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04:33 - 05:08

Josh Crisp

you know, I'm sure, while you guys probably have some advantages because of just where you are and how nice your place is, we get to hear a lot about it. But what are some challenges that you're facing that you think are challenges that you can move the needle on as an operator? You know, we often hear all the challenges that it feels so out of reach that are really factors beyond our control, just demographically. But what are things that are tangible that you see opportunities to do better with staff recruitment, retention, culture and things like that?

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05:08 - 05:27

Nate Weyand

You know, you mentioned location and it would actually be an advantage. It's actually one of our disadvantages because of where we sit, in the zip code we're in, we tend to pull from a good distance away. I actually did a study a couple of years ago, and our average run one way trip for our team members is about 21 miles.

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05:27 - 05:28

Josh Crisp

Oh my gosh.

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05:28 - 06:46

Nate Weyand

Yeah. Which is a good distance in Austin especially considering traffic. And so I you know, one of the things we're looking at is to potentially develop some type of housing support nearby. and looking at, doing some roommate situations or bringing folks in to live a little bit closer. I think, you know, there's all we've all heard about the great resignation in the post Covid and kind of everybody, dealing with inflation and some of this, external pressures that we have.

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I think people show up because they care about the people they're around, and they care about making a difference. and so making sure that they participate in the success of the community, we've been very successful. And just last week in our all team member meeting, I shared with them the balanced scorecard. I showed them everything about Querencia and all the metrics, all the key statistics. We track to make sure that they feel a part of that success and that they are contributing. and then just developing good leaders. Good. Really, truly. I hate to be redundant, but it's just about making good, positive connections with the people that you work with. Yeah. And making sure they, you know, feel those connections when they come to work.

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06:46 - 07:47

Josh Crisp

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense when I think you're, you touched on something that I am seeing and actually even one of our communities outside of Atlanta, it's a growing phenomenon. I think when you have communities that are as nice as what you guys have in the more affluent areas, perhaps, during these zip codes that are extremely difficult to find affordable living in. Right. And the majority of our workforce needs that type of housing. And, so that is a growing phenomenon that I see for a lot of the senior living communities around the country. and, how do you make it? and I think you touched on some of your ingredients, but how do you make it a destination for the team members, just like it is for the residents that seek out and want to retire in a place like that? but it sounds like connecting the dots between missions and actually showing them the fruits of their labor, which is probably a thing that I would say all of us could do a better job of.

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07:47 - 08:38

Nate Weyand

We're fortunate to have a community that has a good reputation of quality care quality outcomes, especially on the healthcare side and nursing experience with those short term rehab patients that come in. We provide our Medicare provider, we provide rehab. And I've seen, our brand and our reputation help attract to some extent because folks want to be again, be a part of something where they know there's quality, but they can be proud of. Yeah, and contribute in a positive way. And so, you know, just that, just that overall brand reputation. Now, how did we get there? I don't know that I can tell you in a short podcast, it's been a long journey of a lot of effort over a long period of time sustaining that reputation.

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08:39 - 09:34

Josh Crisp

Well, and the intentionality behind it sounds like that's been fundamental to developing and building leaders, because with the community that size and a lot of the operators and senior living, you know, I mean, you're talking 100 some of these providers have thousands of employees. How do you get that from the visionary, the leader at the top, the corporate office, whoever it is, and carry that all the way down to a caregiver, housekeeper, a dining worker. Because ultimately, if you miss anything along the way and it doesn't translate to the caregiver, I guess it really doesn't matter. So we can talk as much as we want to about it. But if nothing happens there, you know, we've missed the mark. So, you guys have also done some exciting projects. I've heard, I get a little teaser occasionally to see what Lucas is doing online and showcasing the work that you all tell us about the recent renovation. I want to hear about that. You're updating already a beautiful campus keeping it current.

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Mid-Roll

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10:15 - 11:50

Nate Weyand

Yeah, we, a couple of years ago, decided it was probably the 15th year. We decided, okay, it's time to refresh our independent living common space. and it's one of our dining venues. And, and so, work with Lucas and the crew to, to come in and put that all together. And, it was a great experience. We completely refreshed all of our io commons and now we're moving over. Right. Actually, today we're over assisted living on the first floor and our health center and, you know, don't call it a facelift. just a refresh. and, working with 828 design, and they're a great partner in Lucas. And, what I appreciate about the bridge group and how they approach things is, you know, their focus on senior living and working in occupied space. It's a unique experience. And so, you know, his project manager, the guy I talked with daily, very attuned to the needs of the residents, making sure that we're not, you know, displacing them longer than necessary and really phasing things as we need to, to make sure that we come out with a good end product. But we don't, we're not miserable in the meantime.

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Yeah. everybody's life can continue on and on. and they continue to live and enjoy the community while it's getting updated. And so we're going to work, I think, through the end of this year and then we'll keep going. We're going to do our second third for our third for a skilled nursing environment. and then we'll have a completely refreshed community in about year 18 or 19, and then maybe we'll start over at some point.

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11:51 - 13:02

Lucas McCurdy

Yeah. Well, I mean, to your point, it's not an easy task. It's a heavy lift. When you have such a large campus and, you know, here at the LeadingAge National Conference, you know, a lot of classes are represented here at this event. And, they're faced with a daunting challenge of, even if it's popular, like currency, it has a waiting list, and has always had a waiting list. They're very blessed and fortunate to just have that great of a community. Not everybody is in that situation. But, you know, even when you are very popular, you still have to think about CapEx projects and how are we going to maintain the standard, for our residents that are, you know, paying to live here. and so it can be kind of a daunting task to think, oh, gosh, how disruptive is this going to be? All of the details really have to put a good team together. What would be your recommendation to the CCRC CEO or executive director? It's listening to this podcast thinking, I know we got miles of corridors to update here. How are we gonna do all that? What would be kind of your recommendation or your tips needs renovation tips for CCRC as

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13:02 - 13:57

Nate Weyand

A couple lessons learned. You know, there's always the resident side. You've got to make sure that you're bringing them into the fold early on in the process. because they have a sense of ownership that can be significant and it can help you. It can work against you if not handled correctly. So the sooner you bring those key stakeholders in to have that conversation, to help them understand this is the scope, this is what this is what we're looking to accomplish so that they don't there's no scope creep, you know, that they you know, let's add this. Let's add that. Let's make sure that there's a good level and go to a level set on expectation early on. And then just making sure you're working with a good design partner, an architect, that spends the adequate amount of time investigating the site and looking at the work and making sure you're starting with a good plan.

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13:57 - 14:00

Lucas McCurdy

And they have to go in front of the residents to be prepared.

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14:00 - 14:34

Nate Weyand

And establish some credibility and continue to work with them as you go through the project. You’re always going to run into things when you open up the walls or you open up the ceiling. But just make sure you've got those good partners that can, I like the phrase be a linebacker. Just read and react to what's in front of you and figure it out as you go through, because inevitably you're going to run into those situations. That's, you know, that's just my view from the ground level, trying to make it happen.

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14:34 - 14:36

Lucas McCurdy

Yeah. No, there's a good point. 

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14:36 - 15:02

Josh Crisp

So I heard a lot about the resident side, but I imagine for the team members when they think “Oh my gosh, a massive renovation, how complex is my job about to become?” To continue to provide the care with maybe obstacles or people or inconveniences. You hear residents and they’re asking questions. So how much of a part is your team in that – working alongside all these other teams.

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15:03 - 15:39

Nate Weyand

You know, it's a great point because sometimes you forget about the team that's showing up for work, and they need to know what's happening that day because it's going to make their life a little bit more difficult or something they can get excited about. So you got to you got to bring them into the fold and the, you know, their enthusiasm of having a new work environment or maybe operationally making some logistical changes and help, help, breakfast, lunch and dinner is deliver, you know, different ways, you know, that enthusiasm can can build from them and spill over into the residents. They can positively affect, you know, the residents' view on what's about to happen.

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15:39 - 15:59

Josh Crisp

Oh, I can see that. You're headed into Miss Jones room and she's like, you know, already got what she wants to gripe about. And if the team member is equipped with information to understand how this is going to improve Miss Jones’ life, that's an easy way to to really combat that. So and and to totally change the mood of the resident for the day.

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16:00 - 16:08

Nate Weyand

speaking about the conference and that goes to what the keynote was talking about yesterday, about having that happiness factor spill out into other folks.

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16:08 - 17:00

Yeah, we heard a lot of positive feedback, actually, about the keynote, at the dinners and different things that we were going to. We actually missed that. We were in here, doing some prep work for today, but what an awesome opportunity. You know, for our listeners, Lucas, this is very valuable information, and I can't tell you how many times I've been guilty of this before to you. You just get so gung ho at moving the needle on a project. You finally got clearance, and you got in the capital lined up, and you're ready to inject it, and you just want to get going. And sometimes it's just really easy to jump straight to the start without what I heard you guys talking about is so much planning and intentionality and communication. And I think we as leaders often just want to push, push. Let's just get it started. Let's just get this done. But sometimes I think that's probably the work against us as leaders.

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17:00 - 17:27

Nate Weyand

We’re all action oriented. We want to get things accomplished. but doing it in a very deliberate way and intentional is the right word. And bringing your stakeholders in, you know those residents because ultimately you want them to feel good about it so that they can tell their friends and you know, all of a sudden you've got a friend referral or a family referral and those are the most valuable, you know, new future residents you can have.

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17:27 - 17:41

Josh Crisp

What are you most excited about for this upcoming year, 2025? you know what's going to be the focus and initiative for you guys? You get so much newness happening around there. What are you most focused on?

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17:41 - 18:34

Nate Weyand

I mentioned earlier, you know, we just kicked off the leadership development program for our supervisors, our charge nurses. and that's what drives me in, in the work that I do. And you spend 13 years in a community. There's not a whole lot of unknowns for me. And so, my life's work is about just pouring into people and helping them be more successful. And that's really what inspires me is to see that, you know, the light bulbs go off for those managers that have been in that role for 2 or 3 years, but maybe haven't encountered all the leadership challenges that they are going to need to equip them to be future leaders. And so just seeing them evolve and climb is really satisfying. So that's a big initiative for us, this coming year. And, it'll be time really well spent.

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18:34:21 - 19:17

Josh Crisp

I got to hear, just because I'm buddies with Lucas, some of the projects that I know how excited he was, his teams to get involved in your community and then see the outcome of that, that we get to see on digital. That's really cool. I appreciate you sharing that with the industry, but I hope that we can have the same conversation and talk about the successes and the strategies for the team build and nurturing the building leaders, because I think that's the biggest piece in the hope that we have to care for this huge, growing, aging population that we have and getting the most out of the leaders we have. We get so many great people in our industry that are here because they want to be here. So shaping them and helping give them the tools and support they need is exciting.

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19:17 - 19:59

Nate Weyand

I'm excited about it too, just the level of technology that's coming to the business. You know, I remember when I first got out of college and I met my wife, we got married, she went to be a CPA, and I went to be a nursing home administrator. And at times I felt like I was stepping into a little bit of a time warp compared to what she was experiencing in her career path. And so, here we are, you know, 25 years later and I'm seeing the technology at this trade show and all the AI and all the things that are coming that are going to make senior living that much, much better place to live and and all the efficiencies and all the things that are coming on the horizon, that's exciting for me too. Yeah. To see some of those things implemented.

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19:59 - 20:27

Josh Crisp

Absolutely, and seeing what works, there's as you mentioned, there's so many solutions, and options here. And it can be a little bit overwhelming, with the regular grind of the day and the operations and the leadership training programs and the renovations, it's like, what do we pick first? What's going to move the needle, what's going to best support the team, what's going to best support the residents. But it is a very, very exciting time for our industry for sure.

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20:27 - 20:53

Lucas McCurdy

I think that's a whole nother podcast is what technology to pick and how do you roll that out to 250 of your closest staff? Yeah. And get them on board to use it. So maybe another podcast for another day. Nate, we're going to let you get back to the conference here and get back to all the different sessions and walking around and visiting these booths here amongst thousands of people here in Nashville, a lot of fun, great environment and, a great guest. Thank you so much for spending time with us.

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20:53 - 20:54

Nate Weyand

Thank you Lucas. Enjoyed it.

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20:54 - 21:13

Lucas McCurdy

And to our listeners that want to learn more, you can scroll down, hit the notes, hit that link, watch the renovation documentary at Querencia Barton Creek, also will connect with Nate and Live Space and Querencia and, join us at btgvoice.com. Download this content and so much more. Thanks for listening to another great episode. Bridge the gap.

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21:13 - 21:24

Lucas McCurdy

Thanks for listening to Bridge the Gap podcast with Josh and Lucas. Connect with the BTG network team and use your voice to influence the industry by connecting with us at btgvoice.com.

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