Your telephone may have more bells and whistles these days, but are you making the most of this rapidly morphing communications tool?
Cambridge Realty Capital Companies Senior Vice President Brent Holman-Gomez believes it may be possible to improve upon what the technology was created to accomplish in the first place. Specifically, with effort, it’s possible to make telephone conference calls more productive, he suggests.
Chicago-based Cambridge is one of the nation’s leading senior housing/healthcare lenders and acquires senior healthcare properties through its Cambridge Investment and Finance Co. subsidiary. When managing healthcare assets, the company approaches ownership risks in a thoughtful, prudent and creative manner, Mr. Holman-Gomez said.
“The telephone conference call is the single most critical communications link binding ownership and operators in a common cause,” he noted.
Mr. Holman-Gomez says conference calls need to be scheduled in a timely manner and must cover relevant topics in a systematic way. The right questions need to be asked and issues with the potential to impact success of the business must be addressed.
“It’s important for ownership to be out front on issues. Ideally, ownership should be perceived as a resource for the operator/manager,” he believes.
Ranked in order of importance, the agenda for a typical Cambridge conference call covers clinical/healthcare updates, occupancy/marketing, financial considerations, staffing changes, market dynamics, capital repairs/changes, and meeting planning. But some conference calls have a specific agenda for a topic that needs extra attention.
“Obviously, at the beginning of the relationship, standard conference calls covering all of the topics outlined should be scheduled on a weekly basis, with calls on specific issues occurring as needed. As the relationship matures, or when there are fewer major changes occurring, conference calls on a monthly basis might suffice,” he said.
