Shaping Culture in Care: A Communication Training for Today’s Nursing Home Leaders
- talktacticscomm
- Apr 30, 2025
- 3 min read
By Kaylee Lindgren, ABD | Talk Tactics
In today’s healthcare landscape—especially within long-term care facilities—organizational culture is being reshaped by more than just policy changes or leadership turnover. It’s being transformed by how teams communicate, especially with the rise of digital platforms like Microsoft Teams.
Drawing from both my academic research and consulting experience, I developed a communication training for St. George Healthcare Center focused on navigating management transitions and rebuilding culture through intentional communication. This isn’t a cookie-cutter program—it’s grounded in Organizational Culture Theory (Schein, 2010) and supported by the data I gathered from healthcare professionals on the ground.
The Research That Inspired It
As part of my doctoral studies in Strategic Communication, I conducted a quantitative research study exploring how Microsoft Teams affects communication patterns and organizational culture in the healthcare industry.
Using Schein’s model—which defines culture through artifacts, values, and underlying assumptions—I surveyed 25 healthcare professionals to assess how digital tools were impacting collaboration, cohesion, and trust.
Key findings from the study included:
Digital communication tools like Microsoft Teams do enhance engagement and efficiency, making information-sharing easier across departments and roles.
However, trust and team cohesion suffered in many organizations, especially when digital tools replaced face-to-face interaction altogether.
There was a weak positive correlation between engagement and perceived organizational performance, but a notable challenge in sustaining deeper relationships and unified values remotely.
Leadership played a pivotal role in whether these tools reinforced or fractured organizational culture.
These results confirmed what many healthcare workers already feel: You can’t build culture solely through screens.
Why Nursing Homes Need Communication Training Now
Nursing homes are uniquely relational spaces. Residents, staff, and families all interact daily in ways that shape the emotional tone and trust level of the entire facility.
But when:
Leadership teams change,
New policies are rolled out with little discussion,
Or digital communication replaces human touch—
culture starts to unravel.
That’s why this training is designed to rebuild alignment, reinforce shared values, and equip teams with real tools to lead through change—not just survive it.
What the Training Covers
The full training walks leaders and frontline staff through:
What culture really is (and how it already exists in your facility)
How everyday communication choices either reinforce or confuse your culture
The hidden risks of digital-first tools when not paired with relational strategy
Practical strategies like staff voice sessions, reset rituals, and culture cue visuals
A culture audit framework to help leaders identify gaps and set intentional goals
All of this is taught through the lens of Organizational Culture Theory and built to work in real-world care settings—from nursing huddles to director meetings.
The Bottom Line
If nursing homes want to improve morale, retention, and patient care, they can’t ignore internal culture. And culture isn’t built on a poster—it’s built through daily, deliberate communication.
This training helps you:
Understand how culture is shaped and reshaped during times of change
Recognize the silent signals you're sending through your communication systems
Equip staff to be not just care providers—but culture carriers
Want to Bring This to Your Facility?
Whether you're a director, HR leader, or administrator, this training can be tailored to your facility’s size, leadership style, and current communication challenges.
If you're facing culture drift, staff disengagement, or growing pains from a recent management shift—let’s Talk Tactics.
📩 Contact us to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.
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