Unlike most businesses, those in the adult social care sector don’t have to worry about demand for what they do. In the immediate and foreseeable terms there’s no shortage of potential clients.

Confidence in being able to deliver is a bigger concern. The most recent State of Care Report noted that many care homes are running with conservative occupancy levels, and many home care providers are cautious about taking on more care packages.

Naturally, the circumstances of every care provider are different, but uncertainty over having the staff and skills needed to deliver on commitments is a general concern across the sector.

Clarity Breeds Confidence

We’re not going to pretend there’s an easy answer to all of this. But there are positive steps you can take that will bring clarity about the skills you have available within the team and potential gaps across your organisation.

This clarity can remove a big area of uncertainty that can engender a more cautious approach than you really need.

A digital learning management system is all about clarity. Managers and executives can see near real time data about skills and competences through a simple dashboard. Flexible reporting modules can extract data in more or less any way you need to be certain about the skills you have to work with.

Compare two scenarios for a provider that would like to increase occupancy levels to improve profitability. One has to trawl through paper records or spreadsheets to see whether they might have the staff capacity to safely take on more clients. The other has certainty within a couple of clicks. Who’s going to be most cautious and potentially miss the most opportunities?

Resilience In The Face Of Constant Change

Being clearer about the skills and strengths across your organisation also makes you better equipped to deal with change and uncertainty – and there’s plenty of that in the social care sector.

We explore this issue in greater depth in this white paper Build on Your Strengths to Navigate Uncertainty. Among other issues it looks at how clarity about organisational strengths and capacity helps you respond faster and more effectively to new circumstances. And that’s the route to greater organisational confidence and resilience.