Appreciating Gottfried Ernst

Changemakers 2024

By Natalie Mahn on Aug 20, 2024 in Senior Living

This year’s Changemakers series is nearly coming to an end — we’ve celebrated several phenomenal honorees so far! We’re pleased to be the series’ sponsor for the sixth consecutive year, partnering with Senior Housing News (SHN) to bring you exclusive, detailed interviews that cover each leader’s story.

Each honoree has brought a unique perspective to the table, sharing how they’ve grown throughout their career, navigated industry obstacles and most importantly, driven positive change.

The Changemaker celebrated today is Gottfried Ernst, COO at Cogir Senior Living, one of our dedicated senior living clients. Through his interview with SHN, Ernst speaks to the value of technology, the unique ways Cogir navigates change and more.

Learn from Changemaker Gottfried Ernst

SHN: How have you changed as a leader since starting in the senior living industry?

Ernst: When I started in this industry, I was more focused on learning and adapting to the tasks at hand. My focus was more on understanding the industry better and developing my skills to best fit. Over time, I’ve developed a deeper understanding of team dynamics, effective communication and the importance of empathy in leadership.

As my leadership style matured and I became more confident, empathy and vulnerability has helped me over the years to really connect with people. I’ve learned to delegate tasks more efficiently as well. I trust my team’s expertise and provide support where needed. That has worked for me. Additionally, I’ve become more adept at navigating challenges and conflicts and finding constructive solutions that benefit both the team and the organization as a whole.

I’ve evolved into a more confident and compassionate leader who strives to inspire and empower those around me. That’s what I believe and that’s what I stand for. I continuously try to improve how I can be the best leader for my team and for others.

SHN: Can you provide an example of a change you’ve made in operations and why you made that change specifically?

Ernst: In a former company, I changed the way we gather feedback from residents using technology. I’m a firm believer that successful businesses don’t just give a survey once a year to the customers and allow them to weigh in. I believe in continuous serving of our residents, team members and customers to be able to really get a holistic and full picture of what we can do better. That was an area that I dove into and made a change to and it worked really well.

Another example is I worked on a program that allowed our Illinois customers to choose what package they would like to be part of when they move into the community, what service package they want with housekeeping and more. It was a dynamic senior housing concept where the customer is in the driver’s seat in what we offer, not us. It was not easy to execute economically, but certainly something that I’m very proud of.

Then in the post-Covid era, it’s important to give team members more flexibility and truly allow them to be in control, similar to the residents. I implemented different ways of providing shifts, applying for schedules, and allowing our people to actually tell us when they can work versus the other way around. That made an impact on the retention side and certainly helped us with staffing on the clinical side as well.

SHN: In your opinion, what is the single greatest driver of change in the senior living industry today?

Ernst: Change in resident demand, desire, and what they’re looking for as we continue to gain occupancy, margin compression, and staff retention. Those are the three main drivers that drive change in our industry today and will continue to do so.

Read Changemaker Gottfried Ernst’s entire interview

Check out the full Changemaker interview with Gottfried Ernst.

If you’ve followed the series since the start, we hope you learned something valuable from each honoree. New to the series? Read all the 2024 interviews.