“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
By Marianne Lyons Delorey, Ph.D.
Unless you are living under a rock, you are aware of the demographic issues of an aging society. The birth rate is at an all-time low and the burden of supporting more older people falls on fewer and fewer working adults.
I, however, am not a pessimist about this issue. Technological changes such as cameras and fall detectors will enable us to keep an eye on our frailer elders without the need for more labor-intensive care. Artificial Intelligence can help us keep elders motivated and intellectually active longer at a low cost. And, we can keep elders in the work place longer with additional supports that help them with more physical tasks or the need to stay abreast of changing regulations and infrastructure like computers and technology.
Anyone who has recently bought technology knows that most computers and cell phones are only really meant to last a few years. This is intentional – the manufacturers want you to buy new equipment every few years so they intentionally slow down the processing of older systems. Even if they didn’t do that, however, the technology changes so frequently that using older systems can be a security risk and/or mean that you do not get to use some newer applications. All in all, the plan is for you to upgrade every few years.
I have seen this happen to people, too, especially people who retire from the work force and then want to volunteer or get a part time job to keep them busy. Regulations change. The way things are done changes. Some people find themselves with the desire to help or do more, but a skill set that has left them behind.
There is an older man in one of our buildings who is itching to be helpful. He was an electrical engineer during his working years. As we have been upgrading our systems, he is interested in what we are doing. He would love to be considered a resource, but the fact is, we can’t use him. For starters, if he gives us bad advice, he is not covered by liability insurance, so we have to hire engineers anyway. Those engineers are not keen on having him poke around their work. In the end, we have to decline his offers of help. What a shame for us, for him, and for our society.
However, while knowledge, especially technical knowledge, does change over time, wisdom, that is to say the understanding of how to use knowledge, grows in older adults.
A Harvard Business School Professor, Amy Edmondson, recently wrote about this issue in her book, “Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.” She writes that intelligent failures help us move forward by testing hypotheses. She writes that some failures help us by leading toward eventual success, especially if they test one new variable at a time or are based on a hypothesis.
This idea leads us back to our older engineer. We have learned that the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP – a division of AmeriCorp) is effective at helping retirees get back into the workforce or community service. At a time when we are in a staffing crunch because of the loss of migrant workers, this program should be supported and grown.
If we are to fail, let’s fail forward to support our growing workforce challenges, especially as they pertain to caring for the aged.
Marianne Lyons Delorey, Ph.D. is the executive director of Colony Retirement Homes. She can be reached at 508-755-0444 or [email protected] and www.colonyretirementhomes.com
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