Mick Vujanović believes that a lesson in company priorities should include a bit of fun. To that end, the CEO of ClearView Healthcare Management recently planned an important visit at one of the company’s skilled nursing facilities.
“I’m going to be grilling steaks for all the staff and residents,” he says.
The facility, one of 35 operated by the Louisville, KY-based company, had lowered its agency staff use from more than 1,000 hours weekly to zero, and Vujanović was making good on a promise to celebrate it. That approach exemplifies his hands-on leadership philosophy, which stresses transparency, developing talent from within and finding joy in the everyday — all with a goal of better resident care and maintaining a staff-centered focus.
“There is no job above or beneath anybody at ClearView, whether it’s answering a call light or emptying urinals,” says Vujanović, 51. “We spend a lot of time working with our leadership team on transparency. We are all equal when it comes to service, and we need to display that behavior every single day.”
Vujanović credits his hard-working parents’ experiences as Croatian immigrants for instilling the lessons that have defined his career. Milan and Olga, now both 84, taught him that “you save money, you don’t waste, you work hard, and you can succeed here,” he says.
Those principles have served him well from his first nursing home job in 1994 as a social services director to helming ClearView, with facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee.
His “develop our own’’ philosophy emphasizes the autonomy of directors and managers, who are encouraged to take chances. And Vujanović says he’ll take input directly from any staff.
“CNAs, dishwashers and activities aides email me or stop me in the hallways. I will always find the time to listen,” he says. “The less we mess around with silos and egos and agenda work, the more likely it is that the residents are going to get the care they need.”
According to Vujanović, about 70% of the staff with ClearView in their email address have been promoted from within. And they all wear ClearView red with pride.
“I love when I walk into a ClearView center and see what we call the ‘sea of red,’” he says. “Residents and their family members don’t need to find the right department to receive help. They can see someone’s always there.”
Positivity and joyfulness are natural outgrowths of working with older adults, Vujanović adds. He’s energized by them and by athletic competition, as he was during pick-up games in his boyhood Chicago neighborhood. These days he favors tennis and pickleball, but he admits he’ll still make an inadvisable dive for a ball.
Vujanović and his wife, Claire, an attorney, try to bring home these values and a love of lifelong learning to their two daughters, Sasha, 17, and Mila, 19. Travel is a special priority. The young women have visited many countries during their childhood, including exploring their grandparents’ roots and meeting family in Croatia.
“I believe that the more global their experiences, the more well-rounded they’re going to be as thinking adults,” Vujanović said.
From the April/May 2024 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
