There are a few statements that make me crazy. “it’s not my job,” is one of them. A close second is in my crazy-making lineup is, “I don’t have time.”
I am sitting in an airport right now watching a plane leave down the runway. A plane that I could be on. A plane that could put me home and in my own bed at 10 PM rather than 1:00 AM. But I am not on that plane in spite of the fact that there were 10 empty seats on it and I wanted to go standby and take one of those empty seats. Why am I not on that plane? Because Jody didn’t have time to help me. Jody was busy and she told me so.
I can understand that in the service business, when we are pulled in many directions, the main focus is often on the customer that is standing right in front of you. I respect that. But I cannot excuse someone who doesn’t even try to assist a customer. How often does that happen in your organization? Do you have team members who tell customers that they are too busy or that something is not their job? I hope not.
A fellow consultant and friend, Mary Malone shared a great approach to training staff on how to screen their words. She talks about words that wound, words that work and words that WOW. At the top of the list of her wounding words is, “It’s not my job.” And “I don’t have time.” If I had the chance to coach Jody the busy gate agent, I would help her to understand the distinction between the words that wound, work and wow. I would point out that, busy or not, she could finish her most immediate responsibilities and offer to assist me once she has boarded her other passengers. That would work or even wow me.
Ask your team members to identify common challenges and requests from patients and families. Can they distinguish words that wound, words that work , and words that wow? Practice makes perfect. Give them a chance to try out various scenarios. And once you have that down, give Jody a call. She could use some coaching.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Going Viral from a Waiting Room Near You
• OMG he’s beautiful. 8 lbs. 3 oz. The doctor is looking him over right now. More later.
• Mom is doing great. Just out of surgery and in recovery. No word from the doctor yet. I’ll keep you posted unless nurse Ratched confiscates my laptop. She has vetoed cell phones in the waiting room. Not sure why.
• Here she is! One hour old and already stealing our hearts. Labor went fast and our nurses were fabulous.
• We’re still in the waiting room. Apparently we didn’t make the list of high priorities. Should I file a change of address form? LOL
These short comments are just a sample of the correspondence that could be shooting through cyberspace from your waiting rooms, patient rooms and just about any other nook or cranny of your hospital. Today’s consumers are wired and communicating non-stop using laptops and cell phones to share opinions and keep loved ones up-to-date on their breaking news. I know because I’m one of them.
Between my Blackberry and my laptop with its trusty air card, I’m able to log in and stay in touch with family and friends at all hours of the day and night and from any location in the world. And for me it’s great because as the nurse in a large but close knit family, I am usually the one to keep my nine siblings up to speed on medical events involving my parents. There have been times when I have felt like a medical correspondent broadcasting live from various hospital waiting rooms as I deliver the updates to anxiously awaiting family members. Frankly I love it. When my grandson was born in January, I was able to share the big news within minutes.
In addition to old-fashioned email, the uncensored, real-time communication venues like Twitter and Facebook allow patients and family members to post their thoughts, opinions and even photos of their life’s most important events to viewers from around the world. And rest assured; many of those events are happening within your four walls. While we talk about transparency, our consumers are throwing back the curtain and unveiling their health care encounters with millions. We can’t hide and we can’t spin. What we can do, is make sure that we are consistently performing at our best. Keep raising the bar.
• Mom is doing great. Just out of surgery and in recovery. No word from the doctor yet. I’ll keep you posted unless nurse Ratched confiscates my laptop. She has vetoed cell phones in the waiting room. Not sure why.
• Here she is! One hour old and already stealing our hearts. Labor went fast and our nurses were fabulous.
• We’re still in the waiting room. Apparently we didn’t make the list of high priorities. Should I file a change of address form? LOL
These short comments are just a sample of the correspondence that could be shooting through cyberspace from your waiting rooms, patient rooms and just about any other nook or cranny of your hospital. Today’s consumers are wired and communicating non-stop using laptops and cell phones to share opinions and keep loved ones up-to-date on their breaking news. I know because I’m one of them.
Between my Blackberry and my laptop with its trusty air card, I’m able to log in and stay in touch with family and friends at all hours of the day and night and from any location in the world. And for me it’s great because as the nurse in a large but close knit family, I am usually the one to keep my nine siblings up to speed on medical events involving my parents. There have been times when I have felt like a medical correspondent broadcasting live from various hospital waiting rooms as I deliver the updates to anxiously awaiting family members. Frankly I love it. When my grandson was born in January, I was able to share the big news within minutes.
In addition to old-fashioned email, the uncensored, real-time communication venues like Twitter and Facebook allow patients and family members to post their thoughts, opinions and even photos of their life’s most important events to viewers from around the world. And rest assured; many of those events are happening within your four walls. While we talk about transparency, our consumers are throwing back the curtain and unveiling their health care encounters with millions. We can’t hide and we can’t spin. What we can do, is make sure that we are consistently performing at our best. Keep raising the bar.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
