I really love this time of year. The lull that we have around the holidays gives me the chance to reflect on the previous year and set my sights on the great opportunities that lie in the year ahead. Plus, there’s something so refreshing about having a whole year spread out before me with nothing but possibilities! January is a time for setting goals for myself and for my business. It gives me direction and helps me stay aligned with my mission and vision (I have a personal mission and vision as well as for my business.). Read more...
What goes up must come down, right? This indisputable law has been regarded as a hard, fast fact for hundreds of years, but it doesn’t have to apply to your patient satisfaction scores. Just because your scores go up, doesn’t mean they have to fall again. And on the flip side, just because they go up, doesn’t mean they’ll stay up.
I was recently chatting with a client about what it takes to sustain positive change and I was shocked to realize how many leaders assume that positive changes aren’t sustainable. Read more...
I love doing employee engagement workshops with leaders because it helps them to take an honest look at the organizational culture and the vital role that they play in fostering engagement as well as the bottom line impact. But one of the most telling parts of the workshop is when I ask the leaders to provide estimates of the engagement in their own organization. After defining fully engaged, engaged, somewhat engaged and disengaged characteristics, I ask them to determine what percent of the organization falls into each of the four categories. In most cases, their estimates will show some percentage of disengaged associates. I have had organizations as low as 5% and others as high as 35%. Inevitably, the conversation starts to drift toward how the disengaged people poison the environment, that they don’t pull their weight, that they create disruption. My next question is always the zinger. “e;Who do they (these disengaged employees) work for?”e; This question is typically met by an embarrassed silence before some brave soul speaks up and says, “e;Us. They work for us.”e; Read more...
I was recently talking with a CEO of a large medical practice who was lamenting about the lack of buy-in for customer service among his senior leaders. We were discussing the need to communicate the latest patient satisfaction data in order to create a greater sense of urgency among the managers. Finally he said, “e;I run a democratic outfit until I cast the final vote. If I say they will focus on customer service, they will focus on customer service.”e; End of discussion. Read more...
