Have you ever had someone surprise you and tell you that you made a huge difference in their life and yet you had no idea of your influence? This has happened to me a number of times, and the older I get the more I realize that, when you are following your passion, great things happen–not only for you, but for those around you as well. I think this happens more often than we realize, and, unfortunately, many people live their entire lives never knowing how they helped to shape others’ lives. One seemingly small encounter sends into motion a ripple that touches others who then go on to send out more ripples, and, pretty soon, one encounter has become a wave. Read more...
One thing I love about my work (and there are many things to love) is the opportunity to meet and mingle with others who are as passionate about improving the patient experience as I am. When I look at my travel schedule this week, it might appear draining, but, in reality, it has been a rejuvenating experience. That’s because I’ve been able to meet and mingle with people who are in the trenches, doing great things for patients and their communities. That always helps me re-connect to purpose at the same time. Read more...
I had an interesting revelation recently that I wanted to share. In my consulting work, I am frequently asked to help clients understand the patient experience behind the HCAHPS scores. One area that many organizations struggle with is cleanliness. When the cleanliness score goes down, all eyes are on housekeeping, right? Conventional wisdom suggests that, if the scores are bad, it must mean an environmental service is doing a poor job. Well, before you start harping on the housekeeping crew, you might want to take a closer look around and make sure you understand how the patient defines cleanliness. Next, you’ll want to examine some habits that are giving you a bad rap. Read more...
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the movie The Mighty Macs. It’s a story of a fledgling women’s college basketball team that rose to the national championship in the early 70’s at a time when the words “women” and “athletics” were rarely spoken in the same sentence. Read more...
Remember the scene from the movie A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson’s character shouted from the witness stand, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”? I often feel like shouting that myself. There are so many times I face off with leaders who want us to come in, wave the magic wand, and fix their patient satisfaction scores rather than facing the truth about the underlying culture that is at the root of poor patient satisfaction. 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...
It’s a well documented fact that your customer experience is only as good as the people on the front lines, and yet many organizations continue to miss the obvious. I was recently doing some training with front-line staff in a hospital that we have mystery shopped several times. The leaders were hoping I could fix some of the customer service problems they were facing. After a skills assessment, I realized that this organization had very little prior skills training, so I decided to rely on some tried and true coaching and skills development for both the managers and the front-line staff. Read more...
In one of my recent cross-country jaunts, I did something that I rarely do—I checked a suitcase. Why is that rare for me? In my experience, checking bags equates to long waits at best and lost or damaged luggage at worst. When you add fees that are now assessed, it’s a bit comical. Read more...
I hadn’t been on a prop plane in years until yesterday. And yes, the experience was all I had built it up to be in my memory—cramped, noisy, and fraught with more jolts and turns than a Six-Flags rollercoaster. In fact, about twenty minutes of the ride had me on pins and needles, reaffirming my hatred of rollercoasters. Read more...
None of us wants to believe that we are the roadblocks to innovation and change, yet there are so many times when I hear leaders shoot down opportunities for growth and innovation with one simple sentence. Take your pick of these most common squelchers, including: Read more...
- It won’t work!
- We tried that once back in…
- They won’t approve. (The we/they thing is always a clue to filter.)
- That will never fly here!
- You don’t understand. We’re different. (Healthcare suffers from terminal uniqueness, including one doctor’s patients being sicker than all others, one hospital having unique issues with running 24/7, and—my personal favorite—only angry patients fill out satisfaction surveys.)
