Posted by Kristin Baird
Try as we might, there are times things go wrong and we disappoint our patients and other customers. There is plenty of data out there about the importance of healthcare service recovery, yet, very few healthcare organizations do it well. I still find the “trinket” approach as the most common method for service recovery. By this, I mean that people are trained to give a dissatisfied customer a gift card of some sort to appease them when things go awry. While this is a nice gesture, it does nothing to build employee skills in service recovery.
When we do healthcare service recovery training, we find that the biggest issue is that employees are scared of being presented with concerns because they don’t know what to say or do in difficult situations. Beyond that, they don’t know what actions they can take to make things right.
What is Real Service Recovery?
Real service recovery training requires that leaders are ready to clearly articulate what actions are within the employee’s prevue. What actions can they take to right a wrong? In addition to that, employees need to feel prepared. They find real value in practicing what to say in various situations.
Lastly, one of the biggest gaps I see in healthcare service recovery is that organizations miss collective learning opportunities. If each service recovery action is an isolated event, the organization will not learn and grow from the incident. Most organizations don’t have a system in place to collect service recovery data and use it as a means to improve.
Find out how Baird Group can help you create a solid service recovery process including front line and leadership training.
- Service Recovery Is More Than a Coupon
- Watch for Olympic Moments
- An Apology is Like Superglue – It Can Fix Just About Anything
- Leaders – Are You Squelching Service Recovery?
- Why Service Recovery Training isn’t Enough
