I recently spoke with a CEO, who was venting his frustration over their poor patient satisfaction scores. He gave me a whole list of best practices they had tried, but didn’t stick. Hearing this once or twice a week in my work, I automatically delved into their culture for a root cause. More often than not, when conducting a culture assessment, we find underlying beliefs, attitudes, and practices within the culture that are keeping them from gaining traction. Hence nothing they have tried “sticking”.
Think of best practice tactics as seeds. Imagine taking a handful of seeds from a packet and throwing them onto hard, parched, nutritionally depleted soil. They are not very likely to grow. But take the same seeds and toss them onto well-cultivated, healthy soil and they are likely to take root and grow strong.
The word “culture” comes from the Latin ‘cultus,’ which means care. The French ‘colere’ means to till, as in, to till the ground. Just like tilling the ground sets the stage for a successful planting and ultimately a prolific harvest, so does preparing your culture when planting best practices.
You can’t expect growth if your tactics are being planted on barren land. How healthy is your soil? With the right information from a culture assessment, you can make the necessary improvements to your culture, thus preparing it for “planting” best practices.
Tags: culture, Culture Assessment, Culture Improvement, Organizational Culture, Patient Experience
