Mike Manes presents a series of “episodes” that he observed in a single week while visiting his mother-in-law during a recent hospital visit. Each episode concludes with a common sense observation that defines reality and how it relates to Customer Service.
Reality TV isn't real. In your daily reality, have you ever had the chance to choose a mate from dozens of “beautiful” people and win a million dollars in the process? Have you ever lived on a remote island for weeks for any reason? Did you ever feel the need to eat worms, skydive, or sit in a box filled with roaches? In today's world, this might be good TV — but it's not reality.
Neither is Management 101: One of the first courses you take in business school. The concepts presented and the processes proposed make so much sense and appear so easy that you say, “I can do this.” Then you graduate and try to apply these concepts in your office, store, plant, or warehouse. More often than not, the results don't parallel what you learned. Business courses offer great theory but are often far removed from reality.
Remember MBWA (Management by Wandering Around)? Maybe it's time for business owners to learn RBWA — Reality by Wandering Around. Maybe it's time to forget the perfect world of academia, and fulfill what Max DePree calls the first role of a leader: To define “reality.” Maybe you need to observe what's happening (reality), apply a dose of common sense, recognize that the world and your organization don't work from a script, and get the best results you can from the resources you have. Now that's management for reality.
In business today, many people have great brainpower and education (formal learning). The rest of us “dummies” have to get by with common sense and experience. “Brain Tissue” is about academics, sitting on your behind while someone else tells you what they know and think, and what to do or not do, based on their history or experience. It's all about them: The teacher.
Scar Tissue is about experience (good or bad), issues of the heart and soul, falling on your rear while trying to do something (getting back up after you fall), and risking life, rather than wondering what life is like. It's all about you: The student.
Scar Tissue is the best teacher.
What follows are a series of “episodes” that I observed in a single week while visiting my mother-in-law during her recent hospitalization. Each episode concludes with a common sense observation that defines reality.
Episode #1 — Common Sense Is Uncommon. Common Sense is a textbook oxymoron. Even though the sign says WET PAINT, we have to touch it — and then we get upset when our finger gets sticky. When my mother-in-law was in the hospital, the sign on her door read “No BP/Venipuncture to left arm.” A nurse walked into the room and began to inject something into her left arm. When asked about the procedure and its apparent conflict with the sign, the nurse said, “I didn't read it!”
Develop and use your Common Sense (read the signs), especially in situations where the people you work with or who “work on you” don't.
Episode # 2 — Unmet Needs Motivate. Pyschologist Abraham Maslow was a bright guy. His pyramid of human needs began with Survival, followed by Security, Social Acceptance, Self-Esteem, and Self-Actualization.
Shortly after my mother-in-law arrived at the hospital from a long ambulance ride, the pain medication she had been given wore off. She started to hurt. When she asked for pain medicine, the hospital staff (who had been alerted about her pending arrival hours earlier) announced that the doctor hadn't ordered it yet.
The system might have anticipated that an 80-something-year-old traveling in an ambulance for more than 12 hours might need pain medication when she arrived (while you're reading this, picture your mother screaming in pain).
When I encouraged the staff to call the doctor, they did. But that call only created the authority to give a pill; it didn't produce the pill. Unfortunately, the computer can't deliver the pill to the patient — only humans do that. Humans take breaks and change shifts, computers don't. Since my mother-in-law was so inconsiderate as to need medicine during a shift change, she would have to learn to wait.
Finally, after considerable “encouragement” by me, this system delivered to her a pain pill! Returning to Maslow's theory, I believe that pain is on the Survival level of the pyramid. My mother needed relief immediately.
The next conflict between delivery of care and patient satisfaction began with her arrival at 4:30 a.m. and concluded at 3:00 p.m , when we discovered that the staff had forgotten to feed the patient. Suffice it to say, when you're hurting and hungry and about to be injected in your left arm (versus the “right” one), it's hard to be too concerned about HIPAA, policies and procedures, quality studies, etc. Survival and security become primary needs. Once these needs are met, we become more interested in social interaction, self-esteem, and self-actualization issues.
Treat the “patient” (people) issues first. The paperwork can follow.
Episode # 3 — Touched by an Angel, or the Weakest Link. Not all service during the hospital stay was bad. Most was actually good. Most professionals were. Some were even angels; a physician assistant (Patch Adams type) made rehab a treat. She has mastered the art of “putting the customer first” and touching hearts. One-on-one, she was as good as any customer service professional I've ever seen.
Unfortunately, in a competitive marketplace where excellence is the baseline, customers soon forget the exceptional performers or take them for granted and remember only the bad players or experiences — the weakest link.
A single bad event, player, or result can turn a heavenly experience into hell.
Episode # 4 — The Mike Is Always Live. President Reagan's off-the-record, but on the air, comments about bombing the “commies” was cute in context, but incredibly stupid since it was being broadcast.
Once, when we buzzed the front desk for help, it took them 15 minutes to respond. A safe assumption would've been that in a hospital the staff was handling other emergencies. As a practical matter, the intercom is a two-way means of communications (it was live) and we could hear the real reason for the delay: The staff was busy not at work, but at play.
In a digital world, eyes and ears are everywhere. Be careful what you do and say.
Episode # 5— Customer Service Is for Customers. Hospitals and businesses spend billions of dollars teaching and studying customer service, communication skills, TQM, and outcomes. Unfortunately, much of this investment is wasted because it focuses on processes, rather than people. Great conversationalists don't talk: They listen and observe. As a customer, I don't want to know how smart you are, I want you to recognize and celebrate how smart I am. It's not about your ego; it's about mine.
In all too many cases, I observed intelligent, highly trained medical professionals missing the communications boat by talking down to patients in language they didn't understand and at a pace they couldn't retain.
The most effective communications occurred with the housekeeping staff and the bedpan operator — perhaps because these professionals had more time, less ego, and by the nature of their jobs made a more intimate connection with the patient. They were doing something for the patient, not to her.
Perhaps the bedpan operators, rather than the other professionals, should teach/facilitate communications and customer service classes.
Episode #6 — Dream, Dream, Dream. Dreams can be Visions or Nightmares. What I'll remember about the hospital experience will be the nightmare part. The power of Dreams as Visions was reinforced when I left the hospital to go to the opening of the new office of Louisiana Health Care Group. Tremendous growth and success created the need for a new facility. The organization has grown from a one-nurse home care agency into a multiple-state business with more than 2,500 employees. The foundation for success, as explained by their president, Keith Myers, was this Vision: “It's all about the people!”
Cutting the ribbon was a Cajun “girl,” a former schoolteacher, and a mom/grandma from 15 miles down the road: Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. She's an honest, good, and hard-working person — but doesn't fit the stereotype of the charismatic leader like JFK or Ronald Reagan. If I may be so presumptuous as to suggest the secret to her success: A Dream (Vision), discipline, and hard work.
As Einstein said, “imagination is more powerful, than knowledge.” First, Dream!
Episode # 7— From Workbench to Canvas. Most people enjoy their jobs most of the time. They like building, cooking, teaching, making, recording, etc. The only problem is the “interruptions” and unreasonable demands by those “darn customers.” In the hospital, I repeatedly observed well educated, highly skilled professionals performing procedures on body parts, rather than people.
Patients, or customers, are not workbenches where you go to “practice” a skill — they're living, breathing human beings with needs and expectations. The conditions (cancer, fractures, congestive heart failure, etc.) and the body parts (hips, kidneys, brains, etc.) are not the patient. Recognize, treat, and cure the whole patient/customer.
Hopefully, in the future, the patient/customer will no longer be the bench where professionals go to work, but rather the canvas where skilled artists go to lovingly apply the strokes from their “specialty” brush to complete a finished picture of health and wellness/customer satisfaction. Coordinate and monitor these artistic endeavors to assure that the finished portrait meets the needs and expectations of the patient/customer.
The Louisiana Health Care Group slogan bears repeating: “It's all about the people!”
Episode # 7 — Never Argue with a Customer about Their Feelings. As a customer, I know when I'm upset. You don't. How can you ever win a debate with me about my feelings? If I'm upset, let me vent. My perceptions might be wrong, but I'm right about my feelings. Once I've vented, you might be able to show me a different way to see the facts (change my perception) and “win” back the relationship.
See my world through my eyes, not yours. Help me survive — and you'll prosper!
In other words, it's time to get real!