Creating a More Hospitable Hospital

My hospitality career has taken a very interesting turn. At the end of last year, I became the Director of Service Excellence at Community Medical Center in Missoula, MT. This position was new to the hospital, and consists primarily of improving employee engagement and the patient’s experience. Of course, achieving the first is directly related to the success of the second. I love this job.

I am particularly thrilled to be using my skills to improve things for those in need of quality healthcare. Surprisingly, until recently the patient’s perception of their experience was not high on the radar of hospital administrators, physicians or staff. As would be expected, keeping the patient safe and providing the most favorable clinical outcome is the top priority.

However, this has become everyone’s baseline expectation. Indeed, this is the only reason one seeks healthcare. Therefore, what differentiates one facility from another, one doctor from anther, one nurse from the others…is how they connect with the patient – or in some cases, if they connect with the patient.

Personalized care is becoming more mainstream, and more of an expectation of the patients. Yes, healthcare needs to be delivered with a sense of “service.”

I will report in the future on initiatives to improve our patients’ experience, as well as provide observations about the healthcare industry in general. As you would suspect, I have a completely different perspective, and I am anxious to marry my views with healthcare professionals to consistently exceed patients expectations.

Do You Inspire Brilliance?

Daily? Weekly? Consistently? Ever? Let’s hope so. As managers, this is really our main job. To inspire those around us to do their best, and be their brightest as they do their job ever day. Of course, being able to do this consistently, takes a bit of brilliance on our own part. My website ShortGroup.net has a quick quiz to “test your brilliance”. Although it is geared to the hotel manager, you can easily adjust it to fit your own circumstances.

Some of your employees will shine on their own. They will require little to no motivation from you to do so. Others give new meaning to “lackluster.” The key is to consistently motivate all of them to a brilliance that never fades.

This may sound daunting, but it is as simple as keeping your own efforts in check.

1. Be present, available and connected to your managers and staff.
2. Set the example for communicating clearly, directly and appropriately.
3. Give praise as due, and mention areas of improvement as they arise – don’t let things slip through the cracks, or fester.
4. Hear what others have to say, listen closely, hear between the lines; and most importantly, make any necessary changes -which will truly honor the voices of those who surround you.
5. Be crystal clear about what “brilliance” looks like for your company. What are your core values? What do you commit to delivering to both internal and external customers – daily?
6. Do all of the above, and all that you do – passionately. Others will reflect off of you.

“Inspect What You Expect” and other Stan’isms

My mentor is legendary in the hotel business. He was a VP with Four Seasons Hotels for many years, and I worked under him at two different Four Seasons. He is semi-retired (I think…his type really doesn’t know the meaning of retirement!) He was (is) a fanatical, relentless, perfection driven hotelier who has “gotten it right” more times than not. He has never taken the easy route, nor allowed those around him to do so. He has always known that success is measured by the hotness of the last cup of coffee served, and the timeliness of the last wake-up call given.

THE DONKEY ATTITUDE…Are you a donkey at work?

One day, a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

“Vision with action will change your world!”

Let’s ponder the relevance of a company vision. Why is it important to have one? What is involved in creating one? Does the owner of the company create it? What do the managers and staff need to know about it? How often should it change? These are just a few of the questions one might ask about a company vision statement.

“Vision without action is only dreaming

Action without vision is passing time

Vision with action will change your world!” Robert Maddox

THE STICKINESS OF ONE-ON-ONE

One-on-one coaching is making a comeback. In lieu of less mentoring, companies and even individuals are opting for one-on-one learning.

Think back to great training you have received, both group and solo situations likely provided new insight, and plenty of tools and skills for you to implement. For some attendees of group sessions, the ongoing success of what is learned hinges on upper management holding the individuals accountable once the trainer has departed.

No one ever returns my call!

Proclamations of “Service,” Customer Service,” “Speedy Service,” “Friendly Service,” oftentimes adds up to one thing – lip service. All sorts of service promises have resulted in buzz words that are just that – words. Although the delivery of service continues to face many challenges, perhaps the most widespread and least acceptable is “lack of response” – that’s right, I mean “No one ever returns my call!”