Cover your bases. Any time you have a problem, it’s first of all [locating] the breakdown: Is it a procedural breakdown, is it a staff breakdown, is it something that’s within our control or outside of our control?
If it was an issue [out of our control], did we communicate that to the patient to begin with? It’s that upfront communication with the patient so they know what the rules are — not necessarily your rules but the rules that govern you.
In any business, you have certain guidelines that you have to follow. Making sure that the customer knows what those guidelines are will prevent problems down the road. I would encourage most of that to be in writing. When we service patients, they sign documents that show what I said I gave them, I gave them.
It’s making sure that if you do something, you have a way to go back to it. Not to say to the patient, ‘Ah-ha, I proved you’re wrong.’ You say, ‘If you didn’t read this, I apologize. Next time maybe I need to walk you through it.’
Reward employees for service. We also recognize our employees for their interaction with customers. We formed a Big Tony Award, which recognizes one of our employees every year. And
some of those [awards], patients can actually go on our Web site and nominate somebody. We also encourage our employees to recognize other employees.
Feedback can come in a number of different ways. You just need to make sure that when it does come, that it’s recognized and that you also let the employee know. That’s the biggest key, because if you let them know, it’s more likely to happen again.
Communicate action steps to everyone. Communicating that to the employee is key, too. You
want them to hear it from the people making decisions. And then you want feedback from them. We have open communication to deal with what concerns that they’re seeing.
It’s one thing to listen, and it’s another to then respond and make sure that they know you heard the issues and that you’ve done something to make changes so that those same issues don’t continue to be
problems.
Do what you say, and say what you do. So you say what you’re going to do, and then you make sure you do it and that you communicate that you did it. If all these suggestions are out there and nothing gets
implemented, then next time around they’re not going to respond. It’s key that you get back to people and let them know what you did [and] how you did it.
That can be done in a number of ways. We communicate a lot through our payroll stuffers. In each of our departments or facilities, every other Friday, there’s a packet of information that goes out, and that’s how our employees get a lot of their information.
If it’s critical information, they have to sign off that they read it. Make sure that there’s verification that they know.
HOW TO REACH: Wright & Filippis Inc., (248) 829-8200 or www.firsttoserve.com
