3/10/08

As I visit with the leaders of hospitals, I am often asked my opinion on what I call the 'silver bullet' question as it relates to staff and patient satisfaction.

My answer, of course, is always the same - you need to be 'firing on all cylinders' to drive and sustain your patient and/or employee satisfaction results.

Because the advent of HCAHPS signals a sea-change in patient satisfaction management, it's therefore vital that the DNA of your organization is 'high-performance'...ie, it's built to achieve goals, and it serves to accomplish important goals.

3 questions that'll help transform your team and your organizational DNA are:

What are the patient satisfaction scores in your department?

This is an excellent challenge-question to determine both your manager's literacy level with his/her survey results and to determine if it's something that's even on his/her radar screen.
The answer to this seemingly-simple question will identify just how seriously your team are taking your current 'service excellence' message and will help you craft an appropriate internal marketing strategy to get it there and keep it alive.

What scores are you willing to tolerate?

This question challenges the 'inner professional' in your manager and can be an exceptionally powerful perspective-framer.

What are you doing about it?

This questions is designed to separate words from action. So powerful is this single question that if you do nothing else-ask this of your managers!
These questions are summarized in 'The CEO's Three Magic Questions', an important component of the Custom Learning Systems Accountability Protocol.

I invite you to click the link below to download a draft Accountability Protocol tool kit, with my compliments, to get you started toward an invigorated, effective, and sustainable HCAHPS Scores Success Plan.To 'make it stick' we recommend a comprehensive culture-change process to prevent the very natural organizational and human tendencies to slide back into 'the old way of doing things.' That's where our Employer of Choice - Service Excellence Initiative will pay huge dividends for you!

Download Accountability Protocol Tools...

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