About A. Woodward & Associates Our company’s primary focus is to help clients develop healthy patient and staff relationships. Our consulting services are customized to your organization, and your specific needs. Areas of expertise include customer service, patient satisfaction and employee engagement. A. Woodward & Associates was established in 1999 by Anita B. Woodward, MBA, FACHE. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, we have clients in all parts of the country. Anita has over 20 years of healthcare management, customer service, and human resource experience, and her associates have a variety of complementary skills and experiences.
April 2009 Newsletter
How to Handle Seven "Deadly" Phrases
We’ve all heard these, too many times. Phrases that people use to avoid taking responsibility, or to discourage us from trying a new idea. Here are seven of these “deadly phrases,” and some responses to use the next time you hear one. While these approaches are geared to Patient Advocates, they can work for anyone who hears these phrases – a colleague, supervisor or administrator. I. "That patient/family is just crazy." This phrase is often uttered by staff members about patients or families who have filed a complaint, or who are causing "trouble" on the floor. Normally empathetic staff members may say these words when they are overworked and the family seems overly demanding. How do you handle this? First, recognize that most staff members care about patients, and want to help. Sometimes, though, certain patients do seem demanding. That makes it easy for staff to become resentful and reluctant to help. The best way to begin is to let the staff member tell you what they mean by "crazy." Listen as carefully as you would to the patient's story. Only after the staff member knows we really heard them, and their frustration, will they be able to hear our interpretation of the patient's story. Next ask the staff member if you can tell them what you've heard from the patient. As you share the patient's story, the "crazy" or demanding behavior almost always makes perfect sense, and staff can let go of their frustration and anger. Then it is possible to work on mutual problem-solving and understanding. II. "It can't be done." Change is hard, and often threatening to people, so this can be a knee-jerk reaction to any change you suggest. Tailor your response to the person who says this, and the situation. Human beings crave respect, and listening shows respect, so it never hurts to ask why they say it can’t be done. Listen with respect, without preparing your argument. After hearing them out, paraphrase what they have said, and ask clarifying questions. Your next step depends on you. You can simply thank them and say you will think about what they said. If this is a habitually negative person whose support you do not need to make the change, this can be the best way to react. If you need this person's support, agree with any part of their statement that makes sense to you, acknowledge any arguments they made for which you do not have an answer, and give your perspective on why your idea would work, offering rebuttal to their stated obstacles wherever you can. Ask if you can explain why this is important to you. Once you have done that, ask for their help. People like to be asked for help, and if your goals are sound, most people will help you achieve them. III. "It's been tried before, and it didn't work." This phrase is very similar to the one above, and your approach should be similar. Ask for more information about when it was tried and why the speaker thinks it did not work. Then either thank her for the information and end the conversation, or ask her to help you overcome the previous barriers so it will work this time. IV. "They will never let us." This is often an excuse offered by someone who does not really want to make the change themselves. If you believe that is the case, refer back to #2 above – "It can't be done." However, sometimes the speaker truly believes there will not be the management support necessary to make the change. Handle this deadly phrase by asking for more information. Who will not let us? Why not? Then ask for help in overcoming those barriers. Ask how the non-supporters can be convinced, who else could become a champion and help push the idea through, what information is needed to make a compelling case, and so on. Turn the discussion from a negative one into problem-solving. V. "We're saving lives here, so we can't take the time to…" This is a classic example of false-choice logic. Yes, saving lives is important. However, it does not mean other things cannot also be handled. Often this argument is offered as an explanation for why people did not treat patients or family members with respect, why they did not keep track of a patient's belongings, or why they were rude to a co-worker. A good way to respond to this statement is to acknowledge the importance of the work the person is doing, and then simply ask if it might not be possible to think of a way to do both desirable actions. In the heat of the moment, it sometimes does not occur to people that this is possible until someone points it out. VI. "That’s just the way she is. But she is a good nurse/admitter/surgeon/ technician." This is another example of a false choice. Many people are good technically and interpersonally. There is no reason to excuse one half of a person's performance. Poor behavior has a negative impact on patients and/or co-workers. Usually this statement is uttered by the offender's supervisor, who does not know how to deal with the person, or who does not want to be bothered. Respond by pointing out that a good technician who has terrible people skills is not a good nurse/doctor/etc. Point out the negative impact of the person's behavior. Recognize that many managers do not feel comfortable dealing with difficult behavior, and offer to help strategize ways to coach the offender. Use all your skills to help coax the manager into dealing with this, supporting him or her as much as you can. VII. "That other department never gets anything right." Finger-pointing is never pretty. The number of different departments in the hospital whose employees do not really understand each other's work makes it easy, and common, to point the finger of blame at each other. This resolves nothing, and over time builds up so much animosity that no one tries to fix the problem. Responding to this deadly phrase should be both short and long term. In the short term, first work with the speaker to determine what has gone wrong, and find ways to fix it. Second, remind the speaker that patients see our hospital as one big team. They don't see us a series of discrete departments. When they hear us blame each other, they just think the whole hospital has problems. The patient does not think the speaker (or his department) is blameless. Patients never care who is "at fault." They just want us to meet their needs. Blaming is counter-productive because it undermines the patient’s faith in all of us. Long term, implement ways to help departments understand each other. Consider shadowing experiences, lunches where people from two departments take turns sharing what they do, joint performance improvement teams and the like.
Lost Belongings
One of our readers has asked for best practice ideas related to lost belongings. What have you done that has made a difference? Please send a quick email describing your practices. Include your name and tell us if we may include it if we use your idea in our July newsletter. Together, maybe we can make a difference in this long-standing problem.
Real Life Customer Service Case The following situation really occurred. Consider using it as a case study for quick discussions in staff meetings. A patient wrote an email describing his hospital experience. It said "…After just two days I could write a list of things they could do to improve the patient's experience. Number one, have the outgoing shift communicate with the incoming. It was sadly humorous to see each shift learn for themselves that the man in the bed next to me was stone deaf, had severe diarrhea and needed to get to the bathroom FAST when he indicated the need to do so. You'd think that once he had a huge accident they would have passed the word on, but no. Three shifts had to learn for themselves…" What is your reaction to this scenario? How do you think the deaf patient felt about his accidents? About the hospital? How about the roommate? What was the effect on him? How is his "word-of-mouth" advertising impacting the hospital? How well do you handle hand-offs, either at shift change, or from one department to another? How could you improve?
Story ideas, case studies wanted! We are looking for good case studies to share, and we always want to publish articles that answer your questions or help with your challenges. Please email us with your ideas. Thanks.
About This Newsletter This newsletter is published for clients and colleagues of A. Woodward & Associates, and for others who are interested in customer service, employee relations, and organizational communication, especially in healthcare organizations. If you would like to add someone to our subscriber list, please contact us at anita@anitawoodward.com (or simply reply to this email). Be sure to provide the subscriber's name and organization.