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About A. Woodward & Associates

Our company’s primary focus is to create a more humane healthcare system by helping clients develop healthy patient and staff relationships. Our consulting services are customized to your organization, and your specific needs. Areas of expertise include service excellence, the patient experience and employee morale and engagement.

A. Woodward & Associates was established in 1999 by Anita B. Woodward, MBA, FACHE. We have clients in all parts of the country. Anita has over 25 years of healthcare management, service excellence, and human resource experience, and her associates have a variety of complementary skills and experiences.

August 2011 Newsletter

Holding People Accountable with
Service Standards

Accountability is a big issue in every organization we have ever worked with. People at all levels usually feel that most of their colleagues are not held accountable, especially for providing good customer service and behaving appropriately. The belief that others are not accountable can lead good employees to become disillusioned and even bitter.

One factor that truly does make accountability difficult is that many hospitals do not explicitly tell their employees, physicians, and even volunteers what behaviors are expected. We think everyone knows because “it is common sense.” Everyone would agree though, that excellent service behaviors are not common practice.

Keeping in mind the adage that if we keep doing what we’ve been doing we’ll keep getting what we’ve always gotten, we at A. Woodward & Associates propose that the cycle of assuming everyone knows be changed. We suggest you develop and adopt specific Service Standards. It is then much easier to hold everyone accountable.

One hospital we have been working with this past year has just gone through the process of adopting Service Standards, with very positive results. Please consider using this process, or a similar one, to develop your own Standards.

It is important to begin with Administrative commitment to the idea of holding people accountable for these behaviors once they are developed. This can happen through the performance evaluation process, your reward and recognition strategies, and the disciplinary action process. We recommend you use all three of these methods, and be sure to let all employees know you intend to do so.

This hospital, as part of its desire to create a culture of Service Excellence, has a Steering Committee charged with leading their effort. A. Woodward & Associates oriented this committee, and provided some samples of Service Standards from other places. We suggested that the group could either simply develop Standards and publicize them, or could try a process that included all the stakeholders. This hospital chose to do the latter.

First, they talked about their Values, and how those should impact Standards. Then they brainstormed a fairly long list of possible Standards. Because they wanted things to be specific enough that people could be held accountable, they also identified specific behaviors that embodied the spirit of the Standard. For example, for the Standard “Foster a Collegial Atmosphere,” they identified Greet Others and Respond to Greetings, and Say “Please” and “Thank You.”

After the initial list was drafted, the committee worked to whittle it down to a manageable number of Standards and associated behaviors, but kept more on the list than they felt they really wanted to have.

At that point, they devised a survey and let all stakeholders in the organization vote for which Standards were felt to be most important. The voting fulfilled several goals. First, it alerted everyone to the fact that Standards were coming, and gave an explanation of what that would mean. Second, it gave everyone a chance to be heard, which is a wonderful way to increase buy-in and support. Third, it got everyone, not just the Steering Committee, thinking about the meaning, in concrete terms, of providing good service. Finally, when the final version was adopted, everyone knew that the items chosen had been supported by others in the organization, further increasing the legitimacy of now holding people accountable.

The hospital has given us permission to share their finished product. In our opinion, this is one of the best sets of Service Standards we have seen. They are being rolled out in the hospital this year, and will be included in next year’s performance evaluations.

Please write or call if you would like more information about creating or using Service Standards. We are happy to help you develop them and plan for educating everyone. Contact us by email or phone, 216-631-1852.

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Standards and Behaviors for New Bolton Center

New Bolton Center is a Veterninary Hospital affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania.
Their clients can be owners or trainers.

Be a good citizen of New Bolton Center
  • Offer to help if you see someone needs assistance
  • Obey protocols and encourage others to do so when non-compliance is observed
  • Offer solutions to problems you identify
  • Lead by example

Be punctual
  • Arrive on time to all scheduled events (work, meetings, rounds, etc.)
  • Do not keep clients waiting. If unavoidably delayed, apologize, explain, and give updates
  • Respond to internal or external communications promptly
  • If unavailable acknowledge the request right away and offer a full response later

Foster a collegial atmosphere
  • Greet others and respond to greetings
  • Say “please” and “thank-you”
  • Be quick to compliment and slow to criticize; point out a job well done
  • Address problems with someone who can fix them, don’t just complain to co-workers

Foster a positive learning environment
  • Encourage questions; do not make “questioner” feel uncomfortable or inferior
  • Honor teaching commitments
  • Be receptive to new ideas
  • Ask for explanation if you don’t understand

Maintain a clean environment
  • Do not leave your area before making sure all mess is cleaned up
  • Pick up papers/trash/manure even if you did not create the mess
  • Follow the principle that no job is beneath you

Make visitors and clients feel welcome and appreciated
  • Greet immediately in a friendly tone
  • If repeat customer, use name if possible
  • Make eye contact, introduce yourself (and your team if appropriate)
  • If not able to provide service immediately, apologize and explain
  • Accompany clients as they move around facility (clinic hall, waiting area, billing, etc.)
  • Thank client at time of discharge and upon collection of payment

Show recognition and appreciation
  • Introduce your coworkers to those you address
  • Point out a job well done
  • Be quick to compliment and slow to criticize

Treat co-workers with respect
  • Address each other with collegial tone of voice and body language
  • Choose appropriate forum for type of communication (private vs. public)
  • Deliver criticism in a constructive fashion
  • There is no place for yelling or insults
  • Challenge rude or inappropriate behavior

Live and work by a strong moral code
  • Make honesty your personal rule
  • Challenge injustices
  • Follow all hospital rules
  • Do not say “…just this once…”

Maintain personal accountability
  • Be proud of a job well done and recognize others for theirs
  • Accept responsibility for your errors
  • Document or report all errors and accidents appropriately

Case Study

The following situation really occurred. Consider using it as a case study for quick discussions in staff meetings.

The 57 year-old man had a heart attack. It came with no warning; there had been no hint of heart trouble in this mostly healthy patient’s life. Stents were put in, and doctors declared he should have a “full recovery.” He was told he would be scheduled for cardiac rehab, but in the meantime, should resume his life without doing anything “too strenuous.” Only when he and his wife pressed for examples, did they learn that meant 1 hour a day of walking, but no mowing the lawn, no dancing (his favorite activity), and no lifting over a certain weight limit.

  • How often do we tell patients things like “don't do anything too strenuous” and assume they know what we mean?
  • What are the consequences if they have a different idea in their minds from ours?
  • Have you ever, personally, been given medical instructions that were not clear to you? Did you ask for clarification? If not, why not?
  • How does this issue relate to the services your department provides?

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.

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