 The
Power of a Pregnant Pause
The
busiest maternity hospital in the world is my client.
They were once listed in the Guinness Book of Records
for ‘most babies delivered in one year’!
Pregnant women appreciate the slow pace of elevator
doors at the hospital, but visitors and guests complain,
‘The elevators close too slowly!’
The slow doors are intentionally programmed to give
pregnant women and wheelchair-bound patients more time
to enter and exit. If the hospital were to speed up
the program, you can imagine the complaints: ‘The
elevator doors close too fast!’
What would you do in this situation? Go faster? Stay
slow? Endure the ongoing complaints? This hospital tried
a more creative and cooperative approach.
Attractive signs were posted in the lobby and inside
each elevator car saying: ‘Thank you for assisting
patients who may require extra time to reach the elevator.
Your kindness is appreciated.’
Suddenly, slow elevator doors become a gesture of care
and concern for others, while visitors ‘in a hurry’
are just as quickly included in a gracious social effort.
Key Learning Point
Sometimes the facts
of the matter don't need changing at all - only the way
we look at them needs to shift.
Action Steps
If something is
bothering you or your staff, your visitors, guests or
customers, see if you can shift the language and change
the point of view. It's one powerful, effective way to
change a situation.
Next Article in Customer Service Perception Points >>
The Cheesecake of Tomorrow
First Article in Customer Service Recovery >>
What to do When Your Customer is About to Explode
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Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed customer service training educator for quality service.
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