"Up Your Service!"
Sample Text Newsletter
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Welcome to Ron Kaufman's "UP Your Service!" Newsletter
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CULTURE POWER: Scolding Sessions at Alexandra Hospital
Alexandra Hospital had one lousy service reputation: long waits,
unkempt facilities, unpleasant surroundings, surly staff...and an
unpleasant association with suffering in Singapore's history. The
complaints were long and tempers often ran short.
A few years ago, new management team took on the challenge of
transforming this one-star hospital into a five-star service
showcase. It took discipline, imagination and hard work. Today,
Alexandra Hospital is developing a strong service culture and
world-class patient care.
One of the culture-building tools used by the new management is
"Scolding Sessions". These unusual sessions were described to
me
by hospital's CEO, Liak Teng Lit:
We receive 1,000+ feedback forms from patients and their
families each month. Most feedback are positive. About 5% are
negative or give suggestions for improvement. We contact this
group and invite them to our patient focal group discussion.
Typically 10 will come back.
Held over lunch on a Saturday, the sessions last about 90
minutes. We seat the patients in front in a circle. I chair the
discussion. In my absence, Chairman of the Medical Board or the
Chief Operating Officer chairs.
While attendance at these discussions is not compulsory, members
of our management, clinical leadership team, nursing officers and
supervisors are usually present. They sit behind to listen.
We tell the participants that we are providing lunch for them to
scold us. Bad news tell us, good news tell others because
criticism helps us improve while praise makes us complacent. I
also "threaten" to charge them for the lunch if they do not
point
out our weaknesses.
While the participants are making comments we do not attempt to
give any response. I merely take notes and urge them to elaborate
further. Usually the participants will bring out 40-50 upsetting
points over an hour. When they are done, I apologise for our
failures and briefly explain what we intend to do to correct our
mistakes and weaknesses. Where we are unable to respond
positively, I explain why we cannot.
Feedback obtained are tabled for discussions and actions at our
Quality Steering Committee meeting and other hospital and
departmental meetings.
We have been doing this every month for the past five years. The
original intent was for our customers to help us identify our
failures and also to obtain their suggestions. But we realised
that we achieved much more.
Our staff, especially the senior doctors, got to listen directly
from patients how they felt about our care and services. The
emotions communicated through their words, tone of voice, body
language and facial expressions could only be expressed in a face
to face meeting like this. These sessions make us to feel the
pain of our patients and force us to be honest with ourselves.
"Scolding Sessions" have played a significant role in
changing
the culture of the organisation.
When we started five years back, we had some very severe
reprimands from participants and very often we would totally
agree that we deserved the scolding. Today, we still receive
negative feedbacks, but participants also praise us for our
successes.
There was some concern in the early days that participants would
be unreasonable and expect us to do the impossible. We do
occasionally face a participant with extreme views (about one in
thirty). But interestingly, when a participant takes an extreme
position, other participants (who came to give us negative feed-
back to begin with) will often get upset with the extreme person
and many will defend the hospital. The discussion then returns to
a more constructive level.
Finally, many of those who came for the feedback sessions have
become our friends and staunch supporters when they saw the
changes we have made in response to their suggestions."
Key Learning Point: Upset customers can be one of your greatest
sources of insight and suggestions for improvement. They can also
help you and your staff feel the genuine consequences of giving
poor service.
Action Steps: Contact your unhappy, unpleasant or angry customers.
Contact former customers who have left you for another service
provider. Ask them to come for lunch. Ask them for honest
feedback. Ask them for a scolding. Then take what you learn and
put it to work: make yourself more understanding, make your team
more compassionate, make your systems effective. Make your
service better.
(Note: Thanks to Alexandra Hospital CEO, Liak Teng Lit for this
generous sharing.)
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"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped."
- African proverb
"When you forgive, you in no way change the past -- but you
sure do change the future."
- Bernard Meltzer
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ANNOUNCING THE LAUNCH OF "UP YOUR SERVICE COLLEGE"
Ron Kaufman's brand-new "UP Your Service! College" uplifts
service providers by building superior service culture.
"UP Your Service! College" includes:
* Ron Kaufman's world-class training on video
* Customised activities and exercises
* Action steps for each key learning point
* Certified in-house Course Leaders
* Service culture-building toolkits
To learn more about "UP Your Service! College", visit
www.UpYourServiceCollege.com
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ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: Feeling free to choose
Last month we spent the New Year holiday with Jen's family in
Australia. Brighten is now 10 years old and enjoys doing things
she doesn't get to do in urban Singapore - like riding around in
a helmet on a four-wheeled motorbike!
At the end of the vacation I asked Brighten what she enjoyed the
most; finding seashells, swimming in the ocean, bouncing on the
trampoline, cooking barbecues, visiting the aquarium, or...
Immediately she replied, "Riding the motorbike!"
I asked, "What do you like so much about the bike?"
Her eyes lit up as she answered. "I can choose where to go. I
decide how fast. I get to decide which way and where to turn. I
choose when to stop and look at the trees. And I decide whether
to drive through the sand or the mud. I choose what to do. I
just feel free."
At ten years old, any kid gets told a lot what to do: when to go
to sleep, when to wake up, what to eat, what to wear, what to do
in school, even when to brush her teeth.
But on vacation there was a four-wheeled motorbike, and Brighten
experienced self-direction, self-confidence and FREEDOM.
With grace and good fortune, may her future include much more.
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Wishing you the freedom to choose who you are, and the self-
confidence to enjoy it.
Ron Kaufman
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"Creative ability and personal responsibility are strongest when
the mind operates in an atmosphere of freedom."
- Ayn Rand
"The freedom to pursue your dreams is priceless."
- Ron Kaufman
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Dear Ron,
It's nice to hear from you. Thanks for the e-mail you sent and I
enjoy reading it very much. I would appreciate that you continue
sending more of your issues, because I begin to love it. Thanks
again.
Edward W.
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LEARN WITH RON KAUFMAN'S BESTSELLING VIDEO, AUDIO & BOOKS:
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You may forward this newsletter to your customers and colleagues
with full copyright and contact information intact, like this:
Copyright, 2006, Ron Kaufman. All rights reserved.
Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed educator
and motivator for partnerships and quality service. He
is author of the bestselling series "UP Your Service!"=AE
and founder of "UP Your Service College".
Visit www.UpYourService.com
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Copyright, 2006, Ron Kaufman - "UP Your Service!"=AE
50 Bayshore Park #31-01, Aquamarine Tower, Singapore 469977
Tel: 65-6441-2760 Fax: 65-6444-8292
Website: www.RonKaufman.com E-mail: Ron@RonKaufman.com
"Inspiring people to learn, improve and grow."
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* * * * * * See you again next month! * * * * * *
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