By Scott Kashman
A few weeks ago, one of my colleagues suggested we ask each department managers to speak to their teams and understand their lagging and leading indicators. Specifically, what is one thing each person does every day to improve our overall patient satisfaction results?
Last week I worked with one of the great ones. Dannette is part of our housekeeping team and she put me to work. While she said she would not make me clean the toilets, I told her to definitely make me clean the toilets as that's the first thing people will want to ensure she made me do!
It quickly became apparent Dannette had a lot of oversight to provide while working with me. Between mopping, cleaning toilets, wiping down the room and pulling trash, Dannette made sure I greeted each patient with a smile, asked if there was anything specific they wanted moved or cleaned, and of course, performed one more check-in with the patient before we left the room.
When I asked Dannette if she takes care of cardiac patients, she first responded by saying, "is this a trick question?" She went on to explain she takes care of cardiac and many other patients. And as with all patients she starts with a big smile, which she said is "contagious." She is always very nice and thoroughly cleans the room.
Dannette's leading indicator or daily focus: She felt the warm greeting and check-in at the end were two things she does every day to ensure she impacts our organizational goals. And she was right. After only one month on that patient floor, the patient scores skyrocketed in room cleanliness and courtesy of housekeeping staff.
It's amazing what we find out when we just ask our team for the answers. Usually employees know they are valuable to an organization. It is still key to let them know that is truly the case.
My son has one of those daily quote calendars. The calendar (from the All Things D website) included a quote that seemed fitting to the request above: "My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's ... negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of their parts. And that's how I see business. You know, great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people."
Scott Kashman serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of Cape Coral Hospital, part of the Lee Memorial Health System in southwest Florida.