In his book, Wired to Care, top business strategist Dev Patnaik tells the story of how organizations of all kinds prosper when they tap into a power each of us already has: empathy. According to Patnaik we have the ability to reach outside of ourselves and connect with other people through shared experiences or by understanding or envisioning the experiences of others. If we take the time to go beyond looking at data or actions to meet a sales quota and create a deeper connection with each customer, we will have a greater understanding of what the customer needs and we can strive to meet those needs.
In one chapter he tells the story of a senior executive group from Mercedes Benz group who are given a charge of learning as much as they can from individuals in a focus group and then instructed to go out and buy a present for each of the individuals. The Mercedes Benz group divided into small teams and then were assigned a focus group member. The team interviewed the focus group member, tried to learn as much as possible about the individual and then left to shop and purchase the gift. Some teams came back with rather generic gifts such as knickknack tourist gifts. Other teams fared better giving a gift that was very personal and related to a secret desire of the individual.
The point of the activity was straightforward. Patnaik wanted the executives to meet some real-life Americans, experience a major American city and start thinking differently about the cars they made. Products are gifts and a great product has to function like a great gift as a representation of who the giver is and what they think of the receiver.
When I consider this from a healthcare perspective, we are making leaps and bounds in trying to identify and standardize the patient experience. We use scripts to introduce ourselves, describe a procedure or help us understand what one thing we can do to make the person's day better. Perhaps we could take this one step further by discovering one thing about our patients that would help us understand them better as a human so we can give the gift of a positive patient experience on a deeper, more personal level.
So next time you enter a patient's room, when you are rounding or admitting a patient to the unit, once you complete the initial checkboxes, try testing the following question to your checklist, "If you are comfortable sharing, what is one additional thing you can tell me about yourself that might help me learn more about you?" or "tell me something about yourself that you feel I really should know to take care of you." You may find a variation that will work for you. You may get nothing. You may receive a pleasant surprise learning more about the patient's family, a special talent, their passion, loves or fears. You may have learned the one thing that could help you transition your "product" or "service", your "care" into the true gift of healing.
