How is Leadership Development Related to HCAHPS scores?
Leadership Development
When it comes to HCAHPS scores, nursing has a huge role. To expect that nurses will truly be engaged with patient care in the way that CMS is measuring it, Leadership has to be truly engaged with nursing. And, let’s face it, the higher the customer satisfaction scores, the higher the profits of that organization!
I’ll write about several of the most important factors when it comes to patient satisfaction scores. And, this really isn’t for healthcare only. These same principles apply to any industry when it comes to building a culture of service excellence.
There are a multitude of “customer service educational programs” out there.
Although there are numbers of things that matter to customers, one of the biggest is “Service Recovery”, which is the resolution of customer’s problems. As it turns out, this aspect alone can be a predictor as to whether the customer will recommend your hospital or organization to others.
Know that all the aspects of providing excellent customer service are related to Leadership Development and Involvement in the Program.
Does your leader provide “Service Recovery” to its employees? Does your Leader actively listen without getting defensive, blaming others, or making excuses? Is your leader able to apologize? (It’s amazing what a sincere apology will do) Is your Leader able to move into action to solve a problem? Does your leader tell you what they are going to do to make the situation right, tell you what they are going to do, and then follow-up with you to tell you they did what they said they would do? Does your Leader thank you for bringing the problem/situation to their attention?
There is something called a “parallel process” that exists between Leadership and Employee Engagement. Employees are far more willing to give good customer service when in fact they are RECEIVING good customer services on the part of their Leaders. When employees are ENGAGED, they will do almost anything for the Leader and Organization. It is VERY difficult to expect employees to give good customer service to their full potential when they are not being treated equally as well as they are asked to treat customers.
Team Development and Leadership Development focused on customer satisfaction are methods of sharpening the skills of all those concerned.
We’ll look at other variables that affect patient satisfaction and customer satisfaction in a later blog this week.
