Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Service!
We had another all-day leadership seminar today, which made this week rather leadership-seminar-heavy, since we had a half-day seminar Wednesday afternoon. That was on “facilitating change.” Today’s was on “service excellence.” And I’d have to admit, grudgingly, that this week’s seminars were, um . . . useful.
Regarding service: turns out that people don’t see quality, they see service. It’s moronic but I’m told it’s true. If you take your car into the mechanic and they return it to you washed and vacuumed, you’re likely to return. (Will you return even if they trash your engine? I doubt it. But I guess the point is, you’re willing to forgive minor quality issues if the service is superior.) The speaker this morning used the metaphor of a commercial airline passenger lowering his tray table to find coffee stains. The average passenger will wonder, “If they can’t get that right, how are they going to manage engine maintenance?” Similarly, a restaurant diner who gets a dirty table, dirty silverware, etc. will wonder what the kitchen is like. Is the kitchen filthy, too?
When it comes to quality metrics, Kaiser knocks it out of the park. But at least in our county, we do no better with service metrics than our two biggest competitors. So the question is how to troubleshoot and improve service while not simultaneously trashing quality.
One of this speaker’s “gems” was that we ought to beg our members for criticism. I’m not sure how to do that as part of the typical patient encounter — what, should I wrap things up with the words, “It was great meeting you today. Oh, by the way, what could I have done better?” I wonder how many people would give an honest answer to that question. I know a few patients who might reply, but I suspect most would be too embarrassed.
In other news: the world ends tomorrow at 6 PM, PST. If you don’t see any more entries here, assume that I have been raptured.
And if I am . . . boy, will I ever be pissed.
D.
We discuss the service factor a fair bit here, but not as service providers. Generally the service here is at best impersonal and often surly and unpleasant. The quality is, however, usually about the same as you’d get elsewhere (at twice or thrice the price, but then everything’s expensive here). Among my American expat friends, there’s general agreement that getting what you asked for after an unpleasant experience (things here start with no and if you are persistent you get what you are supposed to be getting) feels much worse than not getting what you asked for, but in a very supportive, friendly way. Seems dumb, since we are all supposed to be rational creatures, looking at outcomes, not process. But sadly, it doesn’t work that way. The U.S. is so much better at lubricating interactions with a dollop of sociability.
yeah, Europe is all about the attitude. But just think how much money someone with a “service excellence” model could make over there!
Starbucks has done really well here…