By Tobi Elkin <\/strong><\/p>\n As medical practices and the healthcare industry at large focus on strategies for improving the patient experience, they are finding insights and ideas from experts outside of healthcare. One such expert is Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations at Walt Disney World\u00aeResort. An expert on leading organizations to deliver superior customer service, Cockerell is the the author of Creating Magic\u202610 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney. In an interview with CareCloud\u2019s Continuum, Cockerell shared his perspective on how healthcare organizations and medical practices can generate Disney magic too. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s the secret to creating a world-class consumer experience? From his 16-year career at Disney — and his time serving in executive positions at Hilton and Marriott — Lee Cockerell says it all comes down to three things: hiring, training and culture. By paying attention to consistency, maintaining high quality and standards in employee recruitment and engagement, and paying attention to every detail, Cockerell explains how medical practices can create their own brand of magic. <\/span><\/p>\n First, as Cockerell sees it, nothing is more important than employee recruitment and how practice managers select people to join their organization: \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more important than your people. Your people are your brand. There are nurses, doctors, medical assistants, receptionists, billers \u2013 they all matter,\u201d he said. It\u2019s critical how quickly a patient\u2019s phone call is answered, is the receptionist happy to hear from you, and how long do patients need to wait for news on test results? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you’re hiring, it’s easy to find average people. It’s really hard to find great people and you’ve got to work harder at it. You’ve got to have better systems, you’ve got to have better-interviewing skills, you’ve got to have better training and commitment,\u201d Cockerell explained. \u201cLoyalty means people come to work every day. Commitment means they’ll do extraordinary work when they have to, and go beyond the call of duty.\u201d That\u2019s a lesson to live by.<\/span><\/p>\n Secondly, training is critical. Imparting lessons from Disney, Cockerell described training newly hired employees, testing them, and enforcing their training while on the job. \u201cA lot of people train new employees, but don\u2019t test them to see if the training \u2018took\u2019. You need to enforce the training,\u201d he said. There are various levels of training \u2013 formal training, role modeling (demonstrating how doctors behave with patients, and staffers behave in front of patients, etc.) <\/span><\/p>\n Bottom line: It matters how patients are treated, how you behave in front of the patient, and how staff members interact with one another in front patients and physicians. \u201cEveryone has a role,\u201d Cockerell said. At Disney, Cockerell was involved in every aspect of employee training and the enforcement of that training: \u201cI spent my time making sure I was involved in all the training, making sure everybody was getting the right training. As we say, we don’t practice on our guests; we make sure our people know what they’re doing before they go out there, especially in the healthcare business, that’s critical,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n Thirdly, creating and sustaining a culture and an environment where everyone matters and they know they matter is imperative. \u201cIf a patient doesn\u2019t think they matter, it\u2019s bad. Even the ones who are a total pain the butt,\u201d Cockerell said. While people were always happy to be at Disney, they\u2019re not always happy and are often stressed to be at the doctor\u2019s office, \u201cso we have to treat patients even better. We have to make the experience smooth and have enough empathy so we can make people feel better,\u201d he observed. <\/span><\/p>\n So how can medical practice professionals deliver a superior patient experience? <\/span><\/p>\n Lately, Cockerell has been speaking all over the world about lessons that can be applied from Disney\u2019s business to healthcare and other sectors. Perhaps is the strongest area of advice is how creating a magical consumer experience must start from within. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI try to teach their people to pay attention not only to the patient but whoever the person is in the family that happens to be there. Or, if nurses are going to your home, to make sure they’re paying attention to the children and the caregivers because serious illnesses affect everybody in the family whether you think they will or not,\u201d he noted. \u201cI talk about the competencies that we think everybody needs to be really great, not just average. I talk about technical competency and how each person owns that. You’ve got to make sure that you’re keeping up whatever your job is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Cockerell acknowledges that \u201chealthcare is a highly stressful business and patients are really looking for a lot of attention and immediacy to their concerns.\u201d He shares his ideas about technological and leadership competence in the healthcare arena. Technology improvements, he said, will help healthcare professionals deliver results faster to patients and should facilitate better communication. <\/span><\/p>\n Focus on how you can do your job better and improve overall operations. \u201cWhat are the patients complaining about and what are the employees complaining about? Some of the best consulting is just getting your team together to discuss, \u2018What do we need to do better around here and what are the patients complaining about? How can we make this a better experience?\u2019 We have to listen to patients and employees. Don\u2019t punish them for telling you the truth!\u201d Cockerell said. <\/span><\/p>\n And, stick with the basics \u2013 friendliness, cleanliness, answering the phone more quickly, checking people in more efficiently. Technology can help with that. \u201cI would say to the doctors, \u2018You don’t have to understand this whole thing, but you’d better have somebody who\u2019s advising you and is on your staff that does understand it, and they’re telling you the truth every day.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to improve your relationships with your patients and to get better tech, to get better procedures, to answer the phones more efficiently, and get the restrooms cleaner. Everything matters! \u00a0Everything sends a message,\u201d Cockerell noted. \u201cI tell doctors to quit thinking about being the boss and be a teacher \u2013 teach and mentor the right people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Former Disney Executive Lee Cockerell on how medical groups can also create a world-class consumer experience By Tobi Elkin As medical practices and the healthcare industry at large focus on strategies for improving the patient experience, they are finding insights and ideas from experts outside of healthcare. One such expert is Lee Cockerell, former Executive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership","category-show"],"yoast_head":"\nRecruit Carefully<\/b><\/h2>\n
Train, Test, Reinforce <\/b><\/h2>\n
Create A Culture Where People Know They Matter<\/b><\/h2>\n
Tap Into Your Inner Magic<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Top 5 Ways Medical Practices Can Apply Customer Service Excellence Principles<\/b><\/h3>\n
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