Balancing Patient and Provider Perspectives on “Listening”

Posted by on Jan 25, 2012 in Communication, Patient Satisfaction Patients want to feel heard so it’s no surprise that “listening” is one of the factors that often weighs heavily in determining patient satisfaction. Healthcare providers who believe that they listen well enough to make an accurate diagnosis are frustrated when patients don’t rate them well in listening. Patients are frustrated when they leave an appointment without feeling heard. The...
read more

Buzz Lightyear Has The Right Idea (Part 4: Tips to Maximize Training Outcomes)

Posted by on Jan 23, 2012 in Business Development, Communication, Customer Service, Planning, Producivity, Sales, Training If you want to affect long-term improvement in the way your staff interacts with customers, don’t stop at training. Plan ahead . . . (in the words of Toy Story movie character Buzz Lightyear) . . . “to infinity and beyond”! When it comes to training on specialized communication skills like customer service or sales, most of us believe we ‘get it’, but there’s often a difference...
read more

Find a Trainer and Training that F.I.T. (Part 3: Maximize Training Outcomes)

Posted by on Jan 16, 2012 in Blog, Business Development, Communication, Customer Service, Portfolio, Sales, Training Identifying the “right” training and trainer goes beyond looking at topic and budget. Take time to consider how well they F.I.T what you need to help ensure success. This is Part 3 of a series to help improve the success of staff training. If you want to catch up with previous posts, Part 1 explains why training alone is seldom enough to affect meaningful improvement in interpersonal skills...
read more

Look Before Leaping Into Staff Training. (Part 2: Tips to Maximize Training Outcomes)

Posted by on Jan 9, 2012 in Business Development, Communication, Customer Service, Planning, Sales, Training Leaping into staff training before looking at other factors, things that can either ensure or impede outcomes, may result in wasted time and expense. This is Part 2 of a series on “Tips to Maximize Training Outcomes”. In Part 1, I began with the premise that while training alone may be sufficient for technical or procedural changes, it is seldom enough to affect meaningful improvement in...
read more

Are You Wasting Time and Money on Staff Training? (Part 1: Tips to Maximize Training Outcomes)

Posted by on Jan 4, 2012 in Communication, Customer Service, Patient Satisfaction, Sales When businesses identify the need for change or improvement, they often look to some type of staff training. Is training enough to achieve the desired results? Training alone may be sufficient for technical or procedural changes, but it is seldom enough to affect meaningful improvement in interpersonal skills (i.e., communication skill or people skills). Here are two examples: Let’s say your...
read more