Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Sheryl Erickson
Fresh Tracks Coaching & Consulting:
612.798.5188
sh****@*sd.net
Finding the gold
in complaints
from customers
by Sheryl Erickson
NOT LONG AGO I had to deliversome significant complaints about problems with my mother’s care at alocal hospital. The conversation, which included my sister (who is aregistered nurse), and the hospital’s director of medical affairs (I’llcall him Dr. Smith), had gone much as I had expected while she and Itold our stories. Then came the surprise: Dr. Smith picked up mymother’s medical record from his desk. By now it filled two binders,each at least three inches thick.
“I’ve reviewed your mother’s medical record, and I’ve found at least 15 errors.”
Iwas speechless. Many of us have learned that there is nothing like thepower of apology in mending broken customer relations. But the biggerthe error, and the closer it comes to life-and-death matters, theharder it becomes to make that admission. Health care may be one of thetoughest environments for handling the errors that inevitably occur.
Luckily,most of the complaints we deal with day to day are not this difficult.But Dr. Smith’s approach is instructive. First he took my sister and meseriously enough to review the situation in advance. Then he admittedthat mistakes had been made. Both actions acknowledged us. He let usknow that we were important, that our complaints were important, andthat there was truth to what we were saying.
Shoring up the walls
Toooften when handling complaints we start to feel as if we need to defendourselves or our organization. We shore up the castle walls. But thatmakes the person with the complaint feel like an outsider and maybeeven an attacker – someone who has now become the enemy. And havinglodged the initial complaint in order to be heard, the person uses alouder voice in the hope that the sound will carry over the battlements.
Inthe course of our conversation, Dr. Smith asked my sister and me totell our versions of the events in some detail: facts, emotions, andthe effects of specific occurrences on us, on our mother, on herlong-term health. He spent as much time as it took to hear everythingwe had to say. And he listened carefully. He clarified, asked for morespecifics, and finally, after all of it was out, he asked what we werelooking for.
Genuinely curious
Inmy work with other kinds of conflict situations, I recognize this asthe storytelling phase. It is critically important for parties to anyconflict to feel that they have an opportunity to be heard.
Buthearing is more than simply not speaking while the other person istalking. Effective listening requires being genuinely curious aboutwhat the other person is saying. It means that you are open to what isbeing said, to nuance, to the golden nuggets that are lurking in theother person’s perspective. Listening well means that you are notanticipating what the other person will say, and you are definitely notcomposing your rebuttal while you wait for them to stop talking.
ThenDr. Smith surprised us once again. He talked about his work to find andchange systems that result in errors. And he talked about communicationand storytelling, and their importance to the change process. He askedif we would be willing to tell our story at a meeting of the hospital’smedical staff. He surprised us by valuing our voices and our story evenmore than we had hoped.
Creating an insider
Dr.Smith’s proposal began to change the situation for me. I felt valuable,trusted, even a bit like an insider. I felt that my complaint had beentaken as the gift it was intended to be, and that action was beingtaken to learn from it. I had entered his office feeling that thiswould be just another fruitless attempt to have an impact on thedirection of the health care system, and I left feeling hopeful.
Severalmonths later my sister and I did attend a meeting of the medical staff.About 70 doctors showed up at 7 a.m., attentive and curious. They heardabout the errors, piled one upon the other, and heard our perspectives.Afterward at least a dozen of them stopped to thank us for being there.Several said that this had been one of their best medical educationsessions in years.
Dr. Smith’s follow-throughcemented the transformation of this situation for me. He took action aspromised. He created an opportunity for the broader organization tolearn from the errors that had occurred with my mother’s care. Manytimes since I have told this as a “good-news-in-health-care” story. Andrecently, when a survey solicited my opinions about the best hospitalorganizations in the Twin Cities, Dr. Smith’s institution was at thetop of my list.
Actions speak louder thanwords. And action to follow up on complaints or problems is essentialto keeping your relationship intact. It’s the concrete evidence thatyour word, as a service organization, is reliable. For me, Dr. Smith’sactions demonstrated that my perspective was taken seriously. Hisattitude moved me from the category called complainer, to the categorycalled valued informant.
When you have acustomer complaint, stop before you build up your defenses, and lookfor the gifts it might contain. Treat the situation as an opportunity,not an attack. The new perspectives you gain may be like discoveringgold. But the biggest gift could be your opportunity to deepen yourcustomer relationship, or even gain an ally in the process.
