Ah, it’s that time of year again. Time to wipe away all the bad experiences and habits of the previous year, and make firm resolutions to abandon them in favor of all things positive and prudent in the coming year.

We all fall into this trap – that is, we only make these types of resolutions once a year. And then we’re surprised when we haven’t re-shaped our aging bodies into the air-brushed images we see in the supermarket magazine racks by the time summer rolls around. We’re shocked when our sales are still flat compared to last year. We’re devastated we didn’t improve our lives like we said we were going to.

No, we’re not. We know perfectly well what we’re doing, because we played the same game last year and we didn’t fool ourselves then, either.

Let’s face it. Most of us are content to just stay the way we are, with some mild refurbishments here and there. Maybe a new hairstyle. Maybe less coffee. Or switching to decaf. Swearing less. Gossiping less. Eating smaller portions. Drinking more water. Going to church more often. Making an extra car or mortgage payment. Saving more; charging less.

So we avoid the real issues. And in so doing, we waste an annual opportunity to make a meaningful difference. In terms of waste, I think this fits into the “underutilization” category. We’re wasting a prime opportunity to change our lives, and to reconstruct our future.

To make a meaningful resolution this year, ask yourself any of the following questions:

1)      Am I in the right business / career?
How often do you do this? Hopefully, this comes up at least once a year for you. If you’re employed, you can rest assured it comes up regularly in your boss’ mind. Companies are not reluctant to move folks around, even move them out, at the drop of a hat. Whether you are employed or not, you should see yourself as your own boss, the one who’s in charge of you. As your own boss, you should re-evaluate your “fit,” fulfillment and future in your current role on a regular basis. When you’re not comfortable with the answers, move. Someone else has probably already noticed.

2)      Since more of us are blogging now, here’s a question aimed at the blogging masses: Are you blogging about what you care about?
If not, why not? Whose blog is it, anyway? Here’s my recommendation: Don’t spend a moment, even a single keystroke, blogging about anything you’re not passionate about. Period. You want to bore your readers? They’ll sense your bluff in an instant and find a new blog to follow faster than you can say “unsubscribe.” And in a general sense, this question applies to everyone, in every role. Are you doing what you’re passionate about? Why not? You only live once. Find work that excites you. Usually, it’s what you can make other people happy doing, not just yourself. Giving fills us up more than receiving (ironically). So find that career that lets you serve yourself to others, not just serve yourself.

3)      Finally, here’s a question to the business owner: Are you dedicating enough time, energy and “manpower” to your critical processes?
First, you have to know what these “critical processes” are. Get ready. They’re not what you think. They have very little to do with the core of your business, the technical side, the menu of services, the guts of your brochure and web page. They are the ones that touch the customer frequently and generate infinite “moments of truth,” which can make or break your client relationships. They present your business face to your customers. There’s usually a lot of grunt work going on there. Phones are being answered. Orders are being taken. Coffee is being made (and possibly served). Messages are being transcribed. Calls are being transferred. Follow-up appointments are being set. Complaints are being heard and dealt with. Bills are being explained. Meetings are being scheduled. Cold calls are being made. The tone for your office is being set. The customer experience is being defined. Your brand is being built (or bludgeoned). Your image is being shaped. Your Google ratings are being influenced. Your future is being cast. Now you know which ones they are. Ridiculously, incredulously even, these are the processes that often get the least support and the lowest pay. The technical skills aren’t the highest, but the people skills are an absolute must. Unfortunately, those skills don’t jump off of a resume page. They don’t even demand the highest salary. But they make you – and save you— the most money. Count on it. Don’t sacrifice them, or you’ll sacrifice yourself. Dedicate yourself this year to ensuring these customer touch points are well-fortified. Now, that’s a resolution worth keeping. In fact, they all are.

Happy New Year!

We’ve probably all heard the complaints that Lean Six Sigma projects take too long. “Can’t we just do something, already?” is the often-heard refrain.

In short, “Yes, we can.” But do our stakeholders and superiors align us with change efforts simply to make hap-hazard changes? Not a chance. They can do that all by themselves.

While it is true that sometimes the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology is applied to problems that should just be “fixed,” it is also true that when applied to right-sized, fairly complex, process-based problems, DMAIC will probably take months to reach the point of payoff.

Why so long? There are several reasons behind this:

• You have to resist the urge to “just do something” – sometimes, doing the wrong thing is more dangerous than nothing at all. It also might reinforce the negative, cynical view many associates have of such change efforts.
• DMAIC is a discovery process. You have to let learnings sink in and make informed decisions on how to respond.
• You’ll be asking people to change their habits and routines. You have to communicate continually, repeatedly and let the idea of change take hold.
• In any project, various improvement ideas are generated. Each has its costs and each has its benefits to define. And each must be weighed in light of the company’s strategic objectives. This subjective analysis likely involves some hard-to-reach people.
• Every change has a ripple effect. The team needs to define and weigh the broader system impact.
• To ensure buy-in and collaboration – and not breed sabotage – you need to involve everyone affected by the change (to the appropriate degree).

Did you notice a recurring theme? The more you use the Lean Six Sigma methodology, the more you realize the pathway to change flows through people – whether it’s communicating the need for change, earning the buy-in for change, determining what to change, approving the change or implementing the change. It’s the people factor that prolongs the timeline the most, not simply the gathering of data, the thoughtful analysis or the full mapping of processes. The technical tasks may be time-consuming and necessary, but if that’s all we had to consider, we’d be packing and shipping DMAIC projects like machines.

When we honestly take into account everything that people bring to the table – from meeting availability to change resistance to turf protection – we get a better handle on how a project composed of four weeks of actual work can easily expand into twelve.

The next time your boss asks you why a project is taking so long, just hold up photos of your stakeholders, team members and subject matter experts (might as well include yourself, also, just to be fair). And then, if it’s appropriate and you’re really brave, you might hold up photos of your boss, his fellow executives and the CEO.

He’ll get the picture.

If he “gets it,” he’ll hold up pictures of your customers to remind you how important the project is. Take those pictures to your next team meeting to ensure that 12-week project doesn’t turn into 24.

When people hear the term “medical waste,” they probably think of bloody bandages, soiled linens or used syringes. But there are other forms of waste that are more pre-dominant in the medical office that have nothing to do with the physical by-products of procedures, tests or treatment.

The most prevalent form of medical waste is actually process waste – inefficiency, redundancy, rework, unnecessary work and other forms of “waste” that steal time, money and resources out from under our noses. One study even estimates that half of every dollar spent in healthcare is actually wasted. That translates to more than a trillion dollars!

Tragically, we’ve learned to live with much of this waste, though we complain about it constantly. We even design our facilities to accommodate it. Ever hear of a waiting room?

Lean divides waste into 7 basic categories: waiting, defects, overprocessing / redundancy, unnecessary transport, unnecessary motion, overutilization / underutilization and excessive inventory. Once you learn how to “see” waste in a healthcare setting, you start to see it everywhere.

Following is a list of 20 examples of waste from the typical medical office. See if any of these are familiar:
1. Waiting anywhere … the front window, waiting room, exam room, lab, scheduler, etc.
2. Patients on hold
3. Bringing in more patients than can be seen at one time
4. Multiple waiting rooms
5. Batching claims, dictation, etc.
6. Illegible Rx or notes
7. Rejected claims (errors / missing info)
8. Wrong / missing chart
9. Late arrivals (patient or staff)
10. Cancellations / reschedules (various reasons)
11. Redundant forms / questions
12. Redundant entries of same information in multiple places (e.g. form & EMR)
13. Unnecessary tests, appointments, labs or Rx
14. Putting a pen that won’t write back into the cup (amazing how many people do this)
15. Walking back & forth from window file/supply cabinet for each patient
16. Calling patient back, then sending back out
17. Walking from patient room to office or supply room for every patient
18. “Busy-ness” (underutilization)
19. No lunch or potty break (overutilization)
20. Storing forms or supplies you never use

This is just a sample of what’s out there. Obviously, the opportunities for improvement in healthcare are substantial. This is why I believe the first step in healthcare reform should be a re-engineering of the workflows from the ground up – starting with the general practitioners and branching out to every variety and specialty of medical care we have. The benefits would be enormous – to the health of our nation and the health of our citizens.

If you’re a practitioner, clinician, nurse, tech, administrator or office worker, you can start by addressing the waste you see every day. If you need more assistance seeing it, and then attacking it, don’t hesitate to contact me … process geek, Lean Six Sigma evangelist, super waste-buster!

Also, I invite you to add your own examples. Reducing the waste in healthcare will definitely be a team effort.

It’s one thing to preach to others about being Lean; it’s completely another to walk the talk. So, I’ve been looking closely at myself lately. How do I measure up? Is my work area a 5S begging to happen? (Full disclosure – it definitely is.) Is my workshop organized so that everything has a place and everything is in its place, complete with outlines of tools on my peg board? (Uh, no. But I do have a really nice shelf I put up a year ago. Too bad I can’t see what’s on it.) It’s obvious I have some challenges of my own. Let’s just say I spend all of my time sharing the secrets of Lean Six Sigma that I never have time to turn the tools inward. That sounds good, doesn’t it? It’s because I’m so unselfish. I’ll suffer with my own inefficiency, but the rest of the world must be freed from the crushing burden of backlogs and waste. Only I can save it! Now, do as I say, not as I do, OK?

One area I definitely should address is my bill payment system. I call it a “system” mainly because of the layers of effort and exertion that are required to pay my bills. Maybe you can relate. There are so many steps involved, so many checks and balances, that I dread paying my bills. Last time I did, I was actually sweating when I was done. My check signatures were actually blurry; but I think they’ll pass.

Why is it so hard? Recently, as I nursed a paper cut to my tongue from licking the phone company envelope, it dawned on me – this is so hard because I wait so long to do it. Why don’t I just pay my bills as soon as they arrive? That would be too sensible, I guess. Instead, I have payment “system” that would make even the federal government blush:

• Open bill. Look at due date.
• Find due date on wall calendar.
• Write creditor name and amount on due date.
• Place bill and envelope in bill tower. Bills due first half of month are in first slot; bill due second half of month are in second slot. Make sure the bills in each slot are in chronological order.
• Look at calendar periodically. Note any bills coming due in the next week or so. Go ahead and pay those. Write check for each one, update ledger, enter amounts into budget spreadsheet, lick and seal envelopes (careful now), apply address labels and stamps, then have my 6-year-old deliver to the mail box.
• If any bills “snuck up on me,” scramble to see if I can pay via phone or web.
• If any bills were overlooked, drop everything and write the check NOW. Call and beg forgiveness. Blame it on the wife. Say original things like “the check is in the mail.” See if they will wave the late fee, just this once. Sound desperate and sincere. Tell them your batch system broke down – you know, something they can relate to.
• Follow this process for however many bills are due soon – could be 2 or 3, but it might be 7 or 8. Allow at least an hour to get it all done. Tell the wife it’s her turn next week.

You know, if I paid bills as soon as they arrived, everything except the first step would disappear, wouldn’t it?  In Lean terms, I’m using a batch system for my bills. This is waste, baby. Boy, am I embarrassed. Please don’t tell my “muda.” (If you got that pun, please write to me and let me know.)

Like many businesses, I’m living in the illusion that the batch system is safer and more efficient. But when I look more closely, I realize the opposite is true.

• I spend too much time looking at my calendar. Often, it’s for no reason. I look at that calendar every day (unless I forget), whether I need to or not. Thankfully, I don’t always have bills to pay.
• Obviously, I run more of a risk of missing a bill if I’m waiting to pay it.
• I also run greater risk of, let’s say, “overburdening” my spending account by grouping bills together.( If there’s one part of me that’s truly Lean, it’s my checking account.)
• I occasionally incur late fees not because I didn’t have the money, but because I failed to look at my calendar in time. But who would believe that? This is what Dave Ramsey would call “stupid tax.”

I know I need to ditch the batch system and start paying bills as soon as they come in, but that would mean paying each creditor twice within a month’s time. That’s a tall order. I’m committed to Lean, but not if it means temporary poverty. I guess long-term poverty is a better choice?

OK, I’ve convinced myself. I’ll make the switch. If you’ve also been convinced — or if you gave up batching a long time ago and want to gloat – drop me a note and share your experience. Let’s get Lean together! We can call it our new “wait loss” program…

Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Tell your “muda” I said “good-bye!”

A few years ago, I made an investment in my business productivity: I bought a smartphone.

What a revolution in productivity this was supposed to be. I could surf the web, manage my calendar, keep up with contacts – and make phone calls, of course – right from the palm of my hand.

But the real beauty of it all, to me at least, was that I could read my e-mails without being at my desk. I’d never miss an important response, a meeting request or an anniversary reminder. That gave me the chills. I had always (secretly) envied colleagues whose Blackberries buzzed across the conference room table every time they received a message. How busy and important they sounded! Now, it was my turn to join the club of the productive elite.

Recently, however, I’ve started to question the wisdom of my smartphone purchase, at least when it comes to reading those sacred e-mails. I seem to spend most of my time discovering new things my supposed “smart” phone can’t do … like open various attachments, follow certain links, access different discussion boards, utilize a business logo in my signature, file e-mails in categorized folders or give me a fast way to type out a response without embarrassing spelling or spacing issues. Now, instead of opening an e-mail once, then either responding, filing or deleting the message, I open it multiple times – once on my phone and then at least once again on my computer – which means I read it multiple times, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. On top of all this, I’ve started to notice that I rarely get e-mails from real people. I mostly get subscriptions, reminders, announcements, etc. – nothing that can’t wait. Yet, I let them interrupt whatever I’m doing at the moment they arrive. There’s that buzz – I can’t ignore it – it might be something important!

I shudder to admit it, but I now believe that my smartphone has actually hurt my productivity and made me a less efficient, more redundant worker. Given all of these shortcomings, the “smartest” way to manage my e-mails is – you guessed it – from my computer.

If it wasn’t for the hint of euphoria I experience every time that buzzer goes off on my hip… I’d turn the thing off. This may be one redundancy I’ll have to live with for awhile.

Are you finding that in your journey to go “paperless,” you’ve actually added more paper?

If so, don’t feel bad. I, too, am struggling to escape from this contradictory world of “paperlessness.” Maybe you can relate.

Here’s how it usually happens (or at least how I arrived in this schizophrenic state of paper-adding purgatory). One of your creditors—your phone company, for example—starts to accept payments on-line. Excited at the opportunity to utilize this new functionality, save a few stamps, and, hopefully, some time along the way, you begin making payments through their web site.

Meanwhile, you’re still getting paper statements in the mail. And for each on-line payment you make, you need some record to match up with the statement when you file it, so you print out the confirmation receipt. There’s one sheet of paper you’ve added paper to your process. On second thought, make that two – since you didn’t mail the statement stub, you’ve held onto that, too.

Score: Paper 2; “e” 1.

It gets worse. Once you start paying on-line, you’ll probably be inclined to receive your billing notice on-line. Why not? Makes sense. The bill arrives and you flag it. Not wanting it to get lost in your never-never land of aging e-mails, you print it out. (Remember, this is all because you decided to go “paperless.”) But you forget that the phone company is still sending the statement in the mail. When it arrives, you match it up with your printout and put it in your bill organizer. Why? Because it looks more official, it’s easier to read, and it’s what you do with your other bills, anyway. Even though it feels silly at the time, it just feels safer. Now, you’ve added a few more sheets to your process.

Final Score: Paper 5; “e” 1. It’s a blowout! You’ve actually added 5 pieces of paper to my process.

Why does this happen? The primary reason for me is fear: I’m afraid I’ll miss a bill, it will go to spam or get deleted somehow, I’ll flag it but overlook it, I’ll be audited and can’t document an expense, or something like that. So I keep the paper statements. I print the electronic receipts. I print the electronic statement. I add layers of paper in my quest to go “paperless.” I sleep worry-free on a paper mattress with a paper comforter.

What I’ve really added is layers of redundancy. Because I don’t trust the “e” process just yet, I take the “e” and convert it to paper … precisely the opposite of what I was trying to do in the first place. Humph. And I claim to be a process engineer.

It’s even harder to convert to some of my billers to “e” when others are still on paper. At the end of the day, paper still wins out. Hey, it’s not my fault—if all of them would offer on-line billing, I’d dive right in.

Until then, I’ll keep the paper suppliers in business in my quest to go “paperless.” By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare filing cabinet, would you?

I was in a pediatrics office recently when I noticed an interesting sign: “Free Wi-Fi.”

Initially I thought, “Wow! What a cool service! Bring your laptop and surf away while you wait for the doctor to call your child back.”

Neat!

I looked around the waiting room to see if any patrons were taking advantage of this “free” service. While I didn’t notice any, I did notice several taking advantage of other novelties. One young lady stared with wonder into a giant aquarium; a young lad with a runny nose played with an old-fashioned car garage at the toy depot; still another flipped through the pages of a youth-oriented magazine in the reading center. Parents fiddled with their respective electronic gadgets (phones mostly, no laptops), occasionally glancing in their children’s directions, assured that they were safely occupied by their curiosities.

What a nice place to come and play! And you can even web-surf, too! What more could you want?

How about a little time with the doctor, and soon?

While offering wi-fi to patients is certainly cutting-edge, modern and differentiating (for the moment, at least), it is definitely not “free” – for anyone, really. First of all, for a patient to have time to surf the office’s internet, they’ll have to be WAITING. Isn’t the patient’s time (and their parents’ time, in this case) worth anything anymore? In healthcare, we’ve reached a dangerous point where we only think the doctor’s time is valuable. Don’t get me wrong – it definitely is – but this doesn’t mean the patients’ time is “free.”

Nor is the wi-fi service “free” to the clinic. Think about it. If patients are waiting, they’re not getting examined. If they’re not getting examined, there’s nothing to charge for. The process is backlogged, and so is the clinic’s capacity, productivity and profitability. Isn’t the whole point to provide a valuable service (healthcare) to as many people as we can, and get paid for it so we can provide it to others? (Maybe this is why so many offices have gone to collecting co-pays up front. Just sayin’.)

Some time ago, a dental practice in our area built a new, state-of-the-art office with all the modern conveniences you could imagine. Here’s a description taken directly from their promotional flier (note the first feature listed): “spacious waiting areas, quiet reading nooks, wireless internet access, ample parking, movies throughout the office, Playstation Game Console at every treatment chair and even a private game room!” All I can think is, “How long do they plan for people to be at this office, anyway? And whose money did they use to construct this dental Disneyland?” Now I know why my dental premiums are so high.

This waiting is killing us, and it’s costing us more and more money every day. I’ve even been in offices that not only have one waiting room, but two! And the magazine selection and big screen TV’s were even more plentiful in the second than in the first. Now, I know what everyone is thinking. “As long as they’re waiting, we might as well give them something to do.” How about eliminating the wait instead? There are ways to do that. And I’m sure the patients won’t mind.

I believe we need a major paradigm shift in healthcare. I’m not talking about legislative reform; as I’ve written before, I don’t believe that is the complete answer for our woes. We, of all professionals, should be able to put our customers first, value their time at least as highly as our own, and design work processes that run efficiently without sacrificing quality. This is infinitely more valuable than any “freebies” we could ever offer.

You market. You advertise. You brand yourself.

You dress nicely. You make eye contact. You smile.

You say, “Have a nice day;” “Thanks for your business;” and “Referrals are always welcome.”

You give suckers to your bank customers, refrigerator magnets to your home-buyers and calendars to your insurance clients.

But nothing you do says more to your customers than a process that either sets them free or holds them hostage. Why? Because people value their time. They don’t appreciate it when you waste it. To them, this feels inconsiderate, uncompassionate and careless.

Nowhere is this conflict between intention and perception more true than in healthcare. Day after day, nurses, receptionists, technologists, LPN’s, aides, nurse practitioners and physicians pour their hearts and souls into their work, giving everything they have to improve someone else’s quality of life. They skip meals, sacrifice sleep and personal health, toil away at all hours (almost dangerously so) and continually cram their brains with the latest research. And what they’re saying through all of this is that they care deeply about their patients.

Are the patients getting this message? Maybe; but, chances are it’s being drowned out by the inevitable wait times, excessive movement, paperwork and redundancies that still characterize most doctor’s appointments.

In many medical offices, patients show up anticipating a 15-30-minute commitment, but what they often find is that their wait is at least this much. Then, an hour or more later, they are exacerbated as they finally walk out the door. Along the way, they’ve visited multiple stations to be signed in, registered, weighed, examined, billed and dispositioned. Imagine what a patient might be thinking:  here’s a system that takes advantage of me and treats me like a second-class citizen … because once I’m here, I’m here.

But this perception could not be any further from the truth. No one in healthcare looks down on anyone who comes through the door. The people working in medical offices are not there just for the money, and they’re certainly not there to waste anybody’s time; they come in and sweat bullets each day because they love what they do and the people for whom they do it. But their actions, i.e. their processes, speak more loudly than their intentions, and their words. At the end of the day, customer service is not what you say, it’s what you do and how you do it.

How are you treating your customers? Better yet, how are you “processing” your customers? Take an honest look, and then examine if your words and your processes are in agreement. If not, work on your processes. Your customers will hear you, loud and clear.

In just eight short months, the federal government will begin making its first incentive payments to medical practices that have successfully implemented an EMR/EHR.

Will you be in this first group of adopters? There are plenty of good reasons to make this your goal:

1) To maximize your incentive payments.

“Meaningful users” in 2011 can receive up to $18,000 in Medicare incentives (or $21,250 for Medicaid incentives) — PER PROVIDER. If you continue to qualify through 2015, EACH PROVIDER could receive a total of $44,000 in Medicare incentives, or $65,000 from Medicaid. By contrast, waiting until 2014 could reduce the total incentive by $20,000 PER PROVIDER.

2) To receive payments as soon as possible.

To receive an incentive payment in 2011, all you have to do is demonstrate meaningful use for 90 consecutive days. You could claim meaningful use in April and receive your incentive payment in May. If you wait until 2012 to qualify, you will have to demonstrate 12 months of consecutive usage, meaning no payment until the end of that year at the earliest — a difference of 18 long months.

3) To improve the efficiency and quality of your practice.

EMR’s can help you eliminate paper and the associated costs and limitations, as well as improve communications, reduce process turnaround times and standardize documentation.

Now for a reality check — If you want to receive a payment in May, you’ll have to have your system implemented by January. That’s only four months away, with Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in-between.

Get the picture?

Even in the best conditions, implementing an EMR can take several months. The time to move on your EMR is no longer tomorrow, it’s today.

Give me a call today to discuss your EMR/EHR implementation. I’ll show you how you can be “live in five (minutes)” with Practice Fusion, a free, web-based EMR/EHR. Then, I can help manage your implementation to ensure you’re in that early group of adopters.

For a high-level overview of Practice Fusion, use this link:
http://www.practicefusion.com/takeatour.

If you like what you see, you can sign up using this link:
http://www.practicefusion.com/ccn/WorkDiag.

To your success,

Mark H. Davis, CLSSBB
Workflow Diagnostics
PO Box 4233
Lynchburg, VA 24502-0233
(434) 258-5332
www.workflowdiagnostics.com
twitter.com/workflowdx

One of our favorite phrases in America is “how are you doing?” Because we say and hear it so often, we rarely listen to the answer or give one that is meaningful. It’s just a way of acknowledging mutual existence, a recognition that another human has passed our way.

In our personal relationships, “how are you doing” is simply a polite gesture. Sad to say, it doesn’t really matter if we know the answer. In business, however, we have to know how we’re doing. And the simplest, clearest indicator of how we’re doing is how our customers think we’re doing.

All too often, we take solace in silence and assume we’re performing well. “No complaints, no problems,” we naively believe. The flip side can also be true; we sometimes grade ourselves on the only feedback we get, and that typically is a complaint rather than praise. Unfortunately, people are more likely to give unsolicited complaints than compliments.

But neither of these sources is a valid indicator, simply because neither provides a representative sample of our customer base – which points to a key function a learning organization must have: an effective means of gathering valid performance data.

In the old days, a business would put a suggestion box in a waiting room or lobby and wait for the ideas to roll in. Notice I said “in the old days.” We can’t afford to sit around and wait for feedback anymore. Ever see anyone put anything in one of those boxes? Better yet, ever see anyone come and clean it out? At the end of the day, it’s just a lazy way of acting like you care. People will give you their feedback by going next door to your competitor.

If we really care about our customers, we’ll continually ask them how we’re doing. We’ll solicit their feedback without fear or repercussion. We must make it clear that we care about the answer. We must take no offense, but receive the feedback as constructive criticism, a customer’s contribution to our ongoing enrichment.

There are many different ways to collect useful performance data:

• Train sales staff and service people to ask for feedback in non-leading ways.
• Ask for feedback after every customer engagement or product/service delivery.
• Ask, “What would have made your experience better?”
• Communicate the areas we are grading ourselves on. Ensure they match what our customers are grading us on, e.g. timeliness, responsiveness, effectiveness.
• Make performance standards measurable. We should ask, “How quickly do you need that?” Then we should measure how quickly we provide it on a regular basis.
• Formalize data-gathering in the form of surveys, questionnaires or written comment forms.

Most importantly, we must then do something with what we learn. Read the comments. Take them to heart. Affinitize them to identify areas of focus. Communicate the learnings to our teams. Assign owners to different indicators. Form teams to address problems. Let our customers know what we’re doing.

The company that is able to take negative feedback and turn it into positive change is two steps ahead of its competition: 1) it’s asking; 2) it’s doing. It may be a risk to ask for feedback, but the rewards come in the rich relationships with loyal customers and a business that reflects the heartbeat of its clients.