Friday, April 30th, 2010
A few weeks ago, I started reading aloud in our staff meeting, from a book that had been recommended to me: “The Little BIG Things, 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence”, by Tom Peters. This is not your typical “sit down and read all the way through” type of book. Mr. Peters writes in a style that is more like a blog: small chunks of relevant material that packs a punch.
In last week’s staff meeting, we read #5: “If Not Excellence, What? If Not Excellence Now, When?”, which led to a discussion about how little things we do everyday make such a big impact and can enhance or derail Excellence….it’s a choice really.
We decided that throughout the week we would take a look around and come up with some “little BIG things” to share at the next staff meeting. I asked everyone to jot down their “little BIG thing” on a scrap piece of paper and deposit their ideas in a jar at the beginning of next week’s staff meeting. The really exciting thing that happened? Most of the staff arrived while I was finishing up with a visiting practice manager and when I looked at the jar, it was OVERFLOWING with “little BIG ideas” from the team! What I thought would be a quick 10-minute spot on our agenda now took a front seat to other topics I had planned…and I was thrilled!
Here are some of my team’s “little BIG things” to enhance the Excellence of our practice:
- Escort the client all the way to the car EVERY time, carrying their food, cat carrier, etc. for them
- Look at things around the clinic from a client’s perspective….sit down in the exam room on the client bench and look around to see what you might have missed in cleaning/prepping the room
- Always stand up when a client approaches the front desk, greeting them with a smile and eye contact
- Smile when you answer the phone…it is contagious and can be “heard” through the phone
- If the doctors have gaps in their schedule, they should do their recalls, rather than their support team
- Courtesy! Courtesy! Courtesy!…towards clients AND one another
- Take photos of post-op patients after they have recovered from anesthesia and email the photo to their “parent” so they don’t worry all day
- Come out from around the front desk counter every opportunity that you can
- Freshen up the employee bathroom
- Don’t just “restock” the shelves, dust and clean them before adding more product
- Make sure the business card holders are stocked….no one wants to take the “last card” if there’s only one or two in the holder
WOW!! My team really “gets it”, and the discussion that ensued as we discussed each idea created even bigger ideas. And guess what—-it wasn’t me telling THEM what they needed to do to be excellent. They were reminding one another what WE need to do in order to be Excellent and they were proud of their ideas….and the team embraced them! Pick up a copy of Tom Peters’ book and give this exercise a try in your next staff meeting. You might just be surprised by what happens next.
Tags: excellence, ideas, staff meeting
May 8th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
One of the little BIG things that you do at the Broad Ripple Animal Center is to always bring back our dog wearing a seasonal handkerchief around her neck. I know these little scraps of cloth don’t cost much, but it’s so great to see Zoe “transformed” when she comes back from the exam room.
It’s curious, because of course no one would ever consider one of these little BIG things as a reason to choose one veterinary practice over another, but put them all together and you have a loyal customer for life!
@robbyslaughter
August 20th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Nice article with some great ideas. I plan to share it with the staff and likely we will implement a few of the ideas. If, we may?
August 20th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Absoluetly! Share away…and I highly recommend you grab a copy of the book. There are tons of great ideas and inspiration to be found.