Setting the Standard in Service Excellence

When I was little we always got our gas from the Schaeffer’s Getty station in Princeton Junction. We could have gone to any gas station, but Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer knew my Dad and they always greeted us like family when we came in. We didn’t get discounts or promotions, but it was a familiar place and they made us feel special when we came in.

Many of you won’t remember but there was a gas shortage in the 70’s and you were only allowed to buy gas on certain days of the week depending on your license plate numbers. It was very stressful because you had to wait in long lines and make sure you had enough gas to get you from one day to the next.

We still went to Schaeffer’s, even though the situation was very aggravating. Even though we knew it wasn’t their fault and there were circumstances outside of their control; Mr. Schaeffer and his team still kept their commitment to the personal touch and high customer service standards.

Fast forward 40 years later. Health care is going through seismic shifts. You heard recently that Apple unveiled a series of products, including something called iHealth. Given what Apple has done to the iPhone, I can only imagine what technology will come next.

Our world will change. How people want to receive their health care, how they want to partner to care for their own health and the health of their children, and how they want information delivered will all make dramatic changes. Some we can anticipate, and some we can’t even imagine.

During all this change, just like at Schaeffer’s gas station, the constant can be how we conduct ourselves.

Children’s Specialized Hospital has gone through a 6-month process where you have weighed in on what our values and standards of excellence should be. You identified items that are most important to you and our organization, and now we have embarked upon a training program for each of us to attend in order to make sure we all understand what those standards mean and how we will live them. If you have not yet registered for Service Excellence Training, please do so through NetLearning. Here is a list of the upcoming classes for 2014.

There are things that will be completely outside of our control in the coming years. But the item we can control is how we work with each other and our families.

Please let me know, comment below, what you think once you go through the training. I would love to hear if you are excited about the “new” standards and how they will impact our relationships with each other and our families.