Stay Relevant!
Stay Relevant!
Don’t get left behind.
The longer you work in business, the greater the danger is that you can get set in your ways. This can work to your advantage if you’ve developed great systems that have stood the test of time. However, as we know today, technology and customer preferences have changed drastically over the past 20 years. It’s important that we keep up with the changes that are required in order for us to stay relevant in our role as service providers.
The medical field has always faced this challenge because new methods and procedures are always coming to light. The problem is, when you get stuck in a rut and are unwilling to change while the world changes around you, you can come across as incompetent and/or obsolete.
About a year ago, my wife suffered from Covid 19 and had to go to the hospital where she was put into a coma and remained on a ventilator for over two weeks. Once she was conscious and could have visitors, I saw her every single day in the intensive care unit.
Out of respect for the hospital, I reluctantly wore a facemask when entering the building and when I left. However, in the entire time I was with my wife in her hospital room, I never wore a mask. No aide, nurse, or doctor I encountered insisted that I had to wear a mask. None of them suggested that I wear a mask nor in the entire time I was there did I ever hear a person even mention the word, “mask.”
Unfortunately, when my wife left this hospital, she was sent to Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital. Keep in mind that by this time, she was no longer in a coma, not on a ventilator, and was classified as Covid recovered. Not more than five minutes after I got into her room, I was assaulted by a mask Nazi from the front desk named Doreen who insisted that I wear a mask. I told her that according to the CDC, not only was I not required to wear a mask, but that I didn’t even have to give a reason why I wasn’t wearing a mask. Not to be outdone, Doreen searched for hall monitor to back her up.
As it turned out, the hospital was using an outdated mask policy that its sister hospital had already abandoned. Yet, the policy was more important than personal freedom, CDC guidelines, or guests’ preferences. Even after speaking with interim CEO Amy Teal, I discovered that the hospital’s own policy trumped even the right to privacy in my wife’s room. Ironically, my wife who had been suffering from Covid, was not required to wear a mask in her private room.
While the pandemic of 2019-2020 is something most of us would like to forget, we do have to remember that our customers (or patients) will compare how we treat customers compared to our competition. In a capitalistic society, customers decide which businesses survive and which ones fail.
"If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance a lot less." - General Eric K. Shinseki
(This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Approaching Change with a Positive Attitude.) I encourage you to click here to register for my exclusive live Zoom Approaching Change with a Positive Attitude seminar. On Thursday, April 21, 2022 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.
BLOG SPONSORS
