What does Disneyland have in common with a hospital?
Most might be inclined to say very little, but a new program launched by the Disney Institute last month is trying to change that assumption. The Lake Buena Vista, Fla.-based Institute now offers a professional development program for hospitals, called Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence. It focuses on the same five philosophies that have made Disney enterprises so successful: leadership excellence, people management, quality service, brand loyalty and creativity and innovation.
Disney's program reflects a larger trend of healthcare organizations adopting best practices from outside industries. For example, in the past, many hospitals found success with the Toyota Production System style of business, which gave birth to "lean" processing. Disney's program, however, focuses less on the operational and more on the patient experience and brand loyalty. HCAHPS and consumer surveys have indicated the consumer's role will only grow, and Disney wants to help hospitals meet that challenge by understanding that patient experiences are about more than what happens at the bedside. (Hint: it also involves a hospital's employee orientation, parking lot and website.)
Patrick Jordan, healthcare industry consultant for Disney Institute, discusses Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence.
Q: Of Disney's five core concepts, three seem most unique it terms of hospitals. Can you expand what these principles might look like in a hospital setting?
People management
Patrick Jordan: Disney's chain-of-excellence really speaks to culture. Our organization's culture is very much by design. The approach to people management we take begins with selecting cast members (employees) who are a great "cultural fit" — if they "get us," we can teach the tasks. After that, bringing everyone around a central common purpose with well-defined quality standards and associated behavioral expectations helps ensure we are all pulling in the same direction — this creates that seamless guest or customer experience we are known for.
To relate this back to healthcare, most would think the common purpose in healthcare is very obvious: deliver quality care directed at desirable outcomes. What we find with many organizations is that while some employees may embrace this, many are very focused on their individual "tasks" and the over-riding purpose gets lost or diluted. Helping organizations really engage their teams is critical.
Our approach to culture is what sustains the gains in the patient experience. Leaders must lead, and when teams are functioning more independently, leaders can then help them stay focused on their common purpose. This, in turn, leads to a more responsive workforce where everyone supports each other and the purpose.
Brand loyalty
PJ: For us, loyalty is really the reward for continually delivering on our brand promise: a promise of magical experiences, experiences that exceed expectations. We share examples and content with our healthcare clients that help illustrate our laser focus on creating, nurturing and reinforcing life-long relationships at every touch point. These relationships are based on an emotional connection to the brand, which leads to greater intent to return. And if they don't return, they certainly will recommend us to others.
Inspiring creativity
PJ: This may be the most interesting "fit" for our healthcare clients — healthcare has so many scientists that the notion of creativity is sometimes approached with skepticism. The insights that resonate most with these groups are around collaboration. We help teams identify their silos and recognize that frequently the very best ideas come from unexpected places.
Benchmarking Disney approaches to stimulating creativity is often a great way of getting organizations to genuinely collaborate around the patient experience. Creating a "safe" environment in which associates can share and take risks can unleash one of the organization's most important resources: its people; providing a completely renewable, endless source of ideas from those who are closest to the opportunities.
Q: Have you noticed any common problem areas hospitals face in regards to patient experience? Any areas most frequently overlooked?
PJ: Selection and hiring, while meeting the clinical needs of the organization, sometimes does not result in "right-fit talent" for the culture. On-boarding is another wonderful opportunity to reinforce with the newly-hired that they made a great decision in coming to work for the provider. Too often orientation is "boring-tation" and misses an early opportunity to engage and inspire new hires around the organization's vision.
Q: The Disney Institute helps all types of businesses. In your opinion, how is healthcare unique?
PJ: Healthcare, in my experience, is uniquely positioned to take many Disney concepts and adapt for inclusion. A couple of examples: healthcare has a strong, obvious common purpose that can be leveraged to align employees around improving the patient experience. Another example is that at Walt Disney World resort, and all of our parks and resorts worldwide, we are guest-facing in the same way healthcare providers are.
The experience is immediate and can be enhanced, or not, by the quality of interaction with organization's representatives. In our world, we welcome everyone who comes to visit — we are not talking about providing world-class service in theory — we are living it everyday and continually finding new ways to improve the experience, not only for our guests, but for our cast members as well.
Q: What do healthcare leaders need to be more mindful of that other business leaders might not?
PJ: Healthcare leaders are becoming keenly aware of the transparency of their patient experience scores, and they have recognized that while clinical outcomes are important to patients and referral sources, so is the experience. Ironically, many are finding that moving the needle relative to the experience is considerably more difficult when the organization's culture is poorly defined, not well-communicated or out-of-step with the provider's goals.
Q: Has anything surprised you since Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence launched?
PJ: I always enjoy watching skeptics "get it," [understanding] the connections and similarities between Disney and their operation. We talk a lot about the idea that this content is not designed around what we do but rather how we think.
Q: Can you provide your thoughts on the patient experience as a whole, and where this determining factor might be headed?
PJ: The patient experience is so much more than what is happening at the bedside. Too often, I'm afraid, nursing services are left to "fix" the HCAHPs. The experience starts sometimes on the organization's website or in the parking facility, and, when providers really take their operations apart and examine the components of the experience, there are many opportunities for immediate impact. Sure, the experience at the bedside (or reception area or exam room, etc.) is important, but really looking at the larger operation from the patient's perspective is vital.
Q: It might sound a little silly, but are there any similarities a patient should be able to draw between their experience at a Disney park and a hospital?
PJ: Our guests return to the Disney brand over and over because they have a great experience with us. But it's not just because we have great attractions and movies. An important part of what drives their intention to return and/or recommend us is how we make them feel — their interactions with our cast members and their confidence in the brand. No matter what your business, making customers feel special or cared for will make all the difference.
Learn more about the Disney Institute.
The Four Cornerstones of an Exceptional Patient Experience
4 Tips on Using Patient Feedback to Improve Performance
Most might be inclined to say very little, but a new program launched by the Disney Institute last month is trying to change that assumption. The Lake Buena Vista, Fla.-based Institute now offers a professional development program for hospitals, called Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence. It focuses on the same five philosophies that have made Disney enterprises so successful: leadership excellence, people management, quality service, brand loyalty and creativity and innovation.
Disney's program reflects a larger trend of healthcare organizations adopting best practices from outside industries. For example, in the past, many hospitals found success with the Toyota Production System style of business, which gave birth to "lean" processing. Disney's program, however, focuses less on the operational and more on the patient experience and brand loyalty. HCAHPS and consumer surveys have indicated the consumer's role will only grow, and Disney wants to help hospitals meet that challenge by understanding that patient experiences are about more than what happens at the bedside. (Hint: it also involves a hospital's employee orientation, parking lot and website.)
Patrick Jordan, healthcare industry consultant for Disney Institute, discusses Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence.
Q: Of Disney's five core concepts, three seem most unique it terms of hospitals. Can you expand what these principles might look like in a hospital setting?
People management
Patrick Jordan: Disney's chain-of-excellence really speaks to culture. Our organization's culture is very much by design. The approach to people management we take begins with selecting cast members (employees) who are a great "cultural fit" — if they "get us," we can teach the tasks. After that, bringing everyone around a central common purpose with well-defined quality standards and associated behavioral expectations helps ensure we are all pulling in the same direction — this creates that seamless guest or customer experience we are known for.
To relate this back to healthcare, most would think the common purpose in healthcare is very obvious: deliver quality care directed at desirable outcomes. What we find with many organizations is that while some employees may embrace this, many are very focused on their individual "tasks" and the over-riding purpose gets lost or diluted. Helping organizations really engage their teams is critical.
Our approach to culture is what sustains the gains in the patient experience. Leaders must lead, and when teams are functioning more independently, leaders can then help them stay focused on their common purpose. This, in turn, leads to a more responsive workforce where everyone supports each other and the purpose.
Brand loyalty
PJ: For us, loyalty is really the reward for continually delivering on our brand promise: a promise of magical experiences, experiences that exceed expectations. We share examples and content with our healthcare clients that help illustrate our laser focus on creating, nurturing and reinforcing life-long relationships at every touch point. These relationships are based on an emotional connection to the brand, which leads to greater intent to return. And if they don't return, they certainly will recommend us to others.
Inspiring creativity
PJ: This may be the most interesting "fit" for our healthcare clients — healthcare has so many scientists that the notion of creativity is sometimes approached with skepticism. The insights that resonate most with these groups are around collaboration. We help teams identify their silos and recognize that frequently the very best ideas come from unexpected places.
Benchmarking Disney approaches to stimulating creativity is often a great way of getting organizations to genuinely collaborate around the patient experience. Creating a "safe" environment in which associates can share and take risks can unleash one of the organization's most important resources: its people; providing a completely renewable, endless source of ideas from those who are closest to the opportunities.
Q: Have you noticed any common problem areas hospitals face in regards to patient experience? Any areas most frequently overlooked?
PJ: Selection and hiring, while meeting the clinical needs of the organization, sometimes does not result in "right-fit talent" for the culture. On-boarding is another wonderful opportunity to reinforce with the newly-hired that they made a great decision in coming to work for the provider. Too often orientation is "boring-tation" and misses an early opportunity to engage and inspire new hires around the organization's vision.
Q: The Disney Institute helps all types of businesses. In your opinion, how is healthcare unique?
PJ: Healthcare, in my experience, is uniquely positioned to take many Disney concepts and adapt for inclusion. A couple of examples: healthcare has a strong, obvious common purpose that can be leveraged to align employees around improving the patient experience. Another example is that at Walt Disney World resort, and all of our parks and resorts worldwide, we are guest-facing in the same way healthcare providers are.
The experience is immediate and can be enhanced, or not, by the quality of interaction with organization's representatives. In our world, we welcome everyone who comes to visit — we are not talking about providing world-class service in theory — we are living it everyday and continually finding new ways to improve the experience, not only for our guests, but for our cast members as well.
Q: What do healthcare leaders need to be more mindful of that other business leaders might not?
PJ: Healthcare leaders are becoming keenly aware of the transparency of their patient experience scores, and they have recognized that while clinical outcomes are important to patients and referral sources, so is the experience. Ironically, many are finding that moving the needle relative to the experience is considerably more difficult when the organization's culture is poorly defined, not well-communicated or out-of-step with the provider's goals.
Q: Has anything surprised you since Building a Culture of Healthcare Excellence launched?
PJ: I always enjoy watching skeptics "get it," [understanding] the connections and similarities between Disney and their operation. We talk a lot about the idea that this content is not designed around what we do but rather how we think.
Q: Can you provide your thoughts on the patient experience as a whole, and where this determining factor might be headed?
PJ: The patient experience is so much more than what is happening at the bedside. Too often, I'm afraid, nursing services are left to "fix" the HCAHPs. The experience starts sometimes on the organization's website or in the parking facility, and, when providers really take their operations apart and examine the components of the experience, there are many opportunities for immediate impact. Sure, the experience at the bedside (or reception area or exam room, etc.) is important, but really looking at the larger operation from the patient's perspective is vital.
Q: It might sound a little silly, but are there any similarities a patient should be able to draw between their experience at a Disney park and a hospital?
PJ: Our guests return to the Disney brand over and over because they have a great experience with us. But it's not just because we have great attractions and movies. An important part of what drives their intention to return and/or recommend us is how we make them feel — their interactions with our cast members and their confidence in the brand. No matter what your business, making customers feel special or cared for will make all the difference.
Learn more about the Disney Institute.
Related Articles on the Patient Experience:
Patient Experience: An Increasingly Critical Hospital IndicatorThe Four Cornerstones of an Exceptional Patient Experience
4 Tips on Using Patient Feedback to Improve Performance