Extraordinary Service ‘Just Happens’ When you Get Culture Right

I recently met with a group of our team members that I rarely meet with. It was our Care Services Centre team. They handle all of the scheduling and customer service needs of all of our clients across North America, and they do it 24/7. For those of you who don’t know the home care industry, it is, by far, the most stressful job in the industry, because everything is urgent, all day and all night.

They are part of the team that forms our “special sauce” in our industry. No other company in the industry provides this type of system for their franchise partners.

As I sat through the meeting, I realized one thing that we really get right at Nurse Next Door is hiring for culture fit. I listened to story after story of how our care service specialists do these amazing things. These amazing things that you would have no idea about if you didn’t ask.

Here is a just a snapshot of a few stories in this meeting (that had just recently occurred)

Paulina, during the busiest part of her day, spent 35 minutes on the phone with a client in Edmonton, talking about Crochet. Our client was quite lonely, and just wanted to talk. And it turned out she loved crochet, so they spoke ‘crochet’ for 35 minutes.

Every day, at 3 pm sharp, a client with Alzheimer’s calls into our care service centre to “chat” and at the end of her “chat” (which usually takes about 10 minutes), asks our girls, very nicely, if it is Ok for her to now take a nap.

We have the daughter of a client, who, at 5 am every Saturday morning, calls our care services centre to game plan the weekend while she cares for her mom. It turns out her Mom is dying, and she is on deck every weekend. Her 5 am weekly call helps her get physically and emotionally ready for the weekend.

A gentleman called in to inquire about getting some help when he came to Vancouver. He lived overseas, and couldn’t get a hold of any other companies to ‘compare’ prices and services. So Deanna, called all of our competitors for him, and then reported back to him with her findings. (He hired us)

I might add that they still pull this off while maintaining a live answer in under 20 seconds 95% of the time. (I just read how Zappos, who we admire in the world of customer service, has an answer rate of under 20 seconds 80% of the time.)

These ‘stories’ are just part of their daily job. They don’t talk about them. They don’t even think what they do is incredible customer service. You have to literally pull this stuff from them, because to them, they are just doing their job. Nothing special in their eyes. But boy, sit with one of the girls for 30 minutes and you will be blown away at what they do.

This post wasn’t meant to brag about our Care Service team members and our wow customer experience. It is to prove a point. We don’t teach these things. In fact, you cant teach these things. These things happen because of culture. We hire the right fit. The people who will do this. And when surrounded by others who share the same way, you just rise up to those around you. It is self policing in a way. It is just expected by your peers that you do this.

No wonder we are starting to be referred to as the Zappos of health care.

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The power of informal recognition. We so often forget this. We get caught up in strategy and execution, and we forget how the little things like recognition and rewards, on an informal daily basis, are so vital. At Nurse Next Door we would refer to this as “Love is in the details”. And I have to constantly remind myself to do this. (more…)

Brand and Culture: One in the Same?

I was asked the question: why am I talking so much about brand in my blogs lately? What happened to culture?
Well, if you read some of my past posts in past 6 months (Brand, Culture and Systems: It is a Beautiful Thing When All Align, Building a Purpose Inspired Brand, What Does Your Culture Look Like?) You will see that I have come to the conclusion that brand and culture are one in the same. Or I should stand to correct myself. They can be one in the same. And in the case of Nurse Next Door, they have become one in the same. (more…)

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I was asked this question at a recent speech. “Describe your culture.” It was a thought provoking question. I mean, we have designed and built our culture around the framework of core values, our painted picture and purpose. But what does it look like? What does it feel like? (more…)

Brand, Culture and Systems: It is a Beautiful Thing When All Align

In this past year, we set out to match our culture with our brand. We had an exciting, dynamic, thought leading and fun culture. Could we build an exciting, dynamic, thought leading and fun brand? This challenge might be easy in another category. But in senior care? Could we build excitement in this boring, old and unremarkable industry? (more…)