Courtesy of Tandigm Health's Jason Ruda, below is a transcript of his speaking session on 'Emotional intelligence and empathy- The key to uber immersive user experience' to Build a Thriving Enterprise that took place at the Customer Experience Excellence Virtual Conference.

Session Information:

Emotional intelligence and empathy- The key to uber immersive user experience

COVID-19 changed the way our world works. Instead of face-to-face encounters, patients were forced to engage with their healthcare providers through a phone or computer screen. Telehealth and telemedicine is the new normal. Compassion and caring were already important to patients and now even more so in this digital age. In the age of consumerism, healthcare organizations must operate like any other industry and learn to engage patients in an empathetic and understand way to maintain and enhance the digital patient experience.

Learning Objectives

• Develop a strong understanding of patient experience in the age of COVID-19.
• Understand how empathy can influence the patient experience.
• Learn effective ways to express compassion, empathy, and caring through a screen.

Session Transcript:

Hi. Great. Great, Jason. Thanks for joining us.

And Jason is going to give us a very compelling presentation on emotional intelligence and empathy and his favorite title, the key to uber immersive user experience. What a beautiful title.

A little background on Jason: Jason is an accomplished healthcare leader with extensive experience in physician, practice, leadership, operational, and financial analytics, leader development in physician, in employee engagement.

He was, he has found success in both large academic medical centers, regional health care systems.

There's passion to make health care better for employees to work.

Physicians to practice medicine in patients to receive care, is a key driver to driving performance to achieve outcome.

Throughout Jason his career, he has consistently institutionalized the culture of service excellence, quality, and ownership in his practices, because accomplishments come by hardwiring systems of accountability for leaders, physicians, and employees.

This has proven, successful and engaging these groups to own their part in achieving excellent condition, experience in clinical outcomes.

Welcome Jason. It's all yours.

Thank you, Jim, and good morning to some good afternoon to others, good evening, to still others. So we are going to be talking about emotional intelligence and empathy and how that really drives our user experiences. So just to talk a little bit about some of the objectives that we'll discover today is we'll get a real firm understanding of customer experience in the age of ... in 19.

Well have a good understanding of what empathy and emotional intelligence can do to influence our customer experience.

And then we'll look at some effective ways to elevate the customer experience as we go through the pandemic and as we start creeping towards even more involvement in the pandemic, just don't should not want to share your screen.

Thank you, Jim.

Can you see it now?

Yes, I can. Thank you. Excellent. Sure thing.

So, I originally wrote this presentation from the lens of health care. But I wanted to really bring it to other industries as well.

Imagine having to go to a doctor's office or go to your trusted advisor or go to an office and try to experience the trust and the level of intimacy that a customer experience really has.

So, I really did try to bring this to a broader audience and with the ... virus, continuing to mutate and kill individuals around the country and around the world. We really have to adjust the way that we do business. It's to save our lives and to really save the lives of others.

And what covert has done is really changed the way that we interact with people, not just on a business level, but on a personal level.

And it really hit the healthcare industry, the hardest, but really has touched the lives of all of us.

So, in December of 2019, XOOM actually hosted has statistics that said that they hosted on average approximately 10 million meetings per day.

Now during the pandemic there was a 300% increase. And in June of 2020, there was approximately 300 million Zoom meetings per day.

Now, looking at the health care sector, there was about 154% increase in telemedicine usage.

Now, people who are not used to seeing their doctor through a screen or doing business to a screen, we're really forced to transition to this online virtual experience, and the shift wasn't just a hard one for the more mature customer but for everyone as we were pushed this new modality.

Now, Zig Ziglar once said that if people like you, they'll listen to you, but if people trust you, they'll do business with you. So trust is a very key component to a lasting relationship.

And to build trust, one must be able to listen, communicate well, and be empathetic.

Now, we'll spend the last part of this presentation on empathy and using epithetic statements to connect to customers.

But for now, I just want to read this. This quote, How customers feel when they interact with an employee determines how they feel about the company itself.

In a psychological sense, the company, as experienced by the, by the customer, is a sum of these interactions.

Loyalty is lost on, or strengthened, in every interaction between a company and its customer.

Now, this quote by Daniel Goleman in his book, Working with Emotional Intelligence, really talks about the importance of how customers feel and the feelings that they have, and how that impacts their brand loyalty. Now, some of you may be thinking, oh, great, some of this fluffy stuff, but don't discount the feelings of our customers.

So I'll take a personal story.

eight years ago, my mother was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer after never having smoked a cigarette in her life.

Fortunately, I was working in New York city health care at the time and was able to walk down to one of my surgeon's offices, and get her an appointment at Memorial Sloan Kettering, a world renowned organization within a week.

That doesn't happen for a lot of people. But when we finally arrived at Sloan Kettering from the time that the valet opened up the door to, the time that she was greeted at the front desk of the lobby Till. The time that someone took us up into an elevator where she was greeted at the front office of that department. To the medical assistant.

That brought her back to the exam room, to the physician, that I spoke with her in a very kind, caring, compassionate way.

She told me that she felt very special, like they were waiting for her, and it all made her feel a specific way.

And so, I love this quote by Maya Angelou that says, I have learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

And so, my, this story about my mother's experience and the interactions that she had with each of those individuals at every single interaction really was an experience for myself and my father because we were there with her.

So we can't discredit the experience that we offer, not just our customer, or our patient, or the person that we're working with directly, but also those around us. So think about for a second a time where you had an experience with a doctor or a waiter or a salesperson that made you feel important and educated and valued.

Can you think of a time about that now?

If you can, go ahead and put in the chat if you can, just me, you know, let me know that you have an experience like that.

If you're thinking of something right now, it's because you felt a certain way, and obviously, it had a very lasting impact on you because you were able to recall it.

This and the way that we make our customers feel is truly the heart of the customer experience.

So let's talk a little bit about understanding emotional intelligence.

So, first, what is emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence, or sometimes it's known as emotional quotient, or you might hear emotional IQ? Or something? Along those lines is really, the ability to understand, use and manage the emotions, your own emotions and others' emotions in a positive way to relieve stress and anxiety, to communicate effectively, to empathize with others. And we'll talk about empathy here in a second, and to really overcome different challenges that you're presented with now. Emotional intelligence really has four components to it, self-awareness self, management, social awareness, and relationship management, where self-awareness and self management is really part of that personal competence. How am I managing the emotions of myself?

Where social awareness and relationship management are social? Have?

social competence impacts where, how I can effectively manage the emotions of others?

So Carl Junge once said everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourself.

This really talks about the ability to accurately perceive our own emotions. It's to stay aware of the emotions that may happen within us, and it really keeps us on top of how we respond to specific people and specific situations.

That is really a key component to emotional intelligence, is to have an understanding of our own awareness.

Now, Plato once said, The fact, or the first and best victory is to conquer self, and this is self management. I'll remember along that same line of that personal competence.

Now, with self management, we're really talking about the ability to use awareness of our emotions, to stay flexible and positively direct our behavior. And it's really about managing the emotional reactions to all situations. And it's, it's building upon that self-awareness, Once we're aware of the way that we react to things, we're able to successfully self manage those reactions. And I've heard people say before, You know, the only thing that I can control is the way that I react to a situation. I can't control the situation. But I can control the way that I am, myself and the way that I react to certain specific situations.

Social awareness, which I think is a big topic, especially today, is really the ability to accurately pick up on the emotions of others.

So I love this quote from Buddha that says, Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate, and the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and the wrong.

Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.

And with all of this social unrest in the country and the United States today and around the world, I really think that for me personally, social awareness is a key, crucial piece and component of creating successful experience.

two people will come in the same way.

one thing that I always like to remind myself is that everyone has a story.

I remember when I was working in a medical practice, this young woman came in with a child on her hip in, and carrying another young child with her, and she was about 10 minutes late to her appointment.

And she was so worried about not being able to be seen by the provider.

It's because she had trouble getting the kids ready, she got a flat tire on the way in, and miraculously still made it within 10 minutes of her appointment.

Now, I had a decision to make, too, either allow her that 10 minute grace period, or tell her that, sorry, we, we have a policy that doesn't allow us to see late patients, because it'll backup our time.

By having that awareness and that compassion for that individual, we were really able to put her into the schedule and have her seen.

And that way, not only did we build that awareness and that social responsibility with, with the within the practice, but we created that loyalty within the patient herself.

She became a lifelong patient, and actually had referred us, other patients, because we took the time to be compassionate to her.

Now, relationship management is another key component of emotional intelligence. Now, this is the ability to use that awareness of our own emotions and the emotions of others to manage interactions successfully.

Now, this also ensures clear communication and an effective communication, which helps handle conflict and relationship management as described by Marshall Rosenberg, is that we're dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel, and really building relationships is the core to the customer experience.

We don't have inexperience within ourselves. We always have that customer in front of us or that patient in front of us or the other person in front of us. And building upon relationships is really fundamental to being able to deliver an exceptional experience.

Now, as it relates to organizational engagement, there are key components here.

So, trust being at the at the middle of this strategy. Trust is really, you know, the thought around when people have that sense of safety or assurance that you are going above and beyond for them to take them into a better experience.

We look at the motivation of our individuals. one thing that I always tell myself is check my motives. How am I engaging with the person in front of me? You know, people feel engaged and energized and committed to those who are going above and beyond and those who are doing more than the minimum.

If you ever thought about a time where you came out of an experience where you said, wow, they really did, whatever they could for me to get me an answer to my question or resolve my situation, that's what we're talking about here, really being motivated to go that extra step.

When we talk about change, a lot of people are afraid of change.

I know I used to be at once until I really got the idea that change is constant, and change is necessary.

And the more that I was able to accept change, the more I was able to move along with it and really transform with it, as opposed to fighting the current. I don't know if anyone has ever done this, but I used to have an above ground pool, and I would start to walk or run in one direction. And the moment that I turned around and start to go the other direction is when I was fighting that change, and fighting the flow of the natural course of the water, and, it was much harder for me to start moving in the other direction.

Now, once they kept moving in the other direction, it got a little bit easier. But, if I just turned around and accepted the flow and worked with the flow, I was able to move at a much faster pace.

This bottom, Corte quadrant here, is really around teamwork, and, as you can see, it really takes that.

the people, human capital, and the operations to work in tandem, where, in teamwork, people really work collaboratively and communicate to take on champ challenges. Now, teamwork is essential to the customer experience.

The one phrase that I really really grinds my gears to put in a fact is that's not my job.

You know, at the end, there's nothing wrong with saying I don't know as long as it's followed up with but I can find out and really working as a team to create these experiences for the individual that will help them move along in the organization.

So, I've worked in many organizations, including medical practices and hospitals, and health insurance plans. And one thing that we have done is really to create teams of specialized individuals that work in tandem with each other and work with each other.

That's something that we're doing at my current organization, tend to m-health, is creating these specialized teams to work on different, different strategies that will help our customer, which are medical practices, to get the answers that they need, Get the coaching that they need, and really partnering with them.

The, the name that I think of, when I hear teamwork is partner, and really partnering with our customers, is taking that to the next level.

And then, lastly, execution execution is crucial to any any situation.

And in here, it's really beneficial to have both the team and the individual focused on the same goal, but also bring in this idea of accountability where it's not, my job is not acceptable in our organization. It's everyone's job to create an exceptional patient and customer experience.

Now, when we think about it, when we have enhanced emotional intelligence, we really have enhanced communication.

So, some ideas to think about here is: really spend more time listening.

I've heard a phrase, you know, put, put the cotton in your mouth and take it out of your ears. That's something that I, you know, really have used in coaching when I'm working with, with leaders, or or my team itself, is really to take that opportunity to not just hear what the person saying, but listen to them and use that skill of active listening.

Where we are creating that relationship and enhanced communication, as we heard, builds on that trust.

We really want to allow the person in front of us, whether that be a patient or a customer or potential consumer, to express themselves and have those verbal and non-verbal cues to let them know that we've actually heard them.

Now, there's different ways that we can do that either verbally or non-verbally, that actually allows our, Put the person in front of us to know that we are hearing them.

one of the best ways to do that, and this is across any industry, is a technique called the teach back method.

Where the person in front of us is telling us something, and we teach back to them.

What we heard, it can also work the opposite way, where we ask the person in front of us to teach back what we are trying to explain to them, so that we can ensure their understanding.

It's also crucial to set up processes, to help control our own emotions, and the emotions of the organization.

Burnout is a huge, huge impactor on all of the industries across the board.

Whether that be health care technology, you name it, burnout is there and this pandemic has really added to that level of burnout. So how are we setting up our own processes to crow and control our own emotions, so that we can continue to elevate the experience of the person in front of us.

one thing that I had to learn really well throughout my career is to swallow my own pride.

You know, when I was in arguments, I always wanted to be right.

And as we know, maybe the customer is not always right, but we don't show that they are not right.

We may show them the right way, but we have to really look at the way that we're communicating. And if I swallow my pride, I'm able to listen more and communicate more effectively so that I can really help enhance that experience.

Then, lastly, tailoring my response to each individualized customer, know, the last thing that I would want to do or want to hear, is a canned response, and we'll talk about this, and the empathy statements, as well, but if we're talking about an individualized customer experience, we really want to individualize those responses.

So this also plays into the plays into effect with tone of voice, or the expressions of concern, which leads to empathy statements, which I'll talk about here in a second.

So let's move on to empathy and the customer experience. First of all, let's define what empathy is. So empathy is really defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. And as we'll see later, it's not sympathy. Sympathy is different than empathy. Empathy can enhance that communication and continue to build on the trust that we have with our customers, and truly empathy is a vital component of the customer experience.

So, here are some examples of empathy statements that we can use. Now, when using empathy statements, it's a great way to enhance that communication and connect with the customer, but there really has to be that level of authenticity.

So it really helps to prove to the customer that we understand what their emotional state is. It's most effective when you demonstrate, you also understand the why the individual is feeling that the way that they're feeling.

There may be times where a person in front of us may be going through something that we haven't literally experienced, ourselves. However, we can identify with the feelings of fear, anxiety, frustration, or even joy that the person in front of us is experiencing.

When we experience, when we understand the why behind it, and I think this goes for any piece of the customer experience. When we understand the why behind this, then we really are demonstrating a more effective way to communicate and build that trust, and build that relationship with the person in front of us.

one thing, you know, that goes along with swallowing, my own pride, is not to involve with a grain disagreeing with the individual in front of us.

And that should say disagreeing instead of agreeing because we do want to agree. But we don't want to disagree in a, in a very inappropriate way, or have that argument with the person in front of us. Now, this also leads to not condoning any inappropriate behavior on the person in front of us on their behalf, but really avoiding those arguments. And as someone that I work with says, a lot is preserve the relationship.

If it feels like the conversation is moving in a way that is not going to have a positive outcome, you know, how are we preserving the relationship at the end of the day?

We really want to look at how we can convey our interest, and that we are concerned for the way that the person is feeling. Now, that could either be virtually or in person. Now, it's much harder to do virtually. So there has to be a lot more ways that we do that through use of body language, or use of empathy statements. And we'll go through some of those here in a second.

And then lastly, it really does require authenticity to be effective.

Now, this last point is crucial, like I said. So I'm not sure if any of you may or may not know what this symbol is for the restaurant.

I'm sure that you, if some of you know it, go ahead and put that in the chat.

If others don't recognize it, this is that chick fil a logo. Now chick fil a is a restaurant that has a standard way of doing business with customers.

If you go and you ask for a meal or a napkin or any condiments, their responses, it's my pleasure.

Now, to create that trusting Loyle relationship, just by saying, it's my pleasure, is not good enough, it has to have that level of authenticity, because if you're saying, It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure. It just becomes something that we say. But if you include that authenticity to it, it really becomes that effective empathy statement.

So here are some examples of empathy statements that we can use.

If I understand you correctly, this not only creates that level of empathy within the interaction, but it creates that clear, consistent, concise, effective communication as well.

I'm here for you.

Something that I love to hear is that someone has my back.

If I'm working with someone and I'm working through a problem, or a challenge, or I've, you're the third person that I've tried to get an answer from. If I hear something like I'm here for you, that really creates that bonded relationship and builds on that trust that we're trying to create.

Let's work together to figure this out.

What that does is it creates that teamwork or if you want to use that word partnership between you and the customer or you and the person in front of you. And working together, you're able to find not just a satisfactory resolution, but one that is beneficial for both you and the person in front of you. And working together may bring up different ways to, to get over a hurdle or get through a challenge or a barrier that one side or the other may not have thought of.

You're right. Now, I said before that maybe the person in front of you is not always right, but there's a way to get them to the right answer.

So in a way, we can actually even empathize with people that say, you know, this is really frustrating. And I can say to them, you know what, you're right. This is frustrating, Let's see how we can continue to work on this, so that we find the best resolution for you that we possibly can.

I appreciate when I use work, when I use this, I actually use this in my personal life, as well.

And I have that level of authenticity with it, where I actually tell people that I appreciate you. Because I appreciate the value that they're bringing to the relationship. that we have, or I appreciate the knowledge that they brought to a situation that I may not have thought of.

So when we're telling the customer or the person in front of us, I appreciate whatever that is. The way that they're responding.

The way that they have, you know, conformed to the instructions that you have given them or even the feedback that they've given that's letting them know that that is valued and that value brings you back to that trusted relationship and partnership.

Thank you.

So many people forget, too, that this is a full sentence, you know, thank you, is something that really builds on that customer experience. We can thank people for their participation for them being a valued customer, for them, whatever it is.

But by saying thank you, we're really acknowledging them, and letting them know that we do appreciate them.

And then this last one is sometimes hard for us to do, You know, I've worked with legal and compliance departments that said, never say, I'm sorry, however, fortunately, in my organization now, that's acceptable. And I believe that's an acceptable statement.

I'm sorry, doesn't mean that we're at fault. Or we're to blame. I'm sorry, could be, I'm sorry that you're going through this.

I'm sorry that this is frustrating, I'm sorry that you are experiencing this at this time. You know, it's something that continues to build upon that relationship between you and the person in front of you.

Now, before I mentioned that empathy and sympathy are really different, you know, for empathy, you're just listening to the person, You're really understanding that person in front of you.

With sympathy, you tend to give more advice.

Maybe that's unsolicited advice, and maybe the person in front of you just wants you to listen with empathy. You're putting yourself in the other person's shoes. That's something that I've trained my teams on in the past, and I'm training teams on here at ... Health, on doing, is putting ourselves in the patient shoes. Remember, everyone has a story. Think of a time where you walked into a situation. Having all of these things behind you that made you frustrated, or scared, or nervous, or angry, and all you want to do is have that person in front of you understand what you're going through.

Because, with the with sympathy, you're really only understanding your own perspective, and you're not understanding the emotions that the person in front of you is going through, but just trying to relate it back to your own experiences.

So here are some tips to consider during a virtual encounter. Again, this was primarily focused on the health care sector, but I tried to broaden it up because we are in a more virtual world. You know, there's 3, 3 cornerstones to this three major points. We need to listen. We need to learn and we need to care. So first, acknowledge the customer and introduce yourself.

When you do that, you're able to create that bond in that relationship with the person in front of you, Use empathetic statement's throughout the entire visit throughout the entire encounter.

Maintain eye contact and acknowledge the customer with verbal cues, and, because, where virtual body language is especially important, we want to ensure that the visit or the experiences conducted in a quiet location with out distracting clutter. I have a very plain background behind me. You know, the actually the rose color wallpaper. People have commented that's very soothing but I don't have any clutter behind me.

I don't have a lot of papers, or books, or you know, running animals, and the more that I'm able to reduce the clutter around me, the more I'm able to engage with you as the participant.

Explain what you're doing for the customer. Now, there may be times where we have to look away, or look at another file, or if we're in a medical office, and look at a chart, Or even, you know, pull up something on another laptop, or iPad, or something. When we're able to explain what we're doing for the person, and explaining that, we are doing something else. It's not distracting to the person.

We want to make sure that we understand and know that technology that we're using. So be prepared and competent so that we can minimize the technical difficulties that we have, Kind of like what I did. I didn't have my share screen on, so I have to prepare better what I'm using new technology.

We want to avoid side conversations, especially texting and e-mailing. Because that really takes us away from the interaction in front of us.

And then continue to practice active listening.

There's a study that shows that.

And this is for healthcare, that a physician interrupts a patient within one point seven seconds of them trying to explain something. Now, that's a very high average, and I don't know what it is for other industries. But, that's something that we can actively do by using something like a one minute rule, where we allow the person in front of us to speak for one minute before they really, before we interrupt or start to give the advice that we want to give.

Now, to build on some tools, you know, building a strong team with emotional intelligence, one of the things that I recommend is really hiring for cultural fit, not for skill.

There are going to be positions that you need to hire for both, but when you hire for cultural fit, you're able to enhance the skill that the individual has.

Use behavioral based interviewing questions.

By doing this, you're able to recall back from the individual's previous experiences and what they would do for you as an organization.

And then lastly, make the experience more human.

You know, in a virtual world, it's really hard to harder to do this, but it's not impossible.

Have the camera on when you're in meetings, have the camera on when you're having customer experiences.

Make sure that you're meeting virtually with your team.

Have a live human being answering phones. I know there, they may be at higher costs, but trying to figure out a way to reduce the number of times that a phone tree is used, which will increase the anxiety of the person trying to get through to us.

Now, to create an increased employee experience, and increase employee engagement, there are several ways that we can do that, by using emotional intelligence. First, is to set clear expectations. Now, especially with remote work. You know, this becomes more flexible. But really setting clear expectations helps us to deliver on the product and the experience that we're trying to create.

We want to stay connected. You know, like I just mentioned, we want to have team meetings and team calls are at 10 AM Health every Wednesday. Actually, after this presentation, there is a company wide huddle where everyone gets on the same meeting and everyone has their cameras on and gets to see each other and that creates camaraderie, and that creates a sense of belonging, especially in a virtual world.

We want to make sure that we are trusting the people that work with us and work for us, allowing them to use ideas of their own, and create a different way that they're able to deliver on a product or a task that we ask them to do.

Manage the accomplishments and not, not the activity.

So, you know, one thing that I tried to stay away from as a team leader is that concept of micro management give direction, but not micromanage the activities that they're doing, that allows people to feel accomplished and to grow within their own organization. And that leads to the next point, is to encourage that growth and professional development. I have always taken on a mindset that I want to build a team where one day someone on my team can replace me, because I want to grow and develop myself. I want to make sure that, when I do, there's someone on my team that has the ability to grow into the role that I am leaving.

We want to give and receive feedback.

Now, I put that in purposefully of being able to not just give feedback, but also to receive feedback as well. Because as a leader, I'm not just managing up, down and over, but I'm also receiving the information back from my team, so that I can continue to grow and develop as their leader.

We want to build that emotional intelligence into the workplace culture. When it becomes a core foundation and a core value of the culture that you work at, It becomes something that you start to hire for, and start to build at, within the organization.

And then, lastly, celebrate the wins.

It's so easy for myself and for us, as leaders, to immediately go to what's broken, what needs to be fixed, but when we take time to celebrate the wins, it creates that culture of recognition, that culture of reward. And when we celebrate the wins, we can start to look at trends, to recognize individuals, recognize teams, but also to duplicate those processes, to be able to build upon those wins in other areas of the organization.

So, that is my presentation for today. I know I don't know if there are any questions, but thank you so much, and just if anyone is interested, here is some information on the on myself tip for us to stay in touch.

Thank you so much, Jason. Fantastic presentation. Very informative.

I certainly got a lot out of it.

I love your sympathy.

Ah.

Versus. Empathy comparison.

That's a that's a wonderful comparison a question that came in is How When you're deploying this in different organizations, and you're dealing with a different stakeholder groups, how do you get them started on this journey of of Being more empathetic and Emotional intelligence how do you how do you get started?

That's, that's a great question. So, there are two ways that we've done it in the past.

The one is, start it right out of the gate. Create that culture of emotional intelligence and empathy by incorporating different trainings and education pieces within a new hire orientation.

The other is to create different modules, or have team meetings. You know, as part of the team meeting, incorporate ways to identify ways that your team has been emotionally intelligent, and empathetic, or to create ways of how they used emotional intelligence and empathy in their daily interactions. And it's all about education and awareness.

People don't know what emotional intelligence is sometimes, and so just creating that education piece and awareness of what it is. It will help you start the ball rolling.

Just follow a great answer.

Are there any paradigms, common paradigms getting started that you could share with us that you no have to overcome to get going on this journey?

So one thing that, you know, I have experienced in the past, is, I've been in this role for X number of years, and I know what I'm doing.

Or even even when someone is new coming into an organization, if they have 20, 30, 40 years of experience, it's the hardest thing to do, is to retrain the way that people have done things for X number of years.

And so really reconnecting people back to the why.

This is why we do this, the way that we do this, and this is who we are.

Everyone should have the same name on the badge, right? And this is part of who the organization is. This isn't an initiative that we're going to be starting. This isn't a program that we're launching This is who the company is.

Excellent.

Then it follows up on one last question here, and that has to do with respecting others.

I didn't hear you talk Or discuss much about that, I'm sure that's part of this.

How does that fit in?

Yeah, that's, that's a great point.

So, when we are, and that really plays into this social awareness component and the social aspect, social competence of emotional intelligence, we may not agree either in one way or another politically religiously ideologically with the person in front of us, however, we can still respect them.

And by having that level of respect for who they are, as another human being, we're able to create that empathetic relationship and build on that trust. And there are people within organizations that I've worked in before that. We just didn't get along for one reason or another. But I respected who they were for the talent that they had. I respected them for the role that they played in the organization. And I respected them for being a member of my team, because we were all driving towards that. Same why we're here. That same corporate mission, that same those same company values, and having that respect for the individual in front of you, will just build upon that loyalty trust and relationship.

Excellent.

one last question, Have you ever used to, you, make me feel approach and one-on-one or group sessions, do you find that that works or does not work anything two?

Watch out about things like that, that kind of an approach.

Yep, I have heard, I've heard that before.

And I, I've put my own twist on it.

Instead of saying, You make me feel, I say, I feel this, When this happens, What that does is that shifts the conversation, instead of putting the, quote, unquote, blame on the other person, for making me feel something, I'm feeling nervous in this situation.

And, so, the more that we can use, those empathy statements, that include the word I, and using I statements, is a better way to have conversations with the people in front of us.

Yeah, That's fantastic for us all, I think, and we're taught not to say the word I But in this situation, you need to be accountable with the eye, is that correct?

I absolutely agree with that.

I think that's a great way to end your session. Fantastic. Jason, any closing comments?

If anyone would like to reach out, I'm here, and thank you so much for all of your time today, and have a great rest of your conference.

Thank you, Jason.

Thank you so much, Fantastic presentation, very insightful.

So, we'll be back at the top of the hour, noon Eastern, to welcome in Steven E Deputy Executive Director, S NEF.

We'll talk about leveraging data and analytics analytical tools for customer experience.

So, we look forward to seeing you at the top of the hour.

Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you. Thank you.

About the Author

Jason Ruda,
Experience Director,
Tandigm Health.

An accomplished healthcare leader, Jason has vast experience in medical group management, operational and financial performance improvement, leadership development, and workforce engagement. In his current role as Director of Patient and Provider Experience at Tandigm Health, Jason is accountable for designing and delivering on the overall experience improvement strategy through workforce development and provider engagement.

Prior to joining Tandigm Health, Jason worked in world-class organizations such as Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Studer Group, Baird Group, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Guthrie Clinic. Apart from his daily activities, Jason is also the Founder and Executive Director of The Kindness For Karen Foundation; a not-for-profit organization that offers programs and services to support women and their families affected by lung cancer in underserved communities.  Jason is currently pursuing his second master’s degree in Clinical Psychology focusing on clinical mental health counseling and substance use disorders.

Throughout his career, Jason has consistently institutionalized a culture of service excellence, quality and ownership in his practices. His accomplishments come by hardwiring systems of accountability for leaders, physicians, and employees. This has proven successful in engaging these groups to own their part in achieving excellent patient experience and clinical outcomes.