By Ted Vanderlaan, J.D., R.T.(R), Vice President, Strategy and Innovation: Gurnick Academy
I picked up my phone on the first ring as I saw it was my front desk calling. The strained voice on the other end, “Can you come down right away? We have a very upset patient who is about to throw a fit!”
When I came around the corner to the front desk, I saw a very agitated patient who was clearly unhappy. I smiled and reached out my hand to introduce myself and asked her if she would like to go somewhere where we could talk.
We sat down and I just asked her to tell me what was going on. I listened and acknowledged her frustration. Though unspoken, I knew she was embarrassed because part of the issue was caused by her.
She was doing exactly what made sense to her. Paraphrasing the first law in Logan and Zaffron’s, book “The Three Laws of Performance” is that people will always act according to how the situation occurs to them. This is true 100% of the time. Whenever someone does something that does not make sense to you, whether it is a patient, employee or co-worker, realize that their actions do make sense to them. If we take the time to be aware of this truth, then we can take the next steps to understanding them and resolving the situation.
Knowing this first law also lets us take out the judgment of the person whose actions are causing uncomfortableness at that moment. We must get out of our own head and step into theirs. In doing so we can understand the genesis of the issue.
The second law is how a situation arises in language. The patient’s frustration arose in language that the front desk person realized was going to turn into a fit if it was not addressed. “This place sucks”, “I would not bring my sick dog to your department”, “I would not send my worst enemy to this joint”, “You people are heartless.”
In this moment, we see the first two laws in all their glory.
After listening to her and really getting where she was, I had a decision to make. I excused myself and went to talk with my staff. We were booked that day. Could we possibly fit her in if we made an adjustment or two? The team put their heads together and made a plan. They could get her in within 45 minutes and she would have to wait.
Returning to our unhappy patient I started out by saying, “We have a plan.” Her face and shoulders immediately relaxed as she waited to hear the plan. We were able to get the next two patients finished quicker and could get her in in about 45 minutes. In the meantime, here is a coffee card that you can take downstairs and get something from the coffee cart in the lobby. She smiled. I had applied the third law. “Future-based language transforms how the situation occurs to people.” I painted a new future that completely transformed how the difficult situation occurred to her. It was not magic because I am not a magician. I cared enough to listen, to understand what her situation was and had the power to create a future that transformed how the situation occurred to her.
Whether engaging with a patient in your imaging department, a coworker or an employee, the application of “The Three Laws” is an effective way to guide you through difficult conversations and change the default future into a new future. First, as leaders, we need to step back and get that the person’s actions totally make sense to them. Then, we accept that and not judge them for it. From there we can realize the words they are using arise from how that situation occurs to them. Finally, we have the opportunity to create a new future with language that actually generates a future for them to live into. It does take some time to develop these techniques and is well worth the effort!
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