Delivering great customer service to residents and families in senior care communities starts with internal customer service among employees. Good internal customer service requires leaders to establish and communicate core values including compassion, competence, commitment, and community. It also needs to be driven by standards of service excellence.
Standards of Service Excellence
Be Fully Present. If employees are going to spend 8 to 9 hours a day providing care and services, they should be fully present with one another. Full presence means that employees are there for each other, do their best to understand each other, and take the time to listen to one another. Being fully present also means employees live in the moment with each other. If it’s time to be happy, they’re happy together and when sad things take place, they share sadness.
Communicate Clearly and Genuinely. Internal customer service cannot exist without a constant flow of effective communication, meaning that staff understand what is being said and that it comes from the heart. Communication is not used as a weapon between staff; instead it brings people together.
Act with Urgency. What can be done tomorrow should be done right now. Internal customer service requires immediate response and call to action. Questions should be answered as soon as possible and requests between employees should be attended to with expediency.
Act like an Owner. Great internal customer service between employees can be enhanced when they talk and act like the owner of the care community. Employees can deliver more when they feel they are not boxed in or restricted from doing what is necessary. Acting like an owner also involves taking full accountability when things go wrong.
Be a Shining, but Humble Star. Employees who are polite, respectful, and modest provide better internal customer service because they create positive energy that trickles throughout the care community. They show genuine kindness, transparency and gratitude to one another.
Use Technology Wisely. Delivering internal customer service to one another means never texting or emailing a negative statement about coworkers and colleagues. One bad comment can create turmoil in the workplace. It takes a long time to develop a good relationship and seconds to destroy it.
Create and Foster Relationships. How could any kind of customer service survive without people who reach out and connect with one another? Employees in senior care probably spend more time together than they do with their biological family. If this is true, work relationships are important. Delivering internal customer service to one another becomes easier and more natural when there are genuine relationships involved.
Final Thoughts on The Importance of Internal Customer Service in Senior Care
Leaders in senior care may want to take a few minutes to think about their internal customer service and compare it to the service provided to their residents and families. Are they similar? There appears to be a direct relationship between the kind of customer service employees provide to each other and the kind given to residents and families. Standards of service as well as core values are the drivers of excellent customer service.
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