|
Does your health and
wellness staff treat your
clients, customers or patients
with respect and honor?
I bet you said "Yes!" right
away.
Well, let me rock your boat
for a minute.
Radial led a public workshop
on building client relationships.
Most participants worked
with overweight clients
who also had health concerns...diabetes,
joint problems, etc.
Some attendees turned out
to have very judgmental
views of their clients...described
them as "lazy" and thought
they should "just suck it
up". In fact, some
participants - very fit,
never overweight, no personal
health struggles - were
quite smug about their healthy
lifestyles.
Now, almost everyone enters
this profession because
they want to make people's
lives better, healthier,
and happier.
But it's possible that some
of your staff may lose sight
of that purpose, much as
police officers say they
start to see everyone as
a potential bad guy.
Your team members may become
jaded, impatient, or actually
hostile towards clients.
And if they're experiencing
extraordinary stress in
their own lives, their patience
can vanish overnight.
As managers and owners of
wellness businesses, be
alert for these warning
signs. Coach the offending
employee, and get them out
of the business if they
can't renew their commitment
to a positive and supportive
approach.
Nine Warning Signs
1) Poor listening
skills
Look for staffers who
consistently use reflective
listening techniques.
Reflective listening emphasizes
truly understanding client
concerns, both what they
say and what remains unspoken.
Useful reflective listening
techniques include:
- Echoing their comments
to encourage more disclosure:
"So it really felt bad
when you couldn't find
an outfit you felt good
about for your daughter's
wedding..."
- Summarizing the
client's comments: "Let
me see if I understand
so far..." or "Here's
what I heard..."
- Pay close attention
to statements that suggest
openness to behavior
change, like "I'm going
to do something but
I'm not sure what" or
"If I can't lose weight
this time, I'll have
to start medication."
- Invite them to share
more information: "Tell
me what I missed..."
or "What other points
should we think about?
Professionals with poor
listening skills often achieve
poor results. They
immediately launch into
action without enough information
to choose the best approach.
Watch for these red flags:
professionals who want to
jump right into action with
a client, who ask very few
questions, tend to use yes/no
questions rather than open-ended
questions, or don't consistently
and effectively summarize
what they're hearing from
the client.
These are skills that
can definitely be learned,
so focused training on client
communication skills should
be the first approach when
you have staffers who fall
short in this area.
2) Jokes or sarcastic
comments to coworkers at
the client's expense
You want staffers with
genuine compassion and caring
for your clients and customers.
Look for consistency in
how they talk about clients
in public and in private.
Often professionals say
the right things when they're
with a client, but make
demeaning or critical comments
behind the scenes.
Take this inconsistency
seriously. It's giving
you real insight into how
they truly feel. Even
if employees say the "right"
things, clients are often
amazingly good at detecting
the underlying insincerity.
3) Poor client success
rates compared to coworkers
The most effective health
and wellness professionals
are excellent at uncovering
the anxieties, frustrations
and fears of their clients
through active listening
and questioning.
The reason they're so effective
is that they use the information
they gather with these techniques
to adapt their approach
for each client.
Compare the success rates
across your team.
Focus on the staffers with
unusually poor client results.
Factor out anything that
might distort the comparison
- for example, a staffer
who always works with the
most difficult clients.
Then, start discreetly observing
client interactions for
team members with low client
success rates. Get
input from their clients
- what's working, what's
not, and are they finding
their experience with your
business to be what they
expected it to be.
4) Lower client
retention and referral rates
compared to coworkers
Clients who feel that
their relationship with
your business is rewarding
and productive generally
remain clients. If
they're extremely pleased,
they'll refer friends, family
and coworkers to your business
as well.
Compare client retention
and referral rates for each
of your staffers.
Zero in on the individuals
whose clients typically
turn over fastest.
Look for the employees whose
clients rarely refer others.
Reach out to their former
clients and ask for their
feedback. Start with
the key customer loyalty
question we described in
our feature on
"The Best Customer Loyalty
Metric For Wellness Businesses".
Then explore what they liked
about their experience with
your business, what disappointed
them, and what you could
do better.
5) Limited prior
life experience, especially
with health & wellness concerns
The most effective wellness
professionals often have
direct experience with their
own health struggles.
Perhaps they've battled
to maintain a healthy weight.
Perhaps they take medication
for a chronic condition
like diabetes, epilepsy,
depression, or ADD/ADHD.
They may themselves have
lower back pain, or bad
knees, or migraine headaches!
This experience often
gives them real empathy
for their clients.
Their own lives have taught
them that you can want good
health very badly and yet
find it difficult to achieve.
However, many health and
wellness businesses feel
that their labor budget
forces them to hire relatively
inexperienced staffers who
often haven't yet experienced
the full array of lifestyle
commitments - family, friends,
community, work, school,
self-care, eldercare, etc.
- or serious health concerns.
Without focused training,
it's often very difficult
for these employees to really
appreciate the struggles
of their clients. However,
great listening and communication
skills can overcome lack
of first-hand experience,
so make sure you invest
in adequate training for
these team members.
6) Judgmental or
strongly opinionated beliefs
about why people struggle
We constantly learn more
about the causes of health
concerns like obesity.
For example, the New York
Times reported this week
that intestinal microbes
may cause weight gain in
some people.
Watch for staffers who resist
or ignore new information
when it becomes available,
preferring to hold onto
the beliefs they've always
had.
A red flag is often the
word "just", since it frequently
accompanies an oversimplified
or judgmental view of the
client's situation.
Keep an eye on staffers
who say things like:
"You just need to get up
from your desk more."
"People who are stressed
just need to spend less
time on work."
"People who weigh too much
just need to stop snacking"
"People who don't workout
are just lazy"
"You just need to stick
to your diet"
Another red flag: professionals
who complain about the "excuses"
that clients use.
7) Pride that they
"tell it like it is" even
when it's uncomfortable
Effective wellness professionals
tailor their communication
to the individual client
and what they feel will
be most helpful to that
client.
Some staffers pride themselves
on always "telling it like
it is". That approach may
work with some clients,
but it shouldn't be the
default.
Clients usually respond
to this tactic in one of
two ways. They may
perceive arrogance - the
professional's underlying
assumption that they know
the ultimate answer.
Or they may be intimidated,
afraid to raise issues or
disagree, because they expect
the wellness professional
to "slap them down".
Either way, this behavior
usually confirms their worst
fear: no one's really listening
to them or paying attention
to their issues.
Moreover, people who enjoy
"telling it like it is"
usually choose words that
are at best blunt and at
worst rude and discourteous.
For example, we heard a
wellness coach say loudly
to a client, in front of
several other clients and
a couple of potential customers:
"Listen, I'm just going
to lay it on the line.
If you don't get serious
about losing weight and
getting in shape, I just
don't know what's going
to happen to you.
You've got to get it together
or you're going to die early
of a heart attack."
No surprise that her client
vanished after that session.
8) Impatient or
aloof demeanor with clients
Effective team members
stay "in the moment" with
clients. They're engaged
in what's going on and patient
as they explain and discuss
the client's goals, actions,
and behaviors and demonstrate
techniques and approaches.
Watch for employees who
rush through explanations
to clients. We've
observed nutritionists and
dietitians who quickly dump
enormous amounts of information
on clients, say "OK?", and
quickly move on. And
we've seen personal trainers
staring off into the distance
while their clients do rep
after rep.
9) Conviction that
they've seen it all before
The value of experience
is that you start to recognize
recurring patterns among
clients. It helps
you develop approaches that
will work for many clients,
not just one.
The risk of experience is
that professionals sometimes
operate on auto-pilot, falsely
confident that they've seen
it all. They mentally
pigeonhole clients ("emotional
eater", "frazzled mom",
"frail senior", etc.) and
stop listening for new information.
Rate this article &
enter our drawing...
|
