One afternoon in May 2007 I showed up for my first training day before a group of twenty-five secretaries from one of the oldest and most recognized hospital institutions in Colombia. The prestige of the institution transcends the borders of my country, since it houses in its beautiful buildings in the French Republican style more than a dozen of world-renowned doctor-scientists, pioneers, some of them in transplant surgeries and surgical procedures. high risk.
Just under an hour after starting the scheduled activity, an assistant, very sure of herself, sent me a few disapproving signals and raised her hand to ask for the floor. "I recognize the importance of the values and procedures that you suggest to us for the best customer service, but let me tell you that neither tomorrow nor in fifteen days we will be able to apply even a third of these beautiful teachings… Here, together with we should have a few area managers who did not want to listen to us as God intended. I and some of those who are here have presented to them over and over again very precise observations on the quality of telephone attention, on the time we have to attend to the requirements of each patient,assigning appointments and distributing calls from the PBX… ”. (N. del A.: The results of the famous “numerical goal setting” -or speed of attention- can be highly damaging, as the specialist Mauricio Lefcovich refers in his article “The quality put to the test in service management of health ", DeGerencia.com, 27-03-2008)
As soon as his speech had ended, other attendees were encouraged to express their disagreements. While some described in detail the vicissitudes of their usual workday, others insisted on the proximate and remote causes of their discontent. In the end, they all found coincidences in a few anomalies that the management of the institution should immediately correct if it was truly committed to improving the quality standards in telephone service and direct attention.
Of course, the session had taken an unexpected turn. I barely had time to introduce the training plan that I had planned to develop that and other afternoons. Some secretaries watched me half surprised, wanting to guess what my attitude would be in the face of the avalanche of comments. I deemed it inappropriate to dismiss the interventions of the attendees or to divert attention to the purpose that had brought us together and, without qualifying in any way the turn, I devoted myself to listening to their complaints with the greatest attention and communicating my points of view.
Half an hour before the end of the session, I took the initiative and indicated to the group that, in my opinion, it was convenient for the majority to agree on the essential points of the discussion. Then I proposed that an act be prepared, which I would deliver to the hospital's human management department.
The assistant who had taken the floor in the first instance gladly offered to serve as moderator and to collect in writing the recitals and suggestions agreed upon by the group. Throughout the debate I had already perceived that she was an outstanding leader, highly respected by her peers. Once read, the document received final approval. The attendees left grateful, graceful and with a smile on their lips. They worked with enthusiasm and dedication for the remaining three sessions.
The echo of what had happened in that session reached the ears of those attending other working groups. Half of the eight groups formalized their own concerns in both minutes and the manager of the communications department, on behalf of the institution, thanked the initiative and assured them that the suggestions would be known and analyzed by the general management.
After that experience, similar to others that I have had in the past as a lecturer and coach on issues of corporate communication and excellence in service - the most recent was with a full manager, whose case led me to think that the company had oversized its “Bad behavior” towards some clients, given the latter's tendency to practice a hasty and incomplete style of communication -, I have come to the conclusion that companies should incorporate into their training, training and continuous improvement processes a strategy that I would baptize The Day of Truth.
WHAT SHOULD THE DAY OF TRUTH BE?
Since it is a project, a proposal that can be inserted into the philosophy of benchmarking or continuous improvement, it would be difficult to fully round out or define what that day or those “Days of Truth” would consist of, since even the standard of a single day would be subject to review. But I do venture to see what it could be and how much it could contribute to the good health of the work environment and the quality of performance in organizations.
1. Objectives of the Day of Truth:
1.1. This day should be promoted, first and foremost, as a collective catharsis, as an occupational mental hygiene, as a way to encourage employees to speak their minds about their positions and those who have a favorable or unfavorable impact on the good progress of themselves.
1.2. If external clients are a rich, inexhaustible and not very well-used source of information and business for companies (a major issue in update management), it could well be the same in relation to internal clients. Consequently, companies should look with different eyes at how much or little internal customers have to say regarding their positions and the real efficiency of the processes in which they are involved. Encouraging internal customers to speak their minds, in controlled and well-managed circumstances, holds potential for unsuspected value for improving quality management indicators on multiple fronts.
1.3. Beyond giving a few beneficial instructions or studying some casuistry, what would be pursued in an activity of this nature would be that each one of the members of the public summoned recognized the importance of exposing with objectivity, frankness, responsibility, constructive spirit and you are completely free of your annoyances, your disagreements and your "reservations" about the way in which each one performs his tasks compared to the way in which others do it. It cannot be ignored that the triumph of rumor and correveidile derives, in many cases, from the exhaustion or lack of use of effective communication strategies, which in turn comes from a poor or poorly structured corporate culture related to moral incentives and intangibles that must be provided to the human resource,to human capital (the emotional salary, neither more nor less).
1.4. Companies and their members, like any organism, become contaminated and intoxicated, degenerate and seriously weaken if they do not find the best way to evacuate their useless loads, their waste. The simple act of promoting a healthy confrontation, of encouraging the free flow of ideas and feelings, is already a considerable gain for the good performance in common.
But doesn't Truth Day, after all, end up resembling the traditional primary group scheme? Not necessarily. I even think that it should have a methodology and stimuli that are closer to the group therapies practiced by alcoholics anonymous, for example. A good Truth Day could consist of assistants listening to the personal stories of one or two co-workers, not necessarily close. I know cases of labor relations that have improved almost overnight when the colleagues of someone with whom they have not had an affection for some time ago find out that that someone had faced with great determination a succession of bitter experiences… The variants can be many and very creative, but all would point to a single and fundamental purpose:encourage the habit of saying what is thought and thinking what is said without fear of the consequences, for the good of the company and of themselves.
In the second part of this article we will see other aspects that will help us complete the concept of the Day of Truth: methodology, periodicity, threats and creative modalities. Oh, and one last question for managers: Would you be willing to invite your company's audiences to participate in a Truth Day? Half of the success, I anticipate, depends on the person who takes the leadership of the session, on her ingenuity to manage it.
Attached document:
I transcribe below the email I received from a prominent manager regarding the application of the Truth Day strategy. When I stated that I had some problems with the attitude and performance of her team, I decided to send her the article, still unpublished, in case she wanted to apply some of the ideas suggested in it. A few days later, Margarita María contacted me by phone to thank me for the contribution and she told me in detail how profitable that Day of Truth had been. So I asked him to send me a testimonial of the experience to share with you, dear readers. No more, I retire for now and leave you the testimony of Margarita María Velásquez, as I received it:
Hello, dear readers. I belong to a mass consumption company in the food sector, managing the wholesale channel nationwide.
This year, the sales team in the city of Bogota had been presenting serious difficulties regarding leadership and communication issues, notably affecting the work environment, the results of the organization and the quality of life of the employees.
On April 16, 2008, on the initiative of the company, a "Day of Truth" workshop was held with the Bogotá work team, in a country setting, totally removed from the regular work environment.
The people on the team had a high degree of expectation regarding the activity; They were a little anxious, tense, as a consequence of the situation that was presenting itself.
In the first stage of the exercise, each member of the group was asked to express what their job expectations were. Most of the ideas were focused on understanding what was the factor or factors that had deteriorated the relationship in the team, behavioral reflections on themselves and openness to listen to the ideas of others.
In the second stage of the exercise, a reflection was made on assertive communication and on the predominant behaviors of people at different ages: childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
In the third stage, an introspection exercise was carried out in which each person had to tell what they wanted about their blood family (parents, siblings, grandparents) and what characterized them. Then a similar exercise was carried out with the description of the own home (spouse and children).
It is worth noting that the personal history of each team member was very impressive for everyone. Many good and bad memories and feelings came up in those moments. Of course, some of our motives for conflict faded, or changed perspective. Suddenly, we were all deeply aware that we had history, past, repressed feelings, difficult to communicate to others under normal circumstances. It was then that everyone understood the reason for many of the behaviors that were negatively affecting team performance.
This made us think that, to the extent that we know and recognize the other as a being with an inner world of our own, communication and interpersonal relationships are more fluid. Judge the easy. Understanding and building ties of understanding and harmony with others is not.
Over the past few weeks we have seen change. This is, I think, because we get closer to each other, as people, than as coworkers. The work environment has improved again: communication is more fluid, there is more cooperation in the group and the company's objectives are being met. However, I consider the follow-up and feedback process that is planned to run monthly to be very important. I think it is vital to give continuity to the process that we have just started.
Margarita María Velásquez Mora
Wholesaler Colombia..
