Emotional Intelligence with Patients (Pt4)

This blog post discusses how leaders can cultivate EQ in their organizations to positively impact customer emotions and energy -- and get unparalleled results.

I spend a lot of my time working in healthcare, so I will use the term "patients" and "customers" interchangeably.

Why Is Emotional Intelligence Needed with Patients?

Two elements of the four-part emotional intelligence equation relate to OTHERS' emotions:

• Being aware of others' emotions
• Influencing others' emotions

Leading means being aware of the emotions of your patients AND influencing them to move away from negative emotions and toward positive emotions.

Why Emotional Intelligence Matters with Patients

As discussed in my previous posts on emotional intelligence (Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3), we all have a negativity bias, including your patients and customers.

Your patients are much more likely to tell others about a BAD experience than a good one. And they will tell it with relish and vitriol -- not good!

So stopping a negative experience before it happens OR recognizing it when it does THEN taking emotionally intelligent corrective action will all have a huge impact on your patient satisfaction and your online reviews.

Below: Actual photo of one of your customers writing a bad review.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

How Can I Use Emotional Intelligence with Patients and Customers?

Emotional intelligence is a powerful tool, so it makes perfect sense to apply it to relationships with your patients. So how can you do this?

Listen Listen Listen

You can't recognize the emotions of your customers if you don't listen. As a leader, you can do this by:

• Walking around the customer or patient areas and talking to them. Ask them how their visit is going.
• Stand by the exit area as patients leave -- notice or ask them how they are feeling after the visit. You will likely notice one or more people who are not quite pleased with their visit.
• Conduct focus groups with people who have patronized your business or one-on-one conversations where you can dive deep into the shopping or patient experience. Ask and listen to understand how you can improve your product or service.
• Read and respond to all online reviews of your business. Take note of any trends in sentiment and don't be tempted to write off these reviews one-offs or unimportant.
• Solicit reviews and feedback after online transactions or in-store experiences.
• Pro tip - A lot of the above tips can be translated to the employee experience, also!

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Have you ever viewed your business from your patients' or customers' point of view?

• Observe your employees interacting with patients and customers to see what the service experience is like. Notice the emotions and behavior of customers during the process.
• Listen in on recordings or read chat logs of customer interactions. How is your phone or chat team handling customer/patient issues? Better yet - spend time getting on the phone or computer and directly handling customer issues yourself -- you'll quickly gain empathy for what they go through.
• Have your new hires and current employees go through the shopping/service experience as if they were patients or customers. Ask them to take note of what is working and what isn't working.
• Navigate your website as if you were a customer looking for service. Does it flow easily? Can you access a customer service specialist quickly? Can you find the location or "buy now" button easily? Does it look appealing and clean, or chaotic and confusing? Ask a third party to provide feedback on your website, too, since you are going to be biased.
• In healthcare: Teach new hire employees what it's like to be a patient in need of healthcare. Explain the conditions you treat and what the symptoms are like. Talk about the life activities impaired by those conditions. Explain what the treatments and side effects are. This concept can be translated to other industries, also.

Train Your Employees

Your employees are the main ones using EQ with your patients or customers, so their emotional intelligence may be even more critical than yours. Teach them the basic skills of EQ so they can be more attuned to customers and more skilled at resolving conflict.

A good consultant, internal leader, or HR pro can help you design this type of training.

Use the Power of Empathy

Empathy is incredibly powerful as a way to help others regulate their own emotions. When people feel heard, they are better able to control their emotions and they can access the rational parts of their brains.

Some phrases to practice empathy:

• "I would feel that way, too, if that happened to me."
• "Tell me more."
• "I've been through that, and I felt the same way."
• "I can see why you would feel that way."
• "What was that like for you?"
• "It sounds like you felt ___. Is that right?"
• "Can I make sure I heard you correctly? It sounds like (paraphrase what you've heard)."

Conclusion

Key takeaways:

1. Emotional Intelligence throughout your practice can transform patient satisfaction.
2. Customers have feelings and you can't ignore that if you want to have a successful business.
3. You can teach your staff and yourself to maximize patient and customer satisfaction and grow the online sentiment of your business.