By Jay Juffre
Interviewing people today is so interesting. Despite reviewing their detailed resume, thanks to platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and the internet in general, candidates who do their research can find out just as much about you prior to the resume. Whenever I am interviewing someone, I often close by asking if the candidate has any questions. Recently a VP candidate took me up on this. After reciting the highlights of my long career with ImageFIRST, she asked me, with all the changes in my responsibilities, is there anything I missed about my previous roles. My response was simple. In my current role, I don’t get to visit our locations as much and therefore interact with all the people who work in the field and in our facilities. The reason I loved doing this, is I could understand (and many times remove) the roadblocks our front line associates and leaders were facing. This exchange reminded me of an article I read a couple years ago. There was a hospital CEO who made a habit of walking the entire hospital on a regular basis. The walk had a purpose. He would interact with staff members at all levels. He wanted to simply know how he could make their experience as employees better and in turn, also enhance patient care. One small example he discovered was that the fitted sheet in the ICU was a complete pain for the team. It simply would not stay on the mattress. This may seem silly to an outsider, but can you imagine being a nurse trying to save lives, and constantly needing to try and get the corner of the sheet back on? Despite it being an issue for a long time, the fix was simply switching to a different type of bed linen. Problem solved, but it never would have happened if the CEO was not asking the questions. When it comes to patient care, lead by walking around.
Jay Juffre is Executive Vice President, ImageFIRST. For more information on ImageFIRST, call 1-800-932-7472 or visit www.imagefirst.com.
