Soft Skills for the Hospital Volunteer

Soft Skills for the Hospital VolunteerBy Tawana Washington

Washington, Soft Skills for the Hospital Volunteer 1

Table of ContentsWho is This Training for?.............................................................3

Think About This..............................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................3

Overview..............................................................................................................................................................3

One: Greeting customers............................................................4Greet customers in manner specified by hospital administration.............................................4

The Moment of Truth.....................................................................................................................................4

Learning Activity..............................................................................................................................................5

Putting it in Action...........................................................................................................................................5

Two: Getting to know the customer.............................................61. Avoid using negatively charged trigger words..............................................................................6

Learning Activity..............................................................................................................................................7

Quiz........................................................................................................................................................................ 7

Learning Activity...........................................................................................................................................10

Quiz......................................................................................................................................................................11

Three: Determining Customer’s Needs.......................................12Asking the right question...........................................................................................................................12


Quiz......................................................................................................................................................................14

Four: Building Rapport..............................................................15Standards of behavior for volunteers...................................................................................................15

5 Standards of Behavior.............................................................................................................................15


Soft Skills in Hospital Setting...................................................................................................................17


Quiz......................................................................................................................................................................18

Five: Maintaining Rapport.........................................................19Objective: Applying steps to positive customer relationship....................................................19

Maintain Positive Customer Relationships........................................................................................19


Quiz......................................................................................................................................................................20


Who is This Training for?

Think About This

The hospital is a service-oriented industry where soft skills’ training is imperative. As frontline staff, volunteers need to be customer oriented. Patients, their relatives, third party assurance, and vendors constitute customers. From admission to discharge patients need to be skillfully handled.

Many guests will surmise if a person is willing to donate their time, it must be a good hospital. Such soft skills for hospital training give the hospital an edge in helping people with a wide variety of problems. These individuals will be looking to you, the face of the hospital, for help.

INTRODUCTION

People skills, interpersonal interaction, soft skills are all fancy ways to describe the strategies humans use to communicate. In the cartoon above a lack of these skills is humorous, in the real world it can be disastrous.

This training is intended for new volunteers. It was developed in response to an expressed need from many seasoned volunteers who wished to have an established set of skills, practices and protocols to use as resources to deliver the best possible experience to the customer.

Overview

First, you will learn how give a proper greeting. You will explore many ways to get to know the customer through a variety of

activities and discussions. You will take the information you gather about the customer and use it to

determine their needs. The training continues as you pull the various strategies together to develop

customer rapport Finally, you will develop a strategy to maintain customer rapport.

Washington, Soft Skills for the Hospital Volunteer

Talk with customer to

identify problem

Identify trigger words

in the situation

Determine specific need of customer

Build positive customer

relationship

Maintain positive

customer relationship

3

One: Greeting customers

Greet customers in manner specified by hospital administration

The Moment of Truth

When a customer comes into contact with you, whether the customer walks into an office, asks for directions, or talks to you during lunch, is called, “The moment of truth.” During this critical moment the greeting…

need to be done correctly, every single time is the impression a guest will have of you the volunteer will make you the volunteer appear proactive, and personable.

Is the impression a guest will have of the hospital should encourage the guest to interact with you

So with all of this in mind the hospital administration has developed a standard greeting to be used by all volunteers.

“Welcome to the hospital. How may I help you?”

REMEMBER: Greetings are not just the words we use, but also the acknowledgement we give patients and guests upon seeing them.

What Not to Do

A stare – Expecting the customer to come up to you. The daze - Pretend you are too busy to see the customer. “Can I help you?” – It is a closed question, no opportunity for interaction.


“Yes.” – The customer is put in a defensive mood.

Learning Activity

What types of greeting is not applicable in the hospital setting?

Putting it in Action

A customer enters the hospital. Correctly write down the administration approved greeting all volunteers will use in the hospital.


Two: Getting to know the customer

1. Avoid using negatively charged trigger words

In the comic strip to the right one person is simple saying “Hi”, when he is met with an angry reply. This can also happen when getting to know customers.

Some times as a volunteer you may use negative trigger words without realizing it. These may not appear negative on the face of it, but can elicit a negative response from the other person.

The Importance of Words

Avoid avoiding no/can’t language in interactions.

A no/can’t resolution carries an abrupt and impersonal tone Can be taken the wrong way by customers

Example of a no/can’t: "I can't get you a parking pass now. We don’t have any at this desk.

The example isn't negative by any means, but the tone that it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal (“I can’t” and “we don’t have any”), and can be taken the wrong way by customers. It also does not offer a solution to the customer’s problem.

When speaking with customers utilize language that focus on when/how

A when/how resolution employs positive language Gives the customer a timetable to resolve the problem

Example of a when/how resolution: "Unfortunately we don’t have any parking pass at this desk. If you are able to wait for just a few minutes I will go to another area and get one for you."

This example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but instead focuses on when/how the customer will get to their resolution (just a few minutes) rather than focusing on the negative.


Learning ActivityWrite an example of a no/can’t resolution.

Write an example of a when/how resolution.

Quiz

Multiple Choice: Place letter of correct resolution answer in the blank.

1.___I can’t help you find the main entrance until I am finished with this customer.

(a) no/can’t resolution (b) when/how resolution

2. Unfortunately I am not able to help you, but let me direct you to someone who can momentarily.


3. The hospital is remodeling and the dialysis has moved to a new floor and I will walk up there.



2. Using Attentive Listening while Attending to Customers

Along with monitoring your word choice, improving your listening skills through practicing "active listening will also help you avoid the use of negative words.

Five steps to attentive listening S.O.L.E.RAttentive listening will require you to look the customer in the face, have an open pasture with your has at your at your side, lean slightly toward the customer, maintain eye contact while the customer is speaking and relax. These subtle but effective cues will show the customer you are paying attention and concerned about their problem.

These five steps can be broken down into and easy to remember acronym S.O.L.E.R

Squarely face the person….signals you are interesting and giving full attention

Open your posture…shoulder and head up Lean towards the sender…your attention focused Eye contact maintained…looking away only occasionally Relax while attending…shows you are in a position to help

S.O.L.E.R in action

A pregnant woman comes into the hospital; her body language and facial expressions show stress, frustration, and even some fear. Your shift is ending in five minutes and need to secure confidential patient information. You have dealt with a number of interruptions already. You lower your head and hope the customer goes elsewhere. The customer abruptly interrupts and says, “I know you are just a volunteer, so can you get someone who can help me?” Without looking up, you hold up a hand and say, “Welcome to the hospital. I will be with you in a moment.”


What Not to DoIn the scenario above none of the S.O.L.E.R steps were followed

Squarely face the person….The volunteer never faces the customer. Open your posture…The volunteer hunched over so customer would

go pass. Lean towards the sender…The volunteer’s body was leaning toward

the task not the customer. Eye contact maintained… The volunteer did not make eye contact. Relax while attending…the volunteer’s appeared defensive and

indifferent.

What you should do

A pregnant woman comes into the hospital; her body language and facial expressions show stress, frustration, and even some fear. Your shift is ending in five minutes and need to secure confidential patient information. You quickly and carefully put away the patient information. You make eye contact with the customer while walking up to her. Before she has a chance to say anything you smile and say, “Welcome to the hospital. How may I help you?”

The scenario above illustrates how to follow the S.O.L.E.R steps.

Squarely face the person….The volunteer never faces the customer. Open your posture…The volunteer is walking toward the customer. Lean towards the sender…The volunteer’s body is leaning toward the

customer. Eye contact maintained…The volunteer makes eye contact while

interacting with the customer. Relax while attending…The volunteer smiles and greets the

customer.


Learning Activity

By remembering S.O.L.E.R, you can adopt an active listening approach with all customers.

Write down an example of actively listening?

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Quiz

Multiple Choice: Place letter of correct active listening answer in the blank.

1._____A man comes into the hospital walking very fast and looking flustered and begins to speak very fast. How do you respond to show that you are listening? a. Ask him to slow down. b. Face him and allow him to finish c. Mentally prepare a rebuttal.

3.______A customer asks for directions while you are looking up patience’s room number. a. Looking your cell phone while giving the customer directions. b. Stop what you are doing and focus on the customer c. Ask the customer to wait while you finish.


Three: Determining Customer’s Needs

Asking the right question

Although there are numerous reasons for asking questions the information we receive back (the answer) will depend very much on the type of question we ask.

Questions, in their simplest form, can either be open or closed - this page covers both types but also details many other question types.

Below are some different types of questioning a volunteer might use when trying to understand the needs and concerns of a client.

Leading Questions: Used to guide the customer in a persuasive manner.

Examples: “Would you like to talk about it?” “What happened then?” Could you tell me more?”

Open-ended Questions to expand the discussion: Lead with: How? What? Where? Who? Which?

Examples: “How may I help you?” “Which department do you need?” “Where do you want to go?”

Closed-ended Questions prompts one-word reply usually yes/no: Lead with: “Is? Will? Are? Do? Did? Can? Could? Would? Where? Who?”


Examples: “Do you need help? Can I get you anything? Who do you need to see?”

Reflective Questions help people understand more about what is said.

Examples: “It seems like you need help finding a department? You are saying you have an appointment with MRI? You mean the car is in the blue garage?”

“Why” Questions: Avoid leading with these questions they tend to make people defensive.

Examples: “Why do you want that department? Why do you need to see the patient? Why are you here?”

Learning Activity

Write down your own example of a leading question.

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Write down your own example of an open-ended question.

Write down your own example of a reflective question.

Write down your own example of a closed-ended question.

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Quiz

Multiple Choice: Place letter of correct open or closed question in the blank.

1. How may I help you?

a. open question b. closed question

2. Do you need assistance finding to MRI?


3. What brings you to the hospital today?


Multiple Choice: Questions beginning with is, do, and, how will give one word responses. Write the letter of four other words that encourage one-word responses in this space_________.

a. yes, I, am, who b. today, who, no, why

c. who, so, for, more d. would, where, who, will

Multiple choice: On the space below choose the correct reason starting a question with “why” should be avoided. _________.

a. “why” questions are too broad b. “why” questions may be misinterpreted

c. “why” questions maybe closed d. “why” questions are too positive


Four: Building Rapport

Standards of behavior for volunteers

At the hospital, customer excellence is a key strategic focus. Everyone has worked together to develop the five behavior standards after which to model daily actions.

The standards uphold the Pillars of Excellence. Each month, the entire workforce focuses on improving one standard. Standards are tied to annual performance reviews.5 Standards of Behavior

Honor the dignity and worth of each person Recognize and respect your customer’s individual needs

Show care and consideration Accept customer’s needs as your own responsibility

Build trusting relationships Guarantee privacy and confidentiality

Exceed customer’s expectations Ensure safe, high quality service

Add value to customer interaction Ask your customer if all their needs have been met


Learning Activity

Pick one of the Five Standards of Behavior. Write a example of how it may affect customer interaction.

Standard of Behavior______________________________________________________

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Pick one of the Five Standards of Behavior. Write a example of how it may affect customer interaction.

Standard of Behavior______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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Soft Skills in Hospital Setting

Interpersonal skills are the life skills we use every day to communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups. People who have worked on developing strong interpersonal skills are usually more successful in both their professional and personal lives.

By observing others - making a conscious effort to understand how communication occurs - you will think about how you communicate and be more aware of the messages you send

1. Verbal Communication…. What and how something’s said

2. Assertiveness…Communicating your needs and wants

3. Problem Solving…Identify, define and solve issues

4. Listening Skills …interpret verbal and non-verbal messages from others

5. Negotiation…Working to find mutually agreeable outcome

6. Non-verbal Communications…Body language

Learning Activity

Write a brief scenario where you use at least three interpersonal skills


Quiz

Multiple Choice: Place letter of correct interpersonal skill answer in the blank. Write one sentence explaining your choice.

1. _____After noticing a man standing in the middle of the breezeway looking around. you ask to help him. He says yes.

a. Verbal Communication b. Non-Verbal Communicationc. Decision Making d. Listening Skills

2. ______ A volunteer is assign to the front desk until new hospital staff comes on duty. A customer has an appointment on the third floor, but needs wheelchair assistance.

a. Verbal Communication b. Non-Verbal Communicationc. Decision Makingd. Listening Skills

Multiple Choice: Place letter of correct interpersonal skill answer in the blank. Write one sentence explaining your choice.

1. _____Make sure all customer needs have been met by asking, “Is there anything else I can do for you/”

a. Honor the dignity and worth of each person b. Show care and consideration c. Add value to customer interaction d. Exceed customer’s expectations

2. _____Ensure safe and high quality service

a. Honor the dignity and worth of each person b. Show care and consideration c. Add value to customer interaction

Washington, Soft Skills for the Hospital Volunteer

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d. Exceed customer’s expectation

Five: Maintaining Rapport

Objective: Applying steps to positive customer relationship

Maintain Positive Customer Relationships

So once you have established rapport with a guest, how do you maintain it?

As long as the guest finds you the volunteer to be trustworthy, genuinely concerned about his or her needs, desires and goals, and is able to continue having open and honest communication, the rapport between you and the customer should be maintained.

Learning Activity

The steps to maintaining rapport with customer

1. Establishing rapport2. Identify customer’s needs 3. Make customer feel valued4. Interacting positively with customer


Quiz

Read the scenario.

A woman is entering the hospital with a cane. Upon seeing the customer,

the volunteer provide the standard greeting, “Welcome to the hospital.

How may I help you?” The woman asks for the physical therapy

department. The volunteer has offered to take her. They chat pleasantly

while walking to the department. Before leaving, the volunteer tells the

woman “Call the front desk if you need any help getting to your car.” The

woman smiles and thanks the volunteer.

Circle the four steps to positive customer relationship illustrated in the scenario.

a. Maintain ongoing relationshipb. Establishing rapportc. Identify customer’s needs d. Make customer feel valuede. Handle different types of customers f. Interacting positively with customer


Leadership & Management

Soft Skills for the Hospital Volunteer