There are 21 hospitals in the Intermountain Health Care system.  When they were deciding what to do to raise the level of their customer’s experience, they focused on the world ENGAGEMENT.  But what one person defines as engagement differs from another.  Fortunately for IHC, they decided that shared decision making was a key.  Shared decisions.

At Disney, there are levels of engagement.  Some “guests” opt for the full Monte with the Disney Plus program, complete with arm bands that act as  mobile credit cards.   Those who chose to go “all in” even decorate their bands with Disney pins and themes.

At Harley-Davidson, each weekend tens of thousands of HOGS head out to remote locations for a trip complete with a souvenir t-shirt, or dew rag to commemorate their motorcycle adventure.

When a customer experience is profound enough that it makes people want to collect a souvenir, you know they are engaged.  We appropriate what we appreciate.  We appreciate what we know about.  That is called education. 

Back to Intermountain Healthcare.  They started providing education to diabetes patients.  Would that education cause a change enough to collect a “souvenir?”   They found that in 21% of the initial participants, patients starting changing the way they made  healthcare decisions based on education.

Like all businesses, there is a need to make employees aware of ENGAGEMENT.  Even at IHC they have those who feel their “patients just want me to tell them what to do”, so possible engagement opportunities are lost.

Until leadership sees the imperative to move the customer relationship (patient) upward through joint decision making between employees and their customers, organization will continue to be mundane and not stand out.