(This article originally appeared in
Healthcare Call Center Times in December 2020.)
MIAMI, FL—One of the characteristics of every healthcare call center is the existence of a number of policies and procedures that have to be followed, designed for the success of the enterprise. For example, HR type policies can range from such things as appropriate dress in the workplace, tardiness warnings and the assignment of vacation timeslots. Well thought out procedures can guide how the call center and its representatives handle the various tasks involved in their work.
The Miami, Florida-based Human Error Solutions was founded a decade ago to delve into the reasons why humans, at times, do not follow policies and procedures and to suggest ways to mitigate that for the smooth operation of the organization. Founder Ginette Collazo, Ph.D. has consulted for many different types of businesses, both industrial and office based enterprises and forged a reputation as a human error reduction expert. “Most of the time, when people do not follow the rules, it is because the rules don’t make sense to them, or they do not understand the reason why the rules are in place, or they don’t understand the consequences of not doing it.”
Collazo has a strong belief that people do come to work each day wanting to do a good job. They don’t wake up in the morning saying they are looking forward to doing a bad, inadequate job when they get to work. With that notion as a baseline, she suggests that healthcare call center leaders spend time when training their staff members on procedures to fully explain why it is done this way. Language should be simplified, without elaborate terminology, but in verbiage that is easy for people to automatically understand. And, of course, policies and procedures have to be enforced if there are to have validity.
If, after hearing the explanation of a particular policy or procedure, there are objections from one or more outspoken employees, then this might be an occasion to consider rethinking the policy or procedure. That doesn’t mean it would get changed, just that it is being looked at. Collazo suggests putting together a team that includes all sides on an issue—e.g. one or more who may object combined with one or more who haven’t weighed in or who are in agreement with the current policy or procedure. Then, that group works to hash out a solution that works for everyone.
One interesting twist she advocates in a description of procedures is to highlight steps that are absolutely critical vs. steps that are important. While all steps are important, there are some steps that are so critical that there will be severe negative consequences if they are not followed. To demonstrate what those consequences are, she suggests listing an example of what will go wrong if a particular step is not completed according to the procedure.
Ultimately, the goal is self-regulation; the workforce follows the call center’s policies and procedures because they understand why they were developed, how it helps them perform at an optimum level, and what could go wrong if not followed, she says.