Fred Lee (author) - If Disney Ran Your Hospital

IF DISNEY RAN YOUR HOSPITAL

9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently

Second River Healthcare Press

26 Shawnee Way, Suite C

Bozeman, MT 59715

Phone (406) 586-8775

Copyright 2004 By Fred Lee

Editor: Gary Swanson

Permission to reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, must be obtained by writing to Second River Healthcare Press or by calling 406-586-8775 or by fax to 406-586-5672.

Lee, Fred If Disney Ran Your Hospital : 9 1/2 things you would do differently / Fred Lee
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references

ISBN 0-9743860-1-4 (soft cover) ISBN 0-9743860-0-6 (hard cover)

1. Health services administration. 2. Patient satisfaction. 3. Consumer satisfaction.

I. Lee, Fred II. Title

Walt Disney Company Trademarks: If Disney Ran Your Hospital is in no way authorized by, endorsed by, or affiliated with the Walt Disney Company, Inc., or Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World are registered trademarks of the Walt Disney Company. Other Disney trademarks include but are not limited to, Disneyland, Epcot Center, and Walt Disney. All references to such trademarked properties are used in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine and are not meant to imply that this book is a Disney product for advertising or other commercial purposes.

Disclaimer: While every precaution has been taken in preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting, or alleged to result, directly or indirectly from the use of the information contained herein. If you do not wish to be bound by the above, you may return this book with receipt to the publisher for a full refund.

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DEDICATION

To the four nurses who profoundly shaped my life through their unconditional love, and their commitment to lives of service and compassion:

To Aura, my wife, best friend, and most trusted advisor. Her encouragement keeps me motivated, and her support allows me to pursue a passion for teaching. Her talent as a caregiver, and her leadership style as a director of nurses, provides the inspiration and role model for the management principles in this book.

To Helen, my mother, who was a lifelong missionary nurse in China, setting an unwavering example of kind and selfless service.

To Margaret, the beloved mother of my daughter Stacy and son Lorin, who lost an arduous and courageous battle with encephalitis contracted when she was a school nurse in Singapore at the age of 28.

To Sylvia, my little sister, a surgical nurse, who looked up to me when I didnt deserve it and makes me feel loved and cherished as a friend and confidante.

THREE LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE

By Dean Hubbard
President of Northwest Missouri State University and
Former National Malcolm Baldrige Award Examiner

It gives me great pleasure to be a small part of the launching of a significant book on quality service and the culture it takes to sustain it.

Someone has said, I am not interested in simplicity on this side of complexity. I am only interested in simplicity on the other side of complexity.

This axiom suggests that there are three stages of knowledge. The first level is simplicity born of ignorance, as when somebody says, Oh thats simple, but doesnt know what they are talking about. The second level is complexity born of understanding-when one realizes a subject is far more complex than it first appears on the surface. The third level is simplicity born of profound understanding. Only a few get to this lofty state. Fred Lee is among that elite group. People who know little about customer satisfaction and loyalty think it is simple. Its just practicing the Golden Rule, they will say dismissively Organizational leaders at this level believe they can effect change by simply elaborating on the Golden Rule with statements of mission, vision, and core values. But they quickly learn the discouraging truth that changing from a culture of whats in it for me, to what would be best for my customer is impossible at that level of simplicity. When they begin to see that it is harder than it seems, some give up and make excuses for their particular organization. Were in the inner city, they will say. Or, Our facility needs to be modernized first. Or, Theres a labor shortage and we cant find good people anymore.

However, the best leaders redouble their efforts through exhaustive reading, learning from the great quality thinkers like Deming, Juran and Crosby and benchmarking other organizations. I have been on this journey at the college and university level for nearly thirty years. I know what I am talking about, and so do all the members of our leadership team. With the right thinking and relentless improvement, Northwest Missouri State University is the only educational institution to win the coveted Missouri Quality Award twice.

Sometime, stand facing the leadership shelves at Borders or Barnes and Noble and ponder this thought: Every single book in front of you, and hundreds not on display, all have something unique and important to teach about cultural transformation, human motivation, process improvement and quality service. If one were to read them all, he or she would be overwhelmed by the complexity of creating the ideal organizational culture. What one longs for at this point is someone who can strip away the trivial and distill the essence of all this knowledge into a handful of principles born of profound understanding. Thats what Fred Lee has done for hospital leadership in this immensely readable book-much of which I have found just as applicable to the university experience.

Fred Lee speaks as a keen observer of individual motivation and group participation in organizational goals. He established his career in hospital leadership and uses Disney as his benchmark because he has been inside the Disney culture as a cast member, consultant, and facilitator. What helps give his writing and speaking its most profound simplicity on the other side of complexity is his extensive use of personal experiences and relevant stories to demonstrate every principle he teaches. Even though he specializes in healthcare, he has been a big hit with our university staff who have been inspired by his passion and challenged by his insights. If you are still reading this foreword, I predict you have started a delightful journey through these pages.

Working at Disney is a walk in the park compared to working in a hospital.

Thats what I thought after being a Disney cast member for a short time to help develop and facilitate a program called