The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

About a month ago, my 20-year-old daughter, who had been studying in Scotland, stepped gracelessly off a curb in London, and broke her left foot. She received excellent emergency care in London, and then even better care at Crosshouse Hospital in her adopted home in Scotland. After her visit there, she called and told me “This was the best medical experience I’ve ever had.”

A week later, the semester finished, she flew back home to Florida, and went to an orthopedist here in Jacksonville. This twirp turned out to be arrogant, rude, and condescending. He may have been clinically adequate, but his people skills were a zero on a scale of one to ten. He had apparently forgotten that he had been appointed, not annointed, to his position in the practice, and my daughter vowed that henceforth, she wouldn’t let him touch her with a ten-foot pole. We later learned that this guy (we’ll call him “Dr. A”, for [well, you know…])  had earned himself a widespread reputation as an A-number-one jerk, but that his colleague, “Dr. C” was kind, empathetic, highly skilled, and the sort of doctor who took his professional oath seriously.

When we called the practice (of more than 30 physicians) to ask that her follow-up be handled by Dr. C, we were told that, because of our insurance company’s rules, she would have to remain in the care of Dr. A. Smelling a rat, I checked with the insurer, who reported that they had NO such rule, and that if Dr. A. was found not to be satisfactory, then we had every right to seek the care of Dr. C, or any other doctor on their provider list.

Five days and 12 phone calls later, after I confronted the practice manager with the lie she had been caught in, the transfer from Dr. A. to Dr. C. was finally approved. The problem had nothing to do with insurance company rules, but rather the protocol in the practice. “The doctors don’t usually transfer patients among each other,” we were told. “It reflects poorly on their monthly reports.”

In other words, this was all about the doctor’s ego, and his paycheck. Lost in all of this was ANY consideration of the patient’s health and wellbeing. This pompous excuse for a doctor put his own interests ahead of those of the patient whom he had charged nearly $1000 for 15 minutes of his time. Professional? Hardly.

Lots of lessons here, but I’ll focus on 2: 1) The next time you hire someone for a position, consider not only their technical skills, but also the all-important attitudes and values.

2) Professionals, especially those in a service business, would do well to remember that their primary obligation is to those who “favor them with their custom”.  Everything else is secondary at best. Feeding the ego should come well down the list.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

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