The Big WaitHave you been stuck with a long wait recently, whether in an airport, a supermarket, or dentist's office? Or are you a manager who gets complaints because your organization makes people wait? In this article, we explore a communication component of waiting. That is, we'll discuss how unintended messages can make waiting even more aggravating than it normally would be. For example Complaints about long waits at emergency rooms have been in the news lately, in Canada at least. That's due to a combination of factors. And obviously we'll complain if we're sick and have to wait hours for service. Now, there's only so much we can do about these waits, given a finite number of doctors, nurses, and beds. However, I believe everyone in the system, from patients and their families to medical staff and hospital administrators, suffers an undue amount of stress because of the implicit messages sent by emergency departments. That's probably true of any place where extended waiting occurs. Based on my own limited experience, and what I've heard and seen second-hand, hospital emergency departments are fertile breeding grounds for unhappy users. Why? Because of implicit messages that exude from non-medical factors. Consider: You arrive at the hospital, perhaps for the first time in several years. Where do you park? Remember, you're already heavily stressed by the time you decide to go to emergency. Are there signs directing you to an appropriate parking area? Do you have change for a parking meter? Can you find the entrance quickly and easily? You check in at the reception area, and now you wait. And wait. You run out of change for the parking meter; you really want a something to drink but there's nothing nearby; you're uncomfortable but you have to sit on one of those institutional waiting chairs; you need a distraction but you can find only dog-eared, year-old magazines. The list goes on and on. So the hospital, and its staff of genuinely caring people, send a powerful, implicit message to users, "You're not welcome here." Too bad, because most people who work in hospitals really do want to help other people. Communicating a positive message If we can't overcome the shortfalls of medical staff and beds, we can do many things to make the experience of users much less stressful. And this is true not only for hospitals, but for any institution or business where overcrowding occurs. Just think back to the Christmas season, with crowded supermarkets and department stores. Back to our emergency room scenario. Suppose we offered free parking after the first hour? What about a water dispenser with disposable cups? What about several copies of today's newspapers and a good selection of recent magazines? All in all, we could likely find many ways to improve the experiences of patients and their families, at minimal cost, using initiatives that implicitly communicate our concern. Somebody's already doing it Just after I wrote the first draft of this article, I read about the Malpensa airport, near Milan, Italy. It has opened a skating rink just outside the main terminal to accommodate waiting passengers who get restless when their planes are delayed (IW News Brief, January 11, 2000).
Application: It's simple enough to identify the aggravations; after all we've got people with time on their hands and probably more than happy to tell us what they don't like. Once we know the problems, we can look for simple, inexpensive fixes that reduce their stress and show we're doing the best we can under the circumstances. Next, go to the general business communication page, or visit our home page Communication Skills . Contact informationRobert F. Abbott Copyright Robert F. Abbott 2009 |