Best Certification Program
Best Certification Program
Supplier of the Year
People often choose to work in healthcare because of a strong vocation for helping others, which means they need to feel that that value is shared by their workplace. When values driven staff sense a disconnect, engagement plummets and resentment creeps in.
Sales, service and leadership training had been offered and delivered to Green Cross Health’s 300+ strong pharmacy store network for years with limited uptake and results. On investigation it became clear that staff engagement was at the root of the problem.
With the tagline ‘care + advice’ being touted on advertising material across the country, we needed them to know that the organisation cares, so that they could show customers and patients that they care!
With that perspective we developed six core design principles for the project:
1: Remind people that what they do matters!
We knew we had to let them know that not only does what they do matter, but also the organisation is keenly aware of that and super-proud of them because of it.
We did this by role modelling and embedding tolerance and empathy skills and behaviours throughout all learning materials.
For example, we used customer simulations and interactive video to address behaviours stemming from apathy in accessible, even humorous ways making it safe for people to acknowledge that they weren’t always providing the best possible care + advice.
Care + Advice and our new coaching method is so positive and rewarding. It’s about opening our minds to a different way of thinking & different way of approaching and caring for our customers by coaching the team to love their work caring for our customers.Our customer satisfaction score has improved too, it’s well above the average, and previously we couldn’t even get near that!
2: Support people need support too.
Make practical learning accessible for the people pursuing the qualification AND for their leaders, so that they are equipped to coach and support their people through the programme.
We needed the programme to work for the learners and the managers who were required to support the delivery through coaching and role modelling so we developed learner and manager supporting materials to provide a ‘What to expect’ overview of the course and the various ways learning would be delivered and supported.
3: Perfection isn’t the goal, self-awareness is.
Give learners the means, motive and opportunity to honestly assess their own abilities.
By providing anonymous self-assessment quizzes and games we created a way for participants to gain a confidential, balanced view of their own strengths and weaknesses.
4: Embrace kindness!
We steered the team to embrace a kinder perspective by teaching them how to identify the positive intent driving sometimes challenging behaviours.
By giving people insight and resilience we were able to help them demonstrate kindness both to themselves and to others. That allowed them to truly connect and provide meaningful caring services – whether they're leader, pharmacist or a retail assistant.
From a manager / owner’s perspective, we've all endured staff performance management at some point and I always found it to be a real challenge. We have had ‘difficult’ team members express the opinion that the organisation didn’t care for their customers, only their $ value. Attitudes have shifted since completing the Care + Advice programs and working life is now even enjoyable! We have happier, more motivated staff, they even set goals for themselves - normally we would do this. We are experiencing growth in sales and increased staff retention, and don't have to go down the performance management route at all. Win: win!
5: Make it fast.
We had to get buy-in by proving that the learning works -
from day one!
from day one!
With accelerated learning techniques, gamification and tools that learners could apply on-the-job to tackle identified pain points, we ensured people got better outcomes immediately, for the customer and the business.
6: Make it last.
On-the-job implementation is followed up in manager coaching sessions for the duration of the course until new habits are established.
The programme is NZQA accredited and learners gain a formal qualification at the end of it. We used the academic requirement for evidence of success as a level to ensure people followed through in implementing their carefully crafted action plans.
The programme has achieved great results:
Enrolment and completion levels are high with a drop-out rate of less than 10%.
And as for retail growth: in the year the programme was released, it leapt from 5% to 10%.
And almost 10 years after the project was devised, it's still going strong: Power Skills are timeless!
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