Dr. Okochi, founder and director of Okochikai Medical Corporation, helps businesses drive strategic growth. Creator of Daikandou method.
If you are the leader of a company or organization, do you have these problems?
• Many subordinates are unmotivated.
• No excellent subordinates are being promoted.
• Subordinates don’t want to do anything beyond their minimum job requirements.
We receive approximately 300 healthcare professionals (100 companies), as well as company presidents and executives from large corporations, as visitors each year. The purpose of their visits is to learn how they can incorporate our management strategy in their own companies. Many company presidents and clinic directors have said they have the same problems I just mentioned.
They then ask me questions like:
“Why does everyone at your hospital radiate so much vitality?”
“Why is everyone in your hospital so motivated?”
“Why are you willing to work on initiatives outside your core business, which doesn’t even pay the bills?”
And I always answer like this:
“It’s because I always deliver great impressions to my staff.”
I value my staff as if they were my own family. As I care for my staff, they become self-motivated. And they, in turn, take good care of their patients. In other words, a chain of great impressions occurs. The chain of “great impressions” gets people to move voluntarily.
There are many examples of the chain of great impressions at our hospital.
For example:
1. A chain of good impressions between two staff members: When a new staff member was sick, a senior staff member asked her, “How are you feeling?” and “Are you eating?” She even offered her some easy-to-eat soup. The newer staff member was so happy with the senior staff member’s selfless consideration that she put in her best effort at work.
2. A chain of good impressions from staff to a patient: When a patient mistakenly came to the hospital an hour early for his vaccination appointment, he was taken to another room and served drinks and snacks by a staff member. The patient said that the staff was so wonderful that he became a fan of the clinic.
3. A chain of good impressions from a patient to the clinic: There is a patient who has pruned our garden trees for free for more than three years. He is a professional gardener. He said that he was impressed by the response of our clinic and that he owes us a debt of gratitude. We are deeply grateful for the kindness the patient has shown to the clinic.
4. A chain of great impressions from staff to the clinic: After work, some staff members volunteer to weed the clinic and maintain the plants and trees in their casual clothes. I am so pleased to see the staff’s voluntary act of giving back to the clinic that it brings tears to my eyes.
My experience has taught me one thing. When we as leaders treat someone like family, they will want to share that feeling of being cherished with those around them. In other words, giving a great impression to someone in front of you can create a chain of great impressions for everyone around you.
A chain of great impressions occurs as follows:
I, as a leader, give a great impression to my staff. Then they want to share that great impression with the patients and clinics around them. Then the patients who have a great impression of us will also want to share that great impression with the staff and clinics around them. In this way, giving a great impression to someone in front of you can create a chain of great impressions for everyone around you.
This concept is also supported by leadership theorists. Koji Sakamoto, a proponent of “management that values people,” explained in a Japanese-language article that when you thank people for their hard work, they’ll tend to try harder.
I have always imagined an ideal future: an organization where everyone works with vitality, happiness and brilliance. I imagine an organization that does not focus on profit and expansion for management’s purposes but rather values people. If we value them like family, the weak will no longer be weak. They will likely work harder and more intensively than anyone else and contribute to the team and the company.
In other words, to create an organization where staff work independently and of their own initiative, we should practice “management that values people.” To do this, first of all, it is important to keep giving great impressions to the staff. Create a chain of great impressions and nurture people with initiative. Then, we can create an organization filled with people who work with initiative and vigor. In this way, we can surely contribute to creating a wonderful world full of love.
Leaders, let’s start a chain of great impressions. And let’s make the world full of smiling people who live and work proactively and vigorously.
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