By Benjamin Lewis, MBA, CHTM
Whether you are a HTM professional who is a technician on the floor, a manager of an in-house program, or a vendor providing OEM or third-party services, the power of your word will have boundless influence on the success of your career and your program. Your word, and the influence that comes with it, is all about meaning and doing what you say. It sounds like a simple concept, but it can be more difficult when put into practice.
“If it were easy, everybody would do it.” Most of us have heard this saying before from a parent, a teacher or a coach. The same applies with people’s trust in your word, if it were easy; everyone would be trustworthy professionals that follow up and follow through without incident. While we all know people that we can depend on like that, they seem to be the exception and not the rule, making our dependable colleagues stand out in the crowd.
Being one of these trustworthy colleagues does have its advantages. People tend to want to do business with people that they can depend on.
So, how can you build stock in your word and become (or remain) a pillar of your HTM community?
• Set realistic goals based on what you know: Most people try to be trustworthy and most are generally good people. We don’t wake up in the morning actively seeking to disappoint. A big mistake that causes people to break their word comes from making a promise or openly setting a goal to a customer when it is based on incomplete information. Telling the OR that you’ll have their OR table up and running by tomorrow at 11 a.m.? You will need to have already ordered the part to make sure it is in stock, have a tracking number, know it has shipped, know when it is supposed to hit the dock, and know you have time to install it. If not, temper their expectations or wait until you have more information.
• Don’t be afraid of no news or bad news: Being a technician, engineer, or manager, people will come to you for answers, and often, the truth at the time may be that you don’t have any answers yet. The best thing to tell your customer at that time is the reality of the situation. You will be respected for your honesty. Troubleshooting a difficult problem can take time and people get stuck, which is bad news. As both a service provider and a customer, I would always rather give and get honest bad news than a hopeful but inaccurate assessment about how the repair is almost complete.
• Follow through, even if it is painful: Have you ever received or given a flat rate repair quote that turned into a nightmare? The parts and time have gotten out of control and you are losing money on this one. I hope you are working on an empty stomach, because you are eating this one. Did you tell Nurse Jane you would have her fetal monitor completed by tomorrow and the parts are still sitting on your desk at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon? Time to suck it up and delay your dinner plans. Even when it is painful, and more importantly, especially when it is painful, put your best foot forward and honor your original commitment.
These are just a few examples of how you can take simple steps to set yourself apart from others of whose, innocently or not, word is not their bond. Service on medical devices is a relatively small field. Customers and vendors knowing that they can trust you will carry long term weight in our profession. Your reputation will follow you throughout your career and being the person that meets his or her commitments and over delivers is the type of reputation that you won’t mind having.