Things I Think: Getting good reception

Like Stonehenge or the concept of truth, I’m an ancient relic of another time, so I clearly remember my family’s first primitive television.

The programs were in black and white, and barely visible through all the flickers and static. My sister held the rabbit ears antenna aloft while standing in a bucket of water with tin foil on her head to get a viewable picture.

Even then, everything still looked like the moon landing, and nothing was more prized and elusive than good reception.

Today we have better TVs, but in our business of providing exceptional service and care, good reception is still the Holy Grail. For proof, put on a fake moustache sometime and approach the front desk on your long-term care campus. When a greeting isn’t delivered just right, it can ruin the whole experience.

Unfortunately, ensuring your reception professional creates only positive and clear interactions isn’t as simple as some cranial foil, or turning her swivel chair a little to tune out the negative static.

Making a consistently great first impression, despite the unpredictable whirlwind that perpetually swirls around the facility entrance, requires a special person, and that search can be daunting. But one interview question and answer might help narrow the applicants.

“What will you do,” you should ask, “if a resident is yelling for help, a family member is complaining, the phone is ringing, a physician is on hold, the administrator is out, an admission is coming in and a delivery guy needs a signature — all simultaneously?” “Well, I guess I don’t know, exactly,” the candidate will hopefully respond. “But I love people, and have been placed on this plan-et to make things better. What-ever crisis presents, I’ll respond patiently and without judgment, to the best of my abilities, with a smile on my face.”

Since that attitude alone virtually guarantees good reception, you can safely relax, put away the tin foil — and make the hire.

Things I Think is written by Gary Tetz, a national Silver Medalist and regional Gold Medal winner in Humor Writing in the 2014 American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) awards program.