Author Archives: J.P Singh

About J.P Singh

Managing Director -- Bausch & Lomb, South Asia Vice President – Vision Care, Bausch & Lomb Regional Head, Western Region – Living Media Group Product Manager – Lakme Ltd.

Shakeout at Opticalswala

From the Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple

….. Helping Create Customer Value

Indian Optician, January-February, 2012

My professional association with the optical industry is 18 years old now. However, as a user of their services and products, it’s been exactly double that period i.e. 36 years. My first exposure to an optical outlet was while accompanying my parents for their eye check up. We had a very good optician in the southern part of Delhi and were very happy with their service level, quality and personalised dealings. For years, we used to go only to this shop. Even when we shifted to another part of Delhi, for quite some time, we kept going to the same shop for our requirements of spectacles.

During my first decade with the optical industry, we worked and learned together, with many other people in the industry, putting in efforts towards growing/upgrading several aspects like equipment, ambience, quality, business levels, skills ….. A lot of Creativity at play a-la Brahma and Vishnu !! There was steady, stable and sustainable growth visible all over in multiple dimensions ….. and growth is life !!

However, during the last decade, while the optical business has really gathered further momentum, alongwith news of growth and new outlets expansion, one gets to hear about a shakeout and many closures as well. Change and cycles are a part of life, but this extensive play of Shiva indicates that something else is also happening. Why should there be so much of a shakeout ? At a philosophical level though, destruction is also followed by creation. But are there some other dynamics in this churning ?

In the evolution of an industry, at different stages, certain characteristic events do play out. In the growth phase for example, players do rush in, create a crowding and then the fittest survive. In the evolution of species, this has played out over the entire history of this planet. Whenever an ecosystem gets cluttered with overgrowth of a species, an imbalance gets created in the ecosystem, there is a fight/struggle for the limited environmental resources and then balance is regained ….. survival of the fittest/adaptive (not strongest) is the rule !!

In the background of such a history, how can we learn in the context of the optical industry ? Man has been granted the wisdom to make choices and exert free will.

Given below are some very simple questions, in no particular order, which if dealt with well, can reduce risks of business growth/expansion.

Are you ready for the Twenty Question Test ?? Ignore them at your own risk …..

Why do we want to expand ?
What is our long term goal/objective ?
What are our strengths and weaknesses ?
What are the new trends coming up ?
What are the changing customer behaviours ?
Which geographical areas should we look at ?
Why ?
Who are the other competitors ?
What are they doing ?
Is there enough business for everyone ?
Which customers will we serve ?
Which products and services can we offer our customers ?
Is there a different/better value we can offer to our customers ?
Can we sustain the resources needed till we start getting returns ?
What are the type of people we will need ?
Where will we get these people ?
Are we willing to invest in the development of people ?
How will we serve our customers ?
What values do we believe in ?
How will we generate profits ?

It is always wise to inspect the playing field well and to understand one’s own strengths and weaknesses ….. to be able to prepare, practice and finally play the game according to one’s own strengths ….. It needs great discipline in thought and action so that the mind does not play havoc !!

J.P.Singh,

Justplainandsimple Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Website : www.justplainandsimple.com

Twitter : @jpsingh55

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Are Clinical People more Patient Care Sensitive than Non Clinical Staff ??

From The Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple

….. Helping Create Customer Value

Just a hypothesis that I recently developed during my visits to one of the most premium and top end hospitals of South Delhi. A few months month back, my father had to be hospitalized and operated upon due to an emergency. The few weeks of pre and post-operative stay at this hospital brought up so many dimensions of patient care …..

Interaction with the diagnostics staff in laboratories was really nice and comforting, I must say. From guiding around the place, to being extra caring while taking samples/conducting tests ….. everything was very efficient and smooth. One was full of admiration, for the courtesy, skill and professionalism of everyone involved in the diagnostic labs.

The difference, however, was so stark and glaring when I went to pick up some test reports at the pre-scheduled time. No reports were available at the ‘delivery desk’ and they had no information about when they would come. ‘You can go and check in the X-ray lab ?’, I was told. So much for all the premium charges and service levels that are promised. On checking at the X-ray lab, I was told that they had already sent the report to the ‘central dispatch’ section. So I went to the ‘central dispatch’ section, where I was told to wait till they ‘searched’ for the report …..

On the other hand, for sure, our experience with paramedical staff and doctors was really good. Not only did they carry out their own functions nicely and courteously, they actually went beyond their normal routine role and tried to guide us even regarding administrative issues.

A total contrast, however, were the inpatient admissions, billing and discharge sections. The waiting time was not due to any length of queued up patients, but due to total apathy and lack of interest to speed up and ‘make it easy’ for patients. On the contrary, they were actually trying to ‘make it difficult’ for the patients and attendants. Needlessly slow paperwork, long delays in ‘photocopying’, absence of staff from the counter ….. all that one would expect at a third rate government hospital (and I had actually taken my father to this hospital to avoid all these issues).

On one occasion, I was shuttled ‘to and fro’ between two counters thrice. One counter was having some ‘maintenance repairs’ and the other one ‘did not have the specific department under its jurisdiction’ ????? I had to finally go to the supervisor, to seek her intervention in sorting out which counter would finally process our papers !!!!!

Then there were these super priced ‘private rooms’ with rates higher than the rooms at the adjoining five star hotel (surgery and procedure charges vary with room rental by the way). The ‘call bell’ in the room, however, did not work and the request for food, water, tea or medicines would take anything from 45 minutes to one hour (after several reminders) ….. and when I approached the attending floor staff to point out that there were too many delays in service, there was a general amusing and mocking exchange of glances amongst the staff, as if to say ‘why is this guy getting agitated ??’.

One could have actually stayed at the neighbouring five star (right next door) at lower room rates and come in daily for checkups at much lower ‘related’ procedure’ charges, with better service and comfort !!

At the time of discharge, they make it a point to tell you that the process can take anything up to three hours (?????), as if to prepare you for further systemic inefficiencies. One learnt though, that their estimate was not wrong, because the staff had to actually grapple with issues like ‘so and so is not in his seat’ and ‘the printer is not working’ and ‘the system is down’. These are not cooked up, but actual reasons given out one by one, ‘sequentially’, at the time of discharge. Hence the ‘promised’ three hours did elapse, at the end of which the nursing superintendent came to take ‘our feedback’ on the hospital’s service levels !!

But yet again, this was the difference I want to highlight. The nursing staff again was very efficient, courteous and professional. Immediately after I gave the superintendent a download of our experience and my strong comparisons on the five star parameters, I could see her having a session at the nursing station and genuine concern on the faces of all nurses.

Is it that the ‘clinical’ people have been closer to human suffering and can therefore understand and feel human pain a lot more. Being involved in the actual healing process probably makes their approach different from the so called administrative staff ?

I am sure the administrative staff at this premium and most expensive hospital would be getting sufficient compensation and training to enable them to deliver great patient care. But somehow, the salary levels and training and development inputs seemed ineffective. Maybe, at the most, there was a superficial generation of patient care related awareness. But what the system definitely failed in creating, was an awakening, realisation, internalisation, motivation (desire) and action to be sensitive to genuine patient care.

This is where design and methodology of development programmes need to be built on strong experiential foundations, so as to be able to ignite the requisite passion and awakening. Probably what the management missed is to establish a connect and a holistic appeal to the senses through aesthetics, storytelling, empathy, feelings, pleasure, creativity and meaning …..

J.P.Singh,

Justplainandsimple Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Website : www.justplainandsimple.com

Twitter : @jpsingh55

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Wish You A Very Happy New Year 2012 !!

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Healthcare and Aviation ….. Cross Learnings

From the Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy
Just Plain & Simple
….. Helping Create Customer Value
14^th Issue of HEALTH BIZ INDIA magazine, October, 2011

Recently I came across a very interesting article on the net. It was titled ‘Why Patient Safety is harder than aviation safety and five practices to borrow from aviation’. The author argues that there are a lot of learnings that the health care industry could draw from aviation safety and the rigour and discipline that goes into the same. He also mentions that he does not want to oversimplify the comparison and realizes that healthcare is a lot ‘harder’. The basic reason given for this is related to ‘scale’ ….. number of patients vs passengers, number of pilots vs nurses and types of aircraft vs diseases. The practices listed, that play a role in aviation safety and the ones that healthcare could learn from are ….. usability and safety of technology, crew management, simulation, prediction and root cause analysis (and hence open and transparent exchange of data).

While it is true that there is a difference in ‘scale’ and ‘complexity’ in the two cases, the discipline and learnings can and should definitely flow into ‘speciality/superspeciality/critical care’, where the gap of scale reduces and ‘seriousness’ and ‘speed of response’ maybe equally significant ….. It is ironical that aviation is taking lessons from hospitals and hospitality on aspects of care though !!

However, just stepping back to first principles for a moment and correlating the fundamental dimensions where there may be similarities and differences between the two that we can build on, let us look at the following :

Core Deliverables :
- Healthcare : Good clinical/surgical outcomes
- Aviation : On time and comfortable trips

Essentials to build on :
- Healthcare : Patient Care; course/accuracy of treatment; Doctors and staff
- Aviation : Speed/turnaround time; speed of response; Stringent Processes/technology

Performance Metrics :
- Healthcare : Surplus/sq. ft. or Surplus/bed
- Aviation : Surplus/trip

With ‘cost/trip’ more or less ‘fixed’, there is a concerted effort in aviation, to build on passenger numbers and revenue/passenger (Needless to say, there should obviously be no compromise on speed of response and safety).

If healthcare is to come out of this trap (no matter who pays for the treatments) of chasing numbers and revenues to fulfill a ‘fixed cost or unabsorbed capacity’, the answer lies in (Needless to say, with no compromise on clinical/surgical outcomes and patient safety) :

1) Scale to be achieved through creating reach and accessability to broaden the base (and much needed in the Indian context), alongwith

2)‘Disruptive Technologies’ to reduce cost/sq. ft. or cost/bed.

These answers are available in development/deployment of ‘appropriate technology’ (Innovation) and spreading the cost of technology and doctors (per patient or per bed or per sq.ft.) through initiatives like telemedicine (the doctors deserve to be paid competitively, but the cost implication on the ‘metrics’ per unit of patient or sq.ft. or bed gets enormously spread out)

Having said that, the learnings from aviation can and should be very appropriately and immediately applied in all aspects of healthcare where safety and speed of response is critical. There are examples even in healthcare where such rigour and discipline is followed. As the scale, accessability and reach of healthcare increases, learnings, processes and skils from these centres of excellence in health care and for sure even from aviation, should be weaved into the genetic code of patient care at all levels as the wave spreads over time.

Aviation is definitely a good learning ground as the source article I mentioned, says, but even otherwise, a similar discipline is needed in any field, in the evolution from being a novice to eminence ….. and it will be very helpful to the evolving Indian Healthcare industry to adopt the following practices and catch the wave on the high !!

Taking feedback continuously ….. it is said that ‘feedback is the breakfast of champions’.
Priority Setting ….. allows effective and efficient utilization of scarce resources.
Sharing ‘The Technique/Method’ with trust and openness ….. for any new entrant, learning from scratch and building up a code from first principle is like re-inventing the wheel.
Coaching Ability and Coachability ….. To reach high levels of expertise, inputs from a good coach are extremely helpful
Practice, Practice, Practice ….. there is no substitute to this ingredient
Simulation, ‘Rehearsals’ and Performance ….. this is a practice followed wherever ‘expertise’ is reached ….. sports, dance, science …..
Root Cause Analysis ….. to be able to search for, hit and face the truth boldly and correct it

These are very much woven into the DNA of the aviation industry as well. No wonder we are able to see the beauty of aircraft flying in a formation ….. with a shared vision, speed, trust, constant communication, safety, teamwork, and grace …..

J.P.Singh,

Justplainandsimple Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Website : www.justplainandsimple.com

Twitter : @jpsingh55

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Operational Efficiency is Your Personal Signature on The Branding Canvas !!

From the Crucibles of JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple

….. Helping Create Customer Value

Indian Optician, May-June, 2011

Identify with excellence, put your name on your work, and both your work and your name
will stand the test of time. ~ Dr. Denis Waitley

I have a habit of maintaining a ‘to do’ list in my diary. It helps me stay on top of my activities, not forgetting things. More than anything else, I do not have to strain myself and my mind remembering various things. Hence, my mind stays relatively calm, less stressed and more peaceful than what it would probably have been without such a habit ….. a meditative experience of emptying the mind !!

I don’t remember when this habit started, but it has been with me as long as I can remember, through my student days and through my various jobs. Apart from not having to remember things, it has helped me in follow ups and to improve operational efficiency tremendously. I cannot even think of having to work without my diary and that too, nothing less than ‘a page a day’ variety. I have retained it even in this age of laptops and handheld gizmos, as I find it very practical and convenient and always at hand, not having to open and spread it and charge it and distract everyone in meetings. Moreover, the pleasure of writing down a point and then ‘ticking’ it off when done, gives joy and satisfaction of its own kind, unmatched by any feat.

Infact, so strong has been the impact of this on my ability for follow ups and operational efficiency, that many of my colleagues have jokingly confided on scheming to ‘steal’ my diary !! Over the years I have developed the skill to monitor a personal and professional daily activity list and plan all my schedules and calendars with this one single process ….. Just Plain and Simple !!

A few days back, while going through my daily activities list during the day, it struck me how, a lot of the things I was following up/getting through that day, were actually reminders to various organisations and people, to whom I was a customer !! Should I be doing the follow up or should they be chasing me ? Was I actually operating like a secretary to them ? But really speaking, why couldn’t they maintain a ‘to do’ discipline and improve their operational efficiency, hence delighting me as a customer !? ….. Just Plain and Simple, I thought …..

Let me share some of the things I had on one sample day on my diary page and you will get an idea :

We had planned to book a ‘whole’ resort for a workshop that we had to conduct two months later ….. I had to send a reminder to/follow up with the owner/manager, who had been committing for a week that he will send a proposal for the rates ….. soon.
Our grocery supplier who had missed sending one item from our monthly shopping list ….. and we were now to remind him
My bank which had to send a statement of an investment that I had taken a few weeks back
My optical store which had romised to deliver my new specs the previous day.
To check with my CA, who had promised to revert to me with certain clarifications I had sought regarding my tax liability
A real estate developer who had taken the ‘booking’ amount but had been promising to revert to me with options of flat numbers available
A sanitaryware supplier, to whom I had paid the full amount for sanitary fittings for a new floor that I was getting constructed ….. half the items were pending delivery for two weeks from the promised dates.

Yes, all these are some of the entries from a page of my diary for ONE, yes, ONE day !!

Why are these people unable to complete and finish these simple tasks? What holds them back? I am sure everyone thinks that these are quite plain, ordinary and routine tasks ….. surprise ? But true. It really struck me that day, as to how insensitive people can become and that too to a customer (if you run through all the above incidents, you will notice that I am a customer to all the players mentioned). If that was the case with a customer, I shudder to think what would have been happening to their other stakeholders …..

Also, none of these is a big enterprise or a government department to put the blame on red tape, bureaucracy or rigid processes ….. most of them would be under a small to medium enterprise range ….. capable of speed and efficiency and agility !! What stopped them from getting stuck and not being able to use one of the biggest advantages of ‘not being big’ i.e. agility and absence of sluggish, scale led inertia ….. as long as it is available ??

Various reasons abound. But fundamentally, there has to be an experiential realization. No amount of preaching and pedagogy work as these seem to be common issues which everyone should be knowing and I am sure each manager would agree that he/she has broken their heads highlighting the significance of such a discipline. Why doesn’t it happen still ? The experiential journey has to lead through stages of awakening, realisation, internalisation, motivation and action, otherwise the desired behavior is never seen !!

But all hope is not lost. There is this pharmacy chain where the processes (or maybe the counter boy’s inititiative) are so well laid out, that everytime I call or order medicines or vitamins for our family, the counter boy knows the back ground, asks which of the regular medicines I want to order, confirms what all is available, gives a time for delivery and ensures that it is done at that time. In the rare case of an error, there is a prompt apology and immediate corrective action.

The best way is to follow an approach that balances the right and left brain impulses and at each stage, connecting through process design, feelings, pleasure, creativity and meaning ….. to ensure a high level of acceptance by the team and hence having a multiplicative and lasting impact that is self sustaining and self regenerating !!

The process discipline, appreciation and habit has to get into the genetic code of the organization ….. Brand Equity is built, not just by a good poster and/or an ad, but is the ‘effect’ of a holistic experience of ALL the touch points of a brand, ‘caused’ by how the organizational DNA is codified !!

J.P.Singh,

Justplainandsimple Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

JPSConsulting

Just Plain & Simple
….. Helping Realise Potential

JPS Customer Value Academy

Just Plain & Simple
….. Helping Create Customer Value

Website : www.justplainandsimple.com

Twitter : @jpsingh55

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