What Healthcare Can Teach Us About Successful Client Relationships

By Helen Wada with Rishi Reddy

For episode 6 of Human Wise, I sat down with Rishi Reddy, experienced surgeon, professor of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Michigan and Director of the Centre for Surgical Innovation. Who better to have on the show than someone who works with the hearts and minds of people every day? 

No matter what field we are in, we should be showing our clients that we care. In the healthcare industry, however, this is particularly true. During my conversation with Rishi, it became increasingly clear that the corporate world and the healthcare world overlap at key intersections with relation to:

➔   How we show up for our clients (or patients).

➔   The importance of creating the right mindset to operate at our best (the role of incentives).

➔   Developing the necessary skills to build trusting relationships.

Corporate businesses can learn a lot from patient-centric healthcare models. In episode 6 of Human Wise, Rishi reminds us of an important and often-overlooked truth when it comes to creating a more human working world. Keep reading to find out more.

The full conversation with Rishi is available here.

A healthcare approach to business

On the surface, it may seem much easier to put patients first in an industry that is set up to improve the quality of life for people. But isn’t that what we’re trying to do for our business clients, too?

Rishi: “I think we're lucky in medicine in that we have a very concrete focus on patient care. So that makes it easy to keep your eye on the human-centric focus, because everything we do is really focused on people… Where this is less obvious, I think many people can forget that what they do on a day to day basis is meant to make other people's lives better. And not just the company's bottom lines, but to hopefully elevate people's lives.” 

How, then, can we ensure we put our clients first in much the same way healthcare models put patients first? Especially during those difficult conversations that many people in commercial roles may dread (and that healthcare providers are no stranger to, either).

The importance of trust

Trust is the bedrock of a sustainable, valuable and lucrative client relationship. Of course, in healthcare the trust between a patient and their doctor is almost unspoken. In medicine, this trusting relationship has far more at stake – often the conversations relying on this trust are about life-changing surgical decisions.

But there are parallels we can draw in commercial relationships. As Rishi points out in the interview, the best salespeople are those that aren’t just focused on making the sale, but on what is best for the client long-term – what is going to help them reach their goals and overcome their problems?

For a client to trust that this is our focus, beyond just making profit from them, there needs to be a genuine connection. How can we build such connections in commercial – or indeed healthcare – relationships?

Rishi had some fantastic tips to share on this:

➔   Understanding what their core goals are – much of the time clients (or patients) have never thought of this before.

➔   Taking a step back to really listen – give people space and let them have their own thoughts, but be there to help shape what those thoughts may be.

➔   Practise emotional intelligence and empathy.

➔   Dedicate time to these conversations – time is an investment, a decision may not be made straight away.

Rishi:“It goes back to really listening and understanding where someone’s coming from – not making assumptions. One of the key things is how do you connect with people? I look for that personal connection. You can make jokes… relate to experiences… find something that you can connect with that person on. You build that trust that then carries on for the harder conversations.”

Exercising caution with incentives

There’s one major element, however, that Rishi warns us to take great care in considering when it comes to creating a more human working world: the role of incentives.

How can we ensure that the way in which we work, and the way in which our team approaches client relationships, is driven by the right incentives and behaviours.

Rishi: “I think how you impact that is how you align incentives... In some places [in US healthcare] it's a capitated model. So the more care we provide, the more we get paid. For us, in an academic centre – at least in our academic centre – I don't make more money if I do another operation. I think that's really important because it clouds judgement... So I think how you pay people and how you align those incentives for your staff make a big difference.”

I found this to be an incredibly interesting point because exactly the same is applicable across corporate organisations in terms of what motivates and drives people to behave in a way that will benefit the ultimate outcome for clients and the business - and not just themselves.

Metrics can make people selfish

So what are those measures – those metrics and incentives –  that need to be put in place by an organisation if they want to drive human, client-centric conversations to bring better business and greater satisfaction to those they work with?

To Rishi, it’s about understanding that sometimes taking on a new project or client isn’t what’s in their best interest. We need to be thinking about what is overall best for the customer – this way, we’re able to build stronger, more lasting (and ultimately more valuable) relationships.

A very simple, but crucial, question we can ask ourselves is this:

Is this beneficial for the client or just for me?

The key that unlocks all of this is remaining true to your core goal, both as an individual and as an organisation. In healthcare, the core goal is obvious: the health of the patient. Regardless of your area of expertise, it is important to focus on the ultimate goal of the business and the importance of people within the ecosystem.

In corporate businesses it becomes a little more complex, but Rishi reminds us again that our core goal should be all about the client (whether internal or external). Answering their problems doesn't always call for a conclusion, sometimes it's about having open conversations, helping to establish goals and work towards them, and making decisions together – in other words, relationship building.

Rishi: “The best people I've seen are the ones that can guide their clients... And say, 'what are your long-term goals? And how can we help you get there?'”

For more on this, the full episode is available here.

***

For more information on the work Rishi does, head over to LinkedIn or check out the Centre for Surgical Innovation.

Human Wise releases new episodes bi-weekly and is available on all major podcast platforms.