Powerful Relationship Lessons: Best Nurses Teach Us These | #CustServ #PeopleSkills
by Kate Nasser | 2 Comments »
Great nurses teach us powerful relationship lessons and recently Nurse Penny (as I call her) reminded me of some of the most important ones. She has finished her hitch in the Navy. As we spoke about what she wants to do next, she showed why patients love her and all great nurses. They instinctively see the human need beneath the medical problem. Now that is where the following powerful relationship lessons begin!
Great Nurses Teach Us These Powerful Relationship Lessons
Family and friends got together online to welcome Nurse Penny home from her Navy post in Japan. As she spoke about what it was like to be a nurse in the Navy and what’s next for her, she indirectly shared these powerful relationship lessons. We can all use them in every walk of life and interaction. These lessons apply to customer service, leadership, teamwork, career success, and our personal relationships as well.
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Great relationships start with a deep desire to help others. When we asked Nurse Penny why she liked working the longer 12-hour shifts as required, her first words were about the patients not about herself. She said that nobody likes being a patient in the hospital and they feel more comfortable when they can have the same nurse for twelve hours. She then added how it is easier to treat a patient for that long stretch because it requires fewer transitions between nurses coming off 8-hour shifts.
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Empathy starts it all. If you notice that Nurse Penny’s first comment focused on how patients feel being in the hospital. This is empathy. You don’t have to be a psychic to have this empathy. It’s a basic human feeling and truth that nobody likes being sick.
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You build trust through empathy, integrity, civility, commitment, and competence. Others don’t trust you just because you have the rank or title. Picture yourself and what it takes for you to trust your leader, teammate, or customer service rep.
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Without trust, you cannot build powerful relationships. So ask yourself what are you doing in your professional and personal life to build trust with others? This is one of the most powerful relationship lessons to learn.
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When others get upset, care more and defend less. Nobody likes to be sick and hurting, says Nurse Penny. So when you have an upset customer, don’t defend yourself or your department with we’re doing the best we can. Care more. Empathize and try to eliminate the cause of the upset. If your teammate or employee is angry, don’t defend your actions. First listen and empathize with what they are going through.
Powerful Relationship Lessons to Learn!
Actionable Lessons to Learn!
One Last Important Point
Lastly, actively practice your listening skills. Listening is a relationship builder. Whether you are Nurse Penny caring for a sick patient or a leader, a teammate or a customer service agent, show others you are listening. It shows them you care and that they matter! Listening shows them respect and treats them with dignity. It also gives you loads of insight about them that you didn’t have before.
From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™
©2020 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.
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A beautiful story ! It is so important to be transparent and relevant in all your communications and continue working to build trust! It is a continual process and not a one time effort.
Many thanks Rinku. That transparent expression of caring … always there … that is the power and it makes a tremendous difference.
Grateful for your comment here!
Kate