Customer Reviews

Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic: Inside One of the World’s Most Admired Service Organizations

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Mayo Clinic is part of the American vernacular, and synonymous with excellence in health care. Did you ever wonder how the organization achieved such remarkable level of awareness inarguable brand associations? In Berry and Seltman's book, you'll learn that it had little to do with promotion, and everything to do with values. Preservation of the values of the Drs. Mayo is baked into the "product" of Mayo Clinic, which, of course, is a service.

If you are in the service industry, then you know that product features are defined by the service experience, and the benefits are determined by customer satisfaction. Both are intangibles.

Mayo Clinic has applied manufacturing process improvement (Six Sigma, LEAN, et al) to healthcare systems to improve the patient experience. For in the end, Mayo's management understands that the patient outcomes define product quality, and patient satisfaction is the promotion.

With all the hoopla today surrounding social media and marketing, an interesting sidebar to this book is the realization that Mayo's brand was built entirely through social networks; patients travel around the world for treatment at the clinic, and return home to tell the tale to friends and family. Quite obviously, the majority of the stories told have been positive. This book helps us to understand why.

An excellent book with practical principles that work and can be applied in any healthcare/service setting, large or small. I like to underline noteworthy thoughts as I read. My problem was that so much of the book was underlined when I finished. I then ordered 30 copies from Amazon to give to team members, plus have recommended this book to a number of others outside our health system.

Dr. Berry et al have beautifully gleaned valuable lessons from an outstanding organization that can be applied in multiple settings. The Mayo Clinic has attained a level of service that few organizations can achieve, and the secrets of there success are plainly revealed in their book. As a healthcare provider, I noticed how the authors clearly explained topics very familiar to those in healthcare so that members of all organizations can benefit. I would encourage any manager of a service organization to read this book.

This book hardly needs my imprimatur, but I thought I would share my feelings about yet another customer experience book. Just when you thought there were more books on the topic than you could possibly explore, along comes one that I think is unique. Some may think this is just for health-care professionals, but I believe it includes powerful lessons that transcend the industry. The nicest aspects of this book are the stories about just what it takes to establish and maintain great service, even when you're one of the most respected 'brands' in the world. I used to live in Rochester, NY, and once made the dopey mistake of flying from O'Hare to Rochester, MN. I thought, 'Since I'm here, I might as well go to the Mayo Clinic, which I have always wanted to see.' This book makes that stupid airplane flight totally unnecessary. Anyone involved in dealing with the public should read this book. Maybe the lessons aren't totally fresh, but we need to be reminded of them constantly. Isn't that why we go to church on Sunday?

"Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic" explains how one service organization built a brand based on customer service that has lasted more than a century. This book offers examples of customer service that could be applied to the management of any organization.

After reading the book, it is obvious to me that the authors have successfully communicated why Mayo Clinic has become an almost mythical institution. They stated in the beginning that the Clinic culture was based on its core principles and then described how the founders reinforced these principles by example and passed on the culture of value to the subsequent leaders and other employees. They drive home the point of the book and mantra of the clinic: "the needs of the patient come first."

The authors tended to emphasize the positives within the organization while glossing over the negatives. Perhaps you can argue that it was not the purpose of the book to point out the mistakes the Clinic has made. The authors admit that there have been mistakes and problems but didn't give much depth into what the problems actually were. It should be noted that one of the authors had recently retired from 15 years of service to the Clinic and may not be able to offer an objective critical analysis of the Clinic.

The authors mention the time spent in committees but don't really mention anyone complaining about the time lost (page 116). It would be interesting to hear suggestions or even an outright complaint from an employee regarding the time spent in these meetings. Has the Mayo Clinic become so proficient at communication that every employee understands the value of time spent in meetings? Perhaps they have. The authors seem convinced when they make the statement: "We conclude that what is most impressive about Mayo Clinic is how well it has executed its core values and strategies for more than a century. And this is the basis for our conclusion that the people of Mayo Clinic--represent the crucial explanatory variable in the Clinic's sustained excellence. "As Leonard Berry states in an earlier work: Attracting great people is the first rule of execution. Great service companies attract great people to perform the service. It is a simple idea. It is a powerful idea. And it is--for most companies--an elusive idea" (page 255)."

The authors spent 265 pages describing how Mayo Clinic has used the Cycle of Success to develop and maintain a successful business and brand. Mayo Clinic, or rather the employees of Mayo Clinic have created a culture of success to carry the clinic into the future as a leader in not only patient treatment but also in employee treatment.

Although the authors' presentation of the Clinic may be a bit biased to the positive, the book is well-written with many valuable insights into the operation of a successful service organization, and I highly recommend it.

The IBM Competitive Edge Book Club is open to all Sales professionals at IBM. "Management Lessons from the Mayo Clinic" was our Q4 2008 book club selection. The overall feedback from the members was very good to great. In the feedback from the members, we ask them the question - "What will you do differently in your job since your study of this book?" Some of the replies directly from the members included:

- "Re-invigorated my focus on "DELIGHTING" my customer, and taking the lead with the entire team to achieve that with my customers."

- "Practice the art of majoring "in the minor""

- "The book and the discussion with the authors has reinforced my desire to delight my Customers by exceeding their expectations (rather than just meeting them) and I will translate some of the examples and experiences from Mayo into my interactions with my Clients."

- "It brought to my awareness the importance of the different types of quality clues - I'll try to incorporate some of those concepts in my work."

- "I will leverage the author's analysis and some of the lessons learned at the Mayo Clinic to improve my team's overall culture so that our field reps exceed customer expectations and increase buying loyalty."

Thank you to Kent Seltman and Len Berry for being apart of the IBM Competitive Edge Book Club experience and for writing such a meaningful and impactful book that we all can relate to on many levels.

Best Regards,
Brien Convery
IBM Global Workforce Partner and Competitive Edge Book Club Leader

This book very beautifully and eloquently conveys the heart of service quality and excellence - building, nurturing, and protecting a strong services brand that revolves around the core humane values of integrity and customer respect. The hallmark of this book is the compilation of inspirational real life stories of staff and patients sharing their experiences of the successful customer-focused culture of Mayo Clinic. Moreover, the book very effectively sheds light on the importance of competing for talented employees and encouraging teamwork at all levels of the organization. Thus, it is a must-read book for the managers, administrators, and service providers across all industries.

As a career academic in a university business school I tried to read this book as a detached observer and student of how to build a truly responsive service organization. But I also read it as a five year patient of the Mayo Clinic. I can say that it was difficult to stay detached and objective when you see and feel yourself in the pages once again experiencing all of the various dimensions of the culture of putting the patient first. I have lived the compassion, kindness and core values that the authors capture so well in this wonderful book. I encourage anyone seriously interested in building and sustaining service excellence in their organization to seek out and read this book.

This book merely deals with health care delivery at Mayo Clinic, one of the best run HSOs worldwide. It examines intricate processes at various practices or product lines and they how are managed. It exposes a culture that is well understood by the employees and how that culture is vivid in the care for every patient.

With that said, the material is applicable to any service organization. The concepts can be applied in delivering service to customers. For example, personable and customizable service is a key to retaining customers and scoring high on customer satisfaction surveys. Treating customers differently than competitors is what keeps those customers coming back and become a free advertisement to the organization.

The book is well written and easy to understand.

There are only two categories of those who will benefit exponentially from this excellent book-those who work in health care and those who don't. For those who work in health care, the work that Dr Berry and his colleague have written is without peer. Len has been a seminal voice in how service is best provided for over 20 years and his insights have been invaluable to anyone who has sought to find practical solutions to the vexing issue of service. Many have written philosophically on the topic, but Dr Berry writes almost exclusively with practical solutions, applicable at the bedside. It has been my privilege to have contributed, in some small way, to the literature on health care customer service. I am, quite frankly, in awe of what this book has done. Everyone involved in health care should read it. Why? Because it will make their incredibly difficult job much easier-and let's be clear, health care is a very, very tough place to 'get customer service right.'
If you don't work in health care, this book is essential, because, let's be honest, if you can get customer service right in health care, you can get it right anywhere. No matter what business you are in, this book has insights which will be beneficial to you.

Finally, perhaps the most important category of those who should read-and benefit-from this book are those who will use the health care system, because it will tell you that must seek out health care systems and providers who understand that making the right diagnosis and offering the right treatment are simply not enough anymore in our health care system-you must do so in an environment that not only values, but treasures a culture of service.

By the way, that last category-those who will eventually be users of health care-is every single one of us...

Great book-I only wish I had written it!

Thom Mayer, MD, FACEP, FAAP