Interoffice Basketball

A funny thing happened to my brother last fall. While trying out for his hospital's basketball team, he went for a steal and fell hard, fracturing and dislocating his hip. Rushed to his hospital for emergency treatment, he came out of surgery, transformed from employee to patient. He spent a week in the hospital as he learned to walk again but didn't waste one minute of it.

Instead, as the senior executive chef (and now patient), he conducted intense observational research that can't be bought (well, unless you know a guy). From how the menus and dining hosts presented the meals to the quality of the food, he made notes on how he would improve the patient experience once he was back on two feet.

Five months later, the hospital is already seeing results from my brother's involuntary tenure as internal food critic. He has seen improvements in staff courtesy, higher temperature of food delivered to patients and even an increase in the Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores.

Beyond warning about the dangers of interoffice b-ball, my point for PR professionals is that we should take time out from behind our desks to walk in the shoes of our clients’ target customer. For example, at Emanate, we are encouraged to take a stroll through a bank lobby or the frozen food section with the mindset of the retiree or the mother of three. For quick and dirty research online, see what customers are saying about your brands on Yelp or their Official Facebook page.

Personally, I'm not willing to take a spill at our next bowling night to try hospital food, but you can be sure that I have a scheme to take a Celebrity Cruise in the Caribbean for 7 nights of intense “observational research."


Jaret Posmentier