Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic

Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic, Inside One of the World’s Most Admired Service Organizations, by Leonard L. Berry, Kent D. Seltman, McGraw-Hill 2008 

This book is an unexpected dose of positivityness because the Mayo Clinic’s history and goals, in addition to its record for saving and improving lives, is an inspiration,  Having tripped into a system I cared nothing about until last July, when I became more familiar with dozens of doctors, nurses, labs, ER’s and hospital kitchens, the Mill Girl is finding everything that happens now in healthcare more exciting than Route 66 reruns – it’s that critical to us individually, and to our economic health.

So what authors Berry and Seltman give us in this book is an inside look one of the US’ most storied institutions.  A former Mayo nurse sums up her bond with Mayo:

          “I was at Mayo Clinic in Arizona from 2000 to 2004… I miss Mayo every day and after moving I tried to work in a local hospital part-time.  But once a Mayo nurse, it is very hard to go anywhere else.  Mayo is an amazing place to be a nurse.  I called it “Disneyland for Nurses” because finally, after 17 years of nursing, I could be the nurse I always wanted to be.  The patient really did come first.  There was a team approach to patient care…  Patients who would never have survived where I had worked before went home to live normal lives…”

Given this kind of heart-felt testimonial, the future for Mayo has to be one we want to understand and study because they will continue to be leaders in healthcare reform.  The Mayo Clinic grew based on Three Big Ideas – place the interest of the patient above all other interests, pool talent into a “union of forces (Dr. William J. Mayo), and deliver clinical care with time-condensed efficiency.

Destination medicine is another testimonial to the Mayo’s comprehensive approach.  Rochester, Minnesota, the headquarters for Mayo, has a population of 100,000 inhabitants, but over 5000 hotel rooms!  Ninety-five thousand patients arrive annually, many with the families, from more than 120 miles away, all 50 states and 150 different countries.  Mayo’s lessons for managers are transferrable to customer service teams in other industries: values first, create a cycle of success, and my favorite, cast a Broadway show!   A second transferable training template is Mayo’s Career and Leadership Program designed to assimilate and train all levels of managers, from newly appointed staff, to senior leadership in key success areas, from financial performance, to assessment.

The historic photos and stories from the lives of the founders are wonderful. Readers will be reassured to know this place exists and is moving forward still.  We would like to read an updated post-Obamacare volume.