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ASOA NEWS ASCRS ASOA ANNUAL MEETING by Lauren Lipuma EyeWorld Contributing Writer information. Then you know it's safe to move on to the next step, which is to acknowledge what they have said. Repeat their words back to them as a summary and ask if your interpretation was correct. If it's not, repeat the listen and acknowledge steps until you truly understand the other person's per- spective. This eliminates the other person's frustration of feeling like he or she is not being seen or heard, Ms. O'Connor said. After listening and acknowl- edging, thank the person for shar- ing—and be sincere about it. Thanking doesn't mean you agree with the person or that he or she is right; it means you are ex- pressing gratitude for this person's willingness to participate in the communication process with you, which solidifies your position as an ally, Ms. O'Connor said. Finally, you want to take action to resolve the situation and explain to the person what you are going to do. Offer a solution, even if it's nothing more than giving them your business card. Even small actions can have a drastic effect on changing the perception on that interaction, according to Ms. O'Connor. The LATTE method was so effective that even after leaving Starbucks, Ms. O'Connor and her former coworkers continued to use it in their everyday lives. "We all went into different fields in our careers, but whenever we would get together and talk and laugh about working at Star- bucks, we all came back to, 'Hey, remember that LATTE thing? Man, do I find myself doing that all the time,'" she said. Editors' note: Ms. O'Connor has no fi- nancial interests related to her comments. "You listen to what they have to say, you acknowledge what they've communicated with you, you thank them with sincerity for telling you what their issue was, then you take action to resolve the situation and let them know what you're doing," Ms. O'Connor explained. Surprisingly, the LATTE formula isn't based on the idea that the customer is always right, an idiom commonly used in the service industry. "That was never the message because quite frankly, the custom- er is wrong a lot," Ms. O'Connor said. Rather, Starbucks was asking their employees to understand their customers' perspectives. "If you and the customer can understand each other, then you can find a positive resolution to any situation," she said. The first step in the LATTE formula is to listen to the custom- er's complaint, and the first thing Starbucks taught its employees about this was to come out from behind the counter. This removes the barrier between the employee and the customer and establishes the employee as an ally. This sets the foundation that the employee and customer are working on the problem together, which engen- ders trust, Ms. O'Connor said. A big part of the listen step is to never assume you know the whole story. Be sure to listen without interrupting, correcting a factual error, or contracting the person speaking, Ms. O'Connor said. "Even when you are 99.99999 percent sure that you know why the person is upset, you still never really know what their perception of that encounter is until you stop and listen to them and let them tell you their story," she said. Keep listening until the person has completed his or her narrative and started to repeat the A tried and true formula for resolving conflicts in your practice Ms. O'Connor shares a formula for resolving conflicts she learned while working as a barista at Starbucks. to creating a positive customer experience, Ms. O'Connor said. The company's goal was to create a formula every employee could use to resolve customer conflict and to train employees in this method so that every person knew how to handle a customer complaint at any time. When Ms. O'Connor was part of the compa- ny, every new employee was given training on the company's values and taught this strategy to diffuse conflict situations. "Before you ever put your hands on an espresso machine at Starbucks, you had to know how to resolve conflict," she said. If, at the end of the training, an employee couldn't explain how to do these five steps, he or she would repeat it until they got it right. "All of those things, as far as the customer service aspect, were absolutely treated as being as important as whether you could pull a shot of espresso or steam a pitcher of milk," Ms. O'Connor said. The LATTE method The formula Starbucks used is nicknamed LATTE, which stands for Listen, Acknowledge, Thank, Take Action, and Explain. C onflicts are ubiquitous in human interactions, and medical practices are no exception. But a simple strategy can help physi- cians, practice managers, and staff diffuse conflict situations and create more positive interactions between all individuals involved. Jessica O'Connor, COE, Dallas, presented a conversational blueprint for resolving conflict during an ASOA session yesterday morning. Interestingly, she learned this strategy while working as a barista at Starbucks as a college student. Consistency is key to Star- bucks' success, and this applies not only to making coffee but 10 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | MAY 7, 2019

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