Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
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4 2 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E J U N E 2 0 1 5 we perceive and determine the trustworthiness of companies and brands in the same way we do other people: on the basis of their warmth and competence. Through evolution, humans became hard-wired and highly skilled at judging the intentions of others (warmth) and their ability to carry out those intentions (competence) very quickly and accurately. This was a critical human survival skill in the original game of "Survivor" tens of thousands of years ago. We become loyal and trusting of those who exhibit both warmth and competence toward us, but feel envy, distrust and grudging cooperation for those who seem highly competent but lack warmth. I'm quite sure that physicians become loyal and trusting of outpatient surgery centers in the same way. • A relationship renaissance. For most of human history, commerce was conducted face to face. That's where most of our warmth and competence perceptions were gleaned, through facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and, of course, words and actions. The choices people made were as much about the person they were dealing with and their relationship with them as they were about the product or service offered. For thousands of years, the mutually interdependent relationships between merchants and customers were the basis of all commerce. While the Industrial Revolution disrupted that for about 100 years, the fundamental psychology of humans hasn't changed. What's more, the convergence of e-commerce, social networks and mobile devices has brought about a relationship renaissance, where again we are making most of our choices based on what we know about the people we are doing business with and our relationship with them. It's like warmth and com- petence on steroids, turbocharged by digital technology. As a result, genuine and lasting relationships with customers are more critical than ever before for sustained business success. • Genuine warmth and goodwill. Social psychologists have determined that more than 80% of human behavior is driven by warmth and competence percep-