Never be afraid to help someone out, even a total stranger. Not only can you boost your happiness and wellbeing, you can gain unexpected rewards in return.
I was flying from Sarasota to Boston for an advisor conference and was happily bumped to first class (because of my status with American Airlines). When I found my seat, I noticed the person next to me talking on the phone. He was casually dressed, like something you’d wear on a Zoom call during Covid. As I sat down, I heard him talking about flying back home for a surgery.
After his call, we got to talking.
He asked me what I do, and I shared with him our mission — increasing access to healthcare and higher quality healthcare. We continued to chat about the importance of transparency and sustainability in healthcare. I didn’t know very much about him at that point, except that he had a surgery coming up and he was working out the logistics.
About 10 minutes before we were expected to land, he asked if I could look into his doctor’s quality scores. Definitely. I fired off a quick email to our service department and got a quick response.
By the time we landed, I had the information he needed.
We found that one of his physicians was relatively low quality and he wanted to know what he could do to change that. I connected him to a nurse advisor, allowing his private information to stay that way, and he spoke directly to her.
As we parted ways, I sent him the quality scores to review. He was surprised how fast everything came together and was appreciative of all the help. I could only answer happily, “that’s what we do!” Then, he asked if I would connect with his team.
Turns out, he is the CEO of a large company.
He didn’t have clear insight into his healthcare data or the quality of his care. This is something we come across often in benefits, both employers and employees can struggle to navigate their healthcare options. Your people need to be able to ask questions, and know where to find answers.
This CEO was willing to learn and I was willing to have a genuine connection with him. I have since shared his story with his team.
Healthcare is a universal need. If the CEO of a successful company doesn’t have the information to make the right choice about their healthcare, how does an employee feel? Situations like this affect everyone, from employees to c-suite leaders.
A comprehensive healthcare plan is only beneficial if everyone knows how to use it. You can make a big difference in helping your people become knowledgeable about their benefits by:
- Making benefit communications engaging, positive and interactive.
- Making benefit marketing a year-round effort.
- Conducting personal interviews and using questionnaires to find out what your employees need and what they don’t understand in regards to their healthcare plan.
- Making access to information easy, consider initiating a benefits team among your employees.
- Holding meetings or annual health and wellness fairs to encourage employees and their families to come out, ask questions and learn more.
If you lead by example you can increase trust within your team and create an open environment where employees feel comfortable asking for help. This can open doors to a more transparent, sustainable healthcare plan because the better your people can navigate their benefits, the better their health and wellness will be.
In one flight, we made a connection, one that made a big difference, to a lot of people.
Make it your mission to make meaningful connections with others, because when you do you can create a phenomenal network of people, and that alone can create opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
