The answer was three minutes. It turned out the surgeons who had never been sued spent three minutes longer with their patients than those who were sued (18.3 minutes, versus 15 minutes).

More importantly, they were far more likely to make comments that involved the patient in what was happening, such as “First, I’ll examine you, and then we’ll talk the problem over”. They listened actively and laughed more than the doctors who were sued. The quality of medical information they gave wasn’t any better. It was the way they interacted that differed.

It gets stranger: recordings of doctor-patient conversations were made and the words were removed via computer. All that was left was intonation and inflection – the rise and fall of the voices. Independent judges were asked to rate these doctors for warmth, hostility and dominance, knowing nothing about them but the sound of their voice – not even the words they spoke. They accurately predicted which doctors would be sued and which not.

What’s this got to do with you and your customers? It’s the ‘E’ word, of course – Empathy. Try listening to how your people talk to customers and see if you think there’s room for improvement.

One obvious example to think about – If you have time limits on your customer phone calls for incoming queries, just how much customer dissatisfaction are you creating out there by pushing customers off the phone to keep the calls under the time limit?

You can buy the book here or check out Malcolm Gladwell's website

• Simple transactions (like purchasing) with options from a small number of propositions but from essentially one provider. eg. Local council Parking Shops, local public transport.
• Voluntary opt-in to a free scheme. eg Recycling. Visiting my local public library.
• Seeking free advice or support on day-to-day issues. eg. Making a enquiry about council tax, benefits, parking refuse collection.
• Seeking free advice or support on more significant issues. eg. * Visiting a GP and referral to a local hospital or other facility or expertise. Critical benefit issue. Victim support.
• Mandatory opt-in to a free facility but with little or no genuine choice. eg Using the school system.
• Mandatory participation with no options. eg committing a crime, the justice system, prison.
• Emergencies in which you give up control. eg medical emergencies, immediately after being a victim of a crime or other emergency.

Our priorities in the drive to achieving excellence are:

• Better Haringey – creating a cleaner, greener, safer borough
• Raising educational achievement
• Building safer and stronger communities
• Achieving excellent services
• Putting people first"

Who or what were they putting first before?

Over the last year, I have been working with councils across the country and with government departments to show how empowering neighbourhoods can work in practice. I have been arguing that the time is ripe for “double devolution” – not only passing power downwards from Whitehall to local towns, cities and counties, but also from town halls to neighbourhood democracy. For the first time in a generation, thanks to the vision of the minister for communities David Miliband and the political possibilities opened up by leadership transitions in all three parties, it is now possible to imagine how the long drift to centralisation could be reversed."

http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovt/comment/0,,1720158,00.html