Pat Charmel, CEO of Griffin Hospital, explores the concept of innovation in his organization.  He begins by linking innovation to creativity.  In re-inventing the then-failing organization, Charmel says creativity was a must.  He drives his point home with the recent construction of Griffin Hospital’s cancer facility, in which the concept of “experience mapping” was put to use.  Charmel goes on to explain that the strategy determines and prioritizes the needs of the patient, by walking through or experiencing renderings of a health facility in the eyes of the patient.

In another example of Griffin Hospital’s innovation, Charmel points to their principle focus on comfort by de-emphasizing what he calls the intimidating and frightening look of technology.  Whereas other health care providers celebrate expensive machinery as ‘centerpieces’ in their facilities, Charmel says Griffin would rather colorize million-dollar technologies in neutral tones.  This approach, he says, helps make otherwise-daunting machines disappear in the patients eyes.

When asked about Griffin’s innovation practices outside of healthcare, Pat Charmel explains the innovative steps that Griffin has innovated to turn their company around. See the full interview here.