DIRECTOR, GUEST EXPERIENCE & ACCESS - FULL TIME EXEMPT in Lakeland, Florida at WATSON CLINIC LLP

Position Summary

Provides strategic leadership for the organization's Guest Services division by creating and sustaining an exceptional patient-centered experience across all Watson Clinic locations.

The Director of Guest Services establishes the vision, service philosophy, operational standards, and culture of hospitality for all guest-facing operations, ensuring every interaction reflects professionalism, compassion, efficiency, and personalized care.

This position leads the transformation of traditional patient access functions into a best-in-class Guest Services model that combines operational excellence with luxury-level hospitality principles while supporting clinical operations, physician practices, and organizational goals.

The Director partners closely with physicians, clinical leaders, operations, Human Resources, Marketing, Information Technology, and Quality to ensure every patient encounter consistently exceeds expectations. Serves as leader of the Patient Access department.

Essential Functions

Strategic Leadership

• Develops and executes a comprehensive Guest Services strategy aligned with the Clinic's mission, values, strategic priorities, and growth initiatives.
• Serves as the executive leader responsible for creating a hospitality-focused culture throughout all guest-facing departments.
• Champions an organizational philosophy that every guest interaction is an opportunity to build trust, loyalty, and lasting relationships.
• Develops long-term service excellence initiatives that elevate Watson Clinic as the premier healthcare destination in the region.

Guest Experience Leadership

• Creates and maintains exceptional service standards inspired by nationally recognized hospitality organizations while ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations.
• Designs memorable patient experiences by anticipating guest needs, removing barriers, and creating seamless care journeys.
• Leads initiatives focused on service recovery, patient satisfaction, first impressions, emotional connection, and personalized experiences.
• Establishes measurable service excellence standards and accountability systems across all reception and Guest Service operations.
• Develops proactive service strategies that consistently delight patients and visitors beyond traditional expectations.

Operational Leadership

• Provides executive oversight for all Guest Services operations including:
• Reception Services
• Patient Registration
• Scheduling Operations
• Guest Service Navigators
• Welcome Centers
• Call Center Operations
• Front Desk Operations
• Check-in/Check-out Functions
• Patient Navigation Services
• Ensures consistent service delivery across all clinical locations.
• Standardizes workflows while maintaining flexibility to meet specialty-specific operational needs.
• Partners with operational leaders to continuously improve access, efficiency, and patient flow.

Culture Development

• Builds an organizational culture where hospitality is viewed as everyone's responsibility.
• Creates programs that reinforce empathy, professionalism, accountability, ownership, and service excellence.
• Recognizes and celebrates outstanding service behaviors throughout the organization.
• Partners with Human Resources to recruit, onboard, develop, and retain high-performing Guest Service professionals.
• Acts as a role model for servant leadership and emotional intelligence.

Training and Development

• Develops comprehensive Guest Services education programs.
• Creates onboarding programs for all Guest Service team members.
• Implements ongoing hospitality training focused on:
• Service excellence
• Emotional intelligence
• Effective communication
• Conflict resolution
• Difficult conversations
• Luxury-level customer service
• Patient engagement
• Service recovery
• Professional appearance and presence
• Partners with Organizational Development to sustain continuous learning initiatives
• Quality Improvement
• Leads continuous improvement initiatives using Lean methodologies and evidence-based best practices.
• Analyzes patient satisfaction metrics, operational data, complaints, compliments, wait times, abandoned calls, registration accuracy, and workflow efficiency.
• Develops action plans that improve both operational performance and guest experience.
• Uses patient feedback to drive organizational improvements.

Financial Management

• Develops and manages departmental operating budgets.
• Ensures efficient allocation of staffing and operational resources.
• Identifies opportunities to improve productivity while maintaining exceptional service standards.
• Supports organizational financial goals through operational excellence and resource stewardship.
• Collaboration
• Works collaboratively with physicians, administrators, nursing leaders, ancillary departments, and executive leadership to ensure a seamless patient experience.
• Builds strong relationships throughout the organization to eliminate silos and improve coordination of care.
• Serves as the organizational subject matter expert on Guest Experience.

Supervisory Responsibility

• Provides leadership, coaching, mentoring, performance management, and professional development for all Guest Services leaders and team members.
• Creates an environment of accountability, engagement, and continuous improvement.
• Develops succession planning strategies to build future Guest Services leaders.
• Establishes performance expectations aligned with service excellence standards.
• Conducts regular leadership rounding and coaching observations.

Travel

Occasional travel between clinic locations and attendance at professional conferences or educational programs related to healthcare operations, hospitality, patient experience, and leadership development..

Required Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Hospitality Management, Nursing, or a related field required.Master's degree preferred. Minimum of seven years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare operations, patient access, hospitality, guest services, or a related operational leadership role.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Exceptional executive presence with the ability to inspire confidence across all organizational levels.
• Outstanding emotional intelligence and interpersonal effectiveness.
• Strong servant leadership philosophy.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.
• Exceptional presentation and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to coach leaders and develop high-performing teams.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities.
• Passion for creating extraordinary guest experiences.
• Ability to balance hospitality with operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.
• Commitment to fostering a culture of dignity, respect, compassion, and personalized care.
• Strong project management, change management, and organizational development capabilities.
• Ability to make sound decisions in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.