Sven Gierlinger
With a focus on providing exceptional customer service and delivering the highest quality care, Sven Gierlinger is responsible for building an engaging, innovative and collaborative culture that drives organizational growth and customer loyalty through the customer experience.
He came to Northwell from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit where he served as vice president, hospitality and service culture, responsible for creating a superior and consistent service experience for patients, visitors and employees. Mr. Gierlinger worked closely with leadership to drive culture change around improving the customer experience in every encounter across the system.
Prior to that, he was administrator, hospitality services, for Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, responsible for all aspects of non-clinical operations, the Wellness & Integrative Health Center, retail shops and café, and the customer experience.
Mr. Gierlinger began his career in the luxury hotel business, holding a series of leadership positions with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. He played a key role in the openings of several Ritz-Carlton hotels in Germany, Japan, Indonesia and the United States, responsible for executing and implementing Ritz-Carlton service standards, training staff and leading teams of trainers.
Sven Gierlinger appeared on 20-Minute Health Talk to discuss how COVID-19 disrupted patient experiences, lessons which can be learned to advance care.
Mr. Gierlinger is a board member for The Beryl Institute and member of the Institute for Innovation, Founding Executive Council.
He received a bachelor’s degree in hospitality business administration from the Bavaria Hotel Management Academy, Altoetting, Germany.
A woman and her two children speak to a family member on a tablet. Sven Gierlinger expresses the need to connect families with their loved ones during the coronavirus crisis.
Bringing love and care to p
749: Sven Gierlinger, part 1: Changing the Culture of a New York Hospital Chain as a Chief Experience Officer
I heard about Sven through the articles below about the cultural change at Northwell, a chain of hospitals around New York City.
I recommend reading the Post article before listening to this episode. It may read overly positive about the food, but Sven and I ate just after recording at the hospital the regular food they serve patients. It was incredible. I would never have dreamed food at a hospital could taste so good and look so appealing. I figured American hospitals had just capitulated and converted to doof.
From a leadership perspective, I’m most interested in the processes and people behind changing a culture. Serving better food overlaps with the environment in that everyone knows and agrees high-quality food beats low-quality, especially at a hospital, and everyone knows clean air beats polluted air, but we created a culture that makes low quality hospital food and polluted air normal. Sven helped turn around a system and not just any system. Hospitals handle life and death, face heavy regulation, include doctors with special needs, and more things that raise the stakes. He has to deal with people, technology, finances, and everything.
He seems to have succeeded. Can Sven be a role model for we who are trying to change global culture?