Management Review

Don’t Mold Staff in Your Image

Sidebar: One Way to Boost Morale: Don't Undermine Your Employees

It’s natural to correct someone when we see a mistake. It’s also natural to get set in our ways and resist change. Interestingly, these “character flaws” are related when it comes to managing our offices.

Each of us dreams of having a brilliant, happy, well-coordinated office with staff who thinks we walk on water. Problems are something other doctors have. Unfortunately, reality often differs. In truth, problems run rampant and there’s always something demanding immediate attention. Good employers maintain harmony, achieve peak production, and still have the respect and support of their team. 

Most of us made it through optometry school and into practice because we are “Type A” high achieving, strong personalities. The very things that make us successful also create employee problems. Our basic drive to direct and control can interfere with common sense and management skills.

The bottom line is this: You’re not going to make employees into your own image. If they had your education, skill level and experience, they wouldn’t be your employees. 
So, understand that they may not reach the same brilliant solutions to problems, learn as rapidly, or even have the same rapier memory. And, when they fall short of your expectations, you may need to back off, reinforce lessons, or even retrain, sometimes repeatedly.

Most importantly, though, don’t steal your employees’ thunder. Employees have a need and a right to make decisions, feel important and be independent. This allows them to be part of your team, and it removes a burden from your shoulders. Patients also feel more comfortable when they see an employee has your verbal and non-verbal support.

Sometimes your staff may even know more about some subjects or be more in tune with your patients than you. A successful practitioner never hesitates to compliment staff in front of patients or to let patients know that “Jane is our insurance expert.” You can even tell patients that if you answer specific insurance questions, for example, it may very well be wrong.

Save staff reprimands for private moments, when patients and other employees are out of sight and earshot. Try to be even-toned and factual, not accusatory.

By respecting employees’ feelings and empowering them to make decisions, you lead by example and allow your staff to reach their full potential. Your office will be healthier and happier. Perhaps it will even seem like the happiest place on earth. 

Dr. Miller is a private practitioner and consultant based in Highland, Calif.
 

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One Way to Boost Morale: Don’t Undermine Your Employees Does this sound familiar? You insist that patients pay at the time of service. As she’s checking out, however, Mrs. Smith realizes she forgot her checkbook.  “That’s no problem,” your assistant Janet politely tells her. “You can drop it off this afternoon or tomorrow morning, and then we’ll order your glasses right away.” You overhear the conversation and tell Mrs. Smith, a longtime patient, not to worry; she can send a check whenever she likes.  Seems nice enough. However, you’ve just undermined your employee in front of the patient, and that employee may now question how serious you really are about this policy. Do this often enough, and watch office efficiency and employee morale decline. It’s a steep price to pay in a managed-care environment and a tight labor market. A recent Gallup Poll reports that some four out of 10 people who are unhappy in their jobs say they’re dissatisfied with the opportunities to learn and grow in those jobs. What this means to you: learn to delegate patient management tasks; let your employees make certain decisions; and don’t undermine those decisions afterward.  Of course, there are some decisions you cannot delegate to your staff. An assistant should never tell a patient who calls with an ocular problem to just wait until the annual exam to get it checked. Nor should the assistant refer the patient elsewhere without specific guidelines and instructions. However, by delegating appropriate responsibilities and allowing staff to make other decisions, your office will be more efficient and morale will remain high. That means Janet will hopefully still be there when Mrs. Smith comes for her next exam — with or without her checkbook.—Jeffrey S. Eisenberg top

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