Since we have a fairly large student audience, it’s important to speak also to ways to help you help your future managers succeed. After all, as a profession — success becomes mutual. AND, those who are known to have a team-mindset are more likely to be promoted from within 😉
With that… Here are…!!!
5 Ways To Make Your Manager’s Day
1. Scheduling.
Staffing and optimizing the schedule is one of the biggest pains, hugest headaches… and, quite honestly… one of the most redundant tasks ever given to a manager. Why is it still the case? Workplace culture. Why don’t people automate it? They do. They still want managers to check it. Why not delegate? They’ve tried. It always comes down to authority and drama.
And, by scheduling… I don’t mean scheduling patients. I’m talking about the staffing of clinic and/or departmental hours. Who will open up clinic at 6am for the work comp patients? Who will close up shop at 8pm? Who will work occasional weekend hours???
THAT scheduling. It’s a huge burden and cost to any business unit & if you are able to in any way, shape, or form… make yourself the anti-headache of scheduling for your boss.
Then… You = Awesome.
So, find ways to make the scheduling process easier for your direct supervisor. That supervisor is likely being sandwiched on all sides. All the employees want the best hours -and- their supervisor is breathing down their necks to make operations as efficient & lean as possible.
This leads us to…!
2. Productivity.
Productivity matters because at the business operations level, everyone is thinking about metrics like “cost per minute” or “profit per square foot” or “contribution margin per month.” Whatever the metric may be, due to the fact that there are a lot of departments who base their employee compensation on time… time becomes a cost, and therefore, key metric… (vs. a vehicle for value #SoapBox).
In most corporate organizations, your direct supervisor has a management dashboard which is created by the support staff of the managers above them. They jump on regular conference calls and meetings where they get their regular “slap on the wrist” for not meeting key metrics or their regular “pat on the back” for being the only department that has all the metrics in the green. Sound familiar?
Well…! Productivity is ALWAYS on that dashboard. AND, you can be of a huge help to your boss by being as time efficient as possible. Yes… yes… I know. We need to be responsible to our patients. But, I can tell you this… even when I was in my acute care days, I would hustle so hard to get as many weekend evaluations done as possible in order to lighten the load of my scheduler/supervisor as well as the Sunday staff who would have to bore through anything we couldn’t get through, plus, deal with all the new stuff that came in.
You hearing it? It’s all about a Team-Mindset. #BetterTogether
3. Special Populations.
For most business units (be it a single standing clinic or a hospital based department), special populations is both a sticking point as well as an under-serviced area of opportunity. Typically, there’s a less popular patient population type given any setting, department, or team.
It could be upper extremity, wound, vestibular, neuro… whatever it might be. It’s not that it isn’t valued by that current team. It’s just that the team, as with most group dynamics, gravitate towards what they are good at and what they are interested in. Since it’s impossible to be a master of all things, there will be opportunities that are left untapped.
Offering to tackle these special populations is a way to not only expand the business unit’s financial growth, it’s a way to also make your boss look good in front of their boss. This, in turn, makes you look good and your team look good. #EverybodyWins
4. Drama Killer.
Drama is the biggest team killer for any department. I can’t tell you how often this becomes the middle-school-playground/battleground as a “hostile workplace” which goes left un-quelled… especially in healthcare. Why? Probably because we all assume we’re above it… even our customers. Yet, we’re all still human… at least I am!
So, if you’re able to stand up for upright, well-carried professionalism within your team by standing up AGAINST dramatics… it’ll save your manager a whole heap of trouble that ultimately can cause the entire department to disintegrate and turnover.
Many times… it only takes one bad apple. Make sure you’re not it. AND, make sure you don’t let that bad apple sour your teammates. Protect them as your own!
5. Service Saver.
Service recovery is a natural and expected part of ANY industry. Healthcare, perhaps, requires the most attentive of service recovery skills… yet, this is an area which is vastly neglected, en masse. However, this is changing rapidly as the healthcare consumer is becoming a true consumer of their care… versus, being a victim of the ride.
If you detect any semblance of dissatisfaction at any level, be sure to: (A) let your supervisor know, and, (B) do whatever is within your power to attend to the situation… even if it is profusely apologizing for whatever error (that probably isn’t your fault — and, not to worry; everyone knows it wasn’t you) and assuring the customer that something will be done about it. Many times, that in and of itself, is all that’s needed to recover the service.
