28
February
2007
So I am in HR now and it is actually pretty interesting. I feel like I am in a foreign country and am learning their language and culture. Their focus is very different than the focus of hospital operations. HR folks have particular expertise - labor law, recruitment strategy, benefit administration- and that is their world. They apply their knowledge in support of the hospital, but they are at least one level removed from what is going on in the hospital. Instead of the daily census, patient records, and practice guidelines, HR folks focus on requisitions, employee files, and compensation programs. I am not knocking HR. What they do is really important for the hospital, but I am seeing that this disconnection between HR and hospital operations really limits HR’s impact on the later.
I think it is no secret that HR has not typically been seen as a strategic partner in the past. Many HR departments focus on the transactional work of moving paper around. This, of course, is a great service to the hospital, as much of the paperwork is required for legal compliance. HR also deals with those technical, but important hiring/firing/benefits/compensation issues, so that operational managers don’t have to, but, honestly, these are not seen as high value activities. Oh, and HR folks are also good for dealing with unions.
The good news is that HR can play an incredibly strategic role within the hospital. It just takes a little change of perspective. What is the biggest category of cost for every hospital in America? That’s right, labor. So who owns “labor”? The manager. Yes, but also HR. HR recruits for vacant positions, so that nursing doesn’t have to call upon agency nurses. Got employees with strained backs from lifting patients all day? Go see your friendly employee health nurse (often associated with the HR function). Got employee morale problems. Let an HR organizational development specialist facilitate a teambuilding, offsite activity. Are you a bad manager? We’ve got training courses for that too.
Of course, many HR departments do these things already. But filling job requisitions and providing training courses is not the ultimate measure of success for HR. The secret is leveraging these skills to achieve hospital strategic, financial, and operational goals. If you can focus your HR folks on these things, then HR can truly be a strategic partner.
Posted: Leading Healthcare
6
February
2007
It happened a few weeks ago. I was meeting with one of the managers from our department, discussing a project we were working on together. We were discussing some challenges allocating her direct reports time among various projects, when all of a sudden I saw my colleague as…a manager. It was as if a new pair of glasses had been lowered over my eyes. We were discussing a problem and rather than try to solve it for her, I let her deal with the problem, because she is a manager and that is what managers do.
OK, I know that doesn’t sound earth shattering, but many people managers don’t use this lens all the time. The assertive, go-getters see problems and they go and fix them. The caretakers try to make things easier by taking problems off of other people’s plates. There is nothing inherently wrong with these activities, but often the result is a habitual working at one level below your pay grade - directors do the work of managers, VPs do the work of directors, and so on.
Looking at people through this lens is actually quite freeing. For one, it clarifies boundaries. I don’t have to do the work of the manager. That is what the manager is for. I do have to do the work of a director (what ever that is) and I can lean on my VP for executive level support. That doesn’t mean that you can never step outside of your role to lend a helping hand, but applying the lens consistently empowers people to solve their own problems and come to you for problems that you can solve.
Healthcare managers are very busy people. There are high demands on us and limited resources. Too often we get bogged down in the daily grind of putting out fire after fire. But if you put on the lens, you may realize that you aren’t a fire fighter after all. Taking the metaphor a bit farther, looking through the lens you may realize that you are a dispatcher and instead of sending fire fighters out into the field, you were out there yourself manning the hose.
Posted: Leading Healthcare
2
January
2007
Most career advice is pretty common sense and this concept isn’t revolutionary either, but it has served me well as an early careerist.
Here is the situation: you read an article on the internet about a cool, cross-industry practice that would be perfect for your hospital (look up “Crew Resource Management and Medicine” for just such an inspiration) and you want to pitch the idea to your boss. But how do you make the idea sound like a winner? Do you lead with cost savings or the impact on patient safety? Do you build a PowerPoint presentation or prepare your speech on some index cards? Do I bring it up in a meeting or send an email?
To divine the answer, all you have to do is think like your boss. This doesn’t require psychoanalysis, though your boss’s personality may play factor. A few, straight-forward organizational realities guide your boss’s thinking and can be a guide for you in reading your boss’s mind.
First, your boss looks at the organization from a “higher” perch on the tree. Your boss may have other departments reporting to her and she has to take into account how projects will impact all of her areas. Is your great idea going to step on someone else’s toes? Are you going to create a mess that your boss will have to clean up?
In addition, your boss has a bigger view of the organization and what is going on - a big IT initiative, large scale cost cutting, other initiatives related to your idea. If you have a good relationship with your boss in the first place, you can tap into this knowledge and either test the waters for your idea or find out whom else in your organization might champion the idea.
Extending the concept one step further - and this is where the real bang for your buck is - your boss has a boss and helping your boss meet and exceed her boss’s expectations is a sure way to hit a home run.
Making a habit of taking these things into account has several benefits. First, you are more likely to be on the same page as your boss and that will help your cause when you have your Jerry Maguire moment. Second, it tends to align your actions with the organization and its goals. That makes you a good employee. Lastly, when you get promoted, you will have had practice thinking at the next step up the ladder. And that will help you succeed in the long run.
Posted: Leading Healthcare
