The Direct Approach
In my early years as a manager, I had a serious problem. The bookkeeper I had hired and supervised had embezzled a lot of money. We'd been having problems paying bills, and an accountant friend of mine audited our books on his own time as a favor.
Needless-to-say, I was mortified. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my husband, beside myself with worry. I was certain I would be fired for this person's misdeeds. There was no way to tell the physicians this news and make it less awful.
My husband was in the Marines, and he can be less than subtle. He looked me straight in the eye and said the only way to deal with the situation was to be direct, and to tell the doctors first thing in the morning. He pointed out that I had already fired the bookkeeper and would have to call the police anyway.
The important thing, he said, was how I told them. He said it's important to make it clear that I was dealing with the situation in a pro-active way. "Doctors don't tell their patients, 'you've got diabetes, too bad.' They say, 'you've got type 2 diabetes, you'll need to meet with a nutritionist, and we'll discuss some exercising options.'"
It was great advice. Not only did I keep my job, the doctors applauded my efforts to investigate the problem.
As the years have gone by, I've had many other occasions to give physicians bad news. Recently, a doctor's poor bedside manner caused a patient to lodge a serious complaint. I told him about it without hesitation, and he admitted that his workload had been stressing him out lately. When he next saw the patient, he made amends.
It is never fun being the bearer of bad tidings, but when you're a manager, it's your job to tell it like it is. To do otherwise is to risk the trust of your colleagues and your own self respect.
Addendum: Recently, I invited readers to offer topics for blogs, and Rochelle was gracious enough to reply that she wanted to know how upcoming Medicare cuts would impact group practices. In the interests of accuracy, I think this article addresses that issue better than I ever could.
Thanks, Rochelle, for your question. As always, I welcome all comments and inquiries.
posted by Anne @ 7:52 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I was employed by a physician owner who's only instruction to me was, "Keep me out of it. I'm tired of the stress." First of all, don't ever take a position with that kind of job description. Secondly, if you are in that position, don't follow that instruction.
His practice was seriously in debt. He was weary of the stress of juggling bills and keeping the operation afloat. I made the mistake of shouldering that burdon for a while and left him out of the tribulations involved with a lack of funds. He had a practice consultant that reported the monthly numbers to him with a positive spin and advised him when the consultant felt changes were necessary. We didn't make much progress in changing the finances as he continued to compensate the physicians well, too well, for their efforts. This was on the advise of his practice consultant and done for physician relations reasons. Their salaries ate up any hope of resolving the problem. Eventually, after a year of this, I brought him back up to speed. He was angry that the practice was still in debt and disappointed that he didn't fully understand the consequences of following the misguided advise of his consultant. We came to terms with the problems and developed a plan for improvement that included lowering salaries. He felt better when he saw that there was hope for imporvement. He didn't enjoy knowing about his problems but, with my urging, realized that he couldn't hide his head in the sand. Once I felt the owner was fully in the loop, I suggested that he find a replacement for me. I simply couldn't handle the sleepless nights anymore. I needed to be a part of a healther team and, as the consultant stayed on, I knew there would be more challenges ahead.
Leaving that practice was the best thing I have ever done. I learned many skills there that I hope I never have to use but gained perspectives that help me be a better manager and communicator now.
Don't keep your boss in the dark. It's his practice and he deserves to know the bad with the good. Don't let the advise of an outsider influence your judgment about what you communicate to your boss. And, more importantly, you deserve to sleep at night.
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