Make employees own their message
Some employees may believe power comes in numbers. They may add severity to their message or complaint by acting as though it is coming from dozens of other people. They may act as though they are representing other people or treat themselves as an informal leader who was sent with the message. Mr. Studer said this is a common problem in hospital management, and he recommends hospital leaders resist this style of communication.
When Mr. Studer was president of Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., a manager came up to him and said the managers were overwhelmed. When Mr. Studer specified and asked the manager in his office if he was overwhelmed, the manager replied that he was fine.
“So I said, ‘So not all managers are overwhelmed,'” said Mr. Studer. “‘You’re a manager. You just said you’re not overwhelmed.'”
Leaders should be careful when people act like they’re carrying a message they may not actually believe. This is when the cycle begins to get out of control. When people come carrying a message they expect their supervisor, manager or executive to take higher, leaders must push back and empower employees to carry the message themselves. “You have to say, ‘I will teach you how to do that. I will tell you how to carry that,'” said Mr. Studer.
Dig deeper into complaints
Mr. Studer also provided some tips to address employees’ complaints, especially those pertaining to staffing issues. One of employees’ most common complaints is that a certain unit is short-staffed, or more commonly put as “in need of help.” Unless leaders properly investigate this claim, it’s an easy one to believe. “If we’re not careful, we feed into it,” he said.
Instead, he recommended leaders ask a question in return when someone raises complaints about staffing or other broad issues. “Don’t be afraid to stop and say, ‘Why do you feel like that right now?’ Many times it’s not that they’re short-staffed forever — there might be a situational staffing issue,” Mr. Studer said.
A variety of situations can contribute to the perception of short-staffing, such as one employee taking too many sick days and causing absentee issues. Perhaps another department may not be running efficiently or on time, such as patient transport, which can delay operations in a unit. Mr. Studer suggested leaders seek out the specific root cause of the problem and resist any type of generalities.
“The main message is dig deeper,” said Mr. Studer. “When people make a statement, say, ‘Why do you feel that way? Help me understand. Why are you saying this?’ Sometimes the problems get fixed, sometimes it’s just the situation.”
When communicating with their employees, hospital leaders should emphasize the importance of efficiency not only within their organization, but also in the grander scheme of things.
“One of the biggest issues in healthcare is people say we don’t have enough resources. But here’s the reality: There’s not going to be more resources,” said Mr. Studer. “We have to accept this and then talk about how we can be more efficient and more effective. Get people away from thinking they can get something they will not, and focus on what you can change.”
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