The staff members in a doctor’s office will usually include administrative personnel first, and direct or auxiliary care providers second (if at all). Both employee classes need boundaries, guidelines and policies in order to be effective employees. A good distinction to draw is the difference between the social and the cultural. A social agreement in a business is anything written that describes rules and agreements. A cultural agreement in a business is the unwritten and usually unspoken set of shared values that dictate behavior. Moving towards a socially rather than culturally run … [Read more...] about Managing People 3
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Managing People 2
One of the toughest employee issues facing a doctor is the task of finding the right person to fill a specific administrative role in the office. We are constantly faced with the choice between finding a competent person and then tailoring the job to her strengths or defining the job and then finding the person who fits that mold best. There are positives to both approaches, explored below. Lean or redundant organization? A generation ago, almost all organizations were redundant. This means that there were multiple pathways to get something accomplished. Back-ups and substitutes were easier … [Read more...] about Managing People 2
Managing People 1
The very first time you hire someone to be a part of your health care team, you have become a manager. Many doctors enter this arena blindly, without training, experience, communications, and without any sense of employment law or its bureaucratic cousins. Making a bigger impact on your community, being able to help as many people as possible, and generally being more effective demands that you become a great manager in addition to your diagnostic and treatment skills. This series will address basic concepts that can apply to an office of any size. Rewards Current thought in workplace … [Read more...] about Managing People 1
Managing Yourself Part 3
A big part of keeping control of your energy, time and workflow is the concept of effective and efficient delegation. Delegation is an art form, and one that is frequently bungled. Ineffective delegation yields two people doing the same job, re-working tasks or processes being dropped. The overall net effect is waste, inefficiency and loss of quality in the service or product. Necessities for effective delegation There are several common characteristics to effective delegation, no matter the size of the task and whether they are inside or outside your organization: Identify the task … [Read more...] about Managing Yourself Part 3