THE TROUBLED MANAGER
One need not be in management long to recognize the virtual impossibility of separating the person on the job from the person off the job. Problems, whether experienced on or off the job, generate feelings. Feelings cannot be left at home when one comes to work, nor can they be made to vanish completely for a specified number of hours each day.
Although the person on the job cannot totally be separated from the person off the job, people nevertheless differ markedly in their ability to keep the problems experienced in one area of life from intruding into another area of life. Herein lies the problem-not in the presence of one's feelings but rather in the control of one's feelings and what one does with those feelings.
We hear and read much about spotting and attempting to deal with the troubled employee. However, how does a manager deal with a fellow manager who seems to be bringing personal problems to work and affecting the performance of several people?
An initial reaction to the problem might be to feel that another manager's behavior and performance are none of your business. However, if this manager's behavior is affecting your performance or that of your employees, you have inherited some second-hand responsibility because the performance of your department is your responsibility.
The troubled manager may be disrupting performance by actively discussing his or her problems in front of you and others or by becoming sullen and withdrawn, unreachable or unavailable, or otherwise moody or temperamental. If such behavior is evident, particularly active complaining that clearly disrupts work performance, you have a legitimate reason to raise your concerns about what you have observed.
Consider the advantage you have in dealing informally with a fellow manager. Because you are organizational equals, there is no line authority relationship between you. This allows you to speak at least as peers and perhaps even as friends.
The manager who actively talks about personal problems with peers and others may be unconsciously trying to satisfy certain needs. You might be able to serve as a sounding board, lending a sympathetic ear and a nonthreatening presence to which he or she might be able to relate. You can perhaps have lunch with this person, meet for coffee occasionally, and take advantage of other opportunities to make yourself available-as long as you establish the ground rules so that the other manager's problems intrude as little as possible on your productive time. In providing a friendly environment and simply listening, you will be doing the same for this manager as you would for any employee who was experiencing difficulty.
Once you have the other manager talking with you, proceeding with all possible tact and all the understanding you can extend, consider the following:
* Diplomatically point out any performance difficulties experienced by you and your staff that seem to be related to this manager's actions, emphasizing the importance of the department manager as a role model, who automatically sets an example for employees in matters of performance and conduct.
* If this person has told you of a problem similar to one you have experienced yourself, consider using yourself as an example of one who has met and overcome such an obstacle. This may be difficult for you unless you know the other manager well, but doing so says that you care enough to display a degree of vulnerability.
* Avoid giving specific advice on matters about which you are not qualified to advise. Rather, provide information about certain sources of qualified professional assistance if this person asks for your opinion or solicits your advice.
* If you and the other manager report to the same superior, and if all your personal efforts to deal with the problem are rejected, you may eventually consider discussing the situation with your superior. If this last resort is used, it should be approached with all possible sensitivity. Express your concerns as they specifically relate to the effects on the performance of you and your work group. Be prepared to suggest to your manager any ways in which you might realistically assist in temporarily reducing the pressure on the other manager. Your approach should send a message that says in effect that "my colleague is apparently experiencing problems that are affecting my department's performance, and I would like to know what I can do to restore normal working relationships."
Much of the foregoing may seem to lie above and beyond the call of duty for an individual manager. However, if another manager's behavior is having negative effects on your department's performance-and effects on this performance clearly call for your involvement or at least your active concern-something has to be done, and something informal done at your level may be preferable to higher management's immediate involvement.
In addition, often a colleague who is experiencing problems, personal or otherwise, would appreciate a sympathetic ear and an understanding presence. Few of us are capable of giving our best when we are troubled, and any of us could encounter a significant problem at any time.
In the way of additional information and advice, this issue of The Health Care Manager offers the following articles for consideration:
* "The Generation-Y Workforce in Health Care: The New Challenge for Leadership" addresses some apparent problems of leadership in managing the new generation entering the workforce, the "babies of the baby boomers" who are essentially demanding a new and different organizational culture to meet their needs.
* "Improving Quality of Health Care Through Pay-for-Performance Programs" describes the emerging role of pay-for-performance programs in promoting the efficiency and quality of health care to US citizens in health care programs administered by the federal government, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare.
* "Coding, Reimbursement, and Managed Care" discusses the emerging role and significant financial impact of medical coding in reimbursement for health care in general and in relation with managed care organizations in particular and suggests the directions in which coding practices must be evolving to most effectively serve their intended purpose.
* In the Case in Health Care Management column, "The Enemy Camps," the reader is asked to address a specific, serious problem arising in the presence of a new manager in a department where the employees are divided into 2 opposing and often antagonistic groups.
* "Employees' Need for Speed: Methamphetamine in the Workplace" addresses the growing problems presented by this profoundly addictive drug and recommends training employees to identify and react appropriately to the wide range of methamphetamine hazards as a means of improving the management of other workplace hazards.
* "Harassment: It's Not (All) About Sex! Part II, Plaintiffs, Supervisors, and Preventive Protocols" follows up on the information presented in Part I (HCM 27:1) and provides information to assist health care managers in introducing new policies, procedures, and protocols to ensure that their organizations are adequately protected from the threat of charges of unlawful harassment.
* "The Role of Nursing in Bridging the Gap Between Managers and Physicians in Hospitals" suggests how nurses can be instrumental in bridging the gap between the often conflicting cultures of managers and physicians, effectively connecting the worlds of management and medicine in stronger cooperative relationships.
* "Five Myths of the Chinese Health Care System" addresses some common but erroneous and often strongly held beliefs concerning the manner in which the Chinese health care system functions in addressing the needs of a population of 1.3 billion in this era of transition from a socialist ideology to a market economy.
* "Managing Health Care Volunteer Programs" examines volunteering from a department manager's perspective and explores the reasons behind volunteering, the establishment of a workable volunteer-to-organization fit, and some concerns unique to the management of these unpaid "employees," who are not bound to specific commitments as are true employees.
* "Ethical Issues and the Electronic Health Record" describes how the expanding use of electronic health records has created conflict among a number of ethical principles and provides recommendations for health care workers, leaders, and policy makers for avoiding serious breaches of employee confidentiality in the transmission use of electronic health information.
* "The Department Manager, Wage and Hour Law, and the Control of Overtime" provides a refresher on the basics of wage and hour law as it applies to department managers, reviews recent changes in rules affecting payment of overtime, and offers suggestions for the control of overtime.