MedCV Practice Management Tips
Here are a few great tips from Quint Studer, a true leader in “the business of healthcare,” about what you can do as a leader to help your practice staff be successful when working from home as well as what they should be doing to step-up to help you, your practice, and the team during this unprecedented time. Then our thoughts about what to do if you did everything and more as a leader you could do, but an employee “earned” your loss of trust.
Virtual Expectations: What to Do When Employees Aren’t Meeting Yours
Written by: Quint Studer
Recently, I was talking to someone who is a partner in a large company. This person told me that during this crisis, they’ve kept all their employees (a very large staff) and are paying them to work from home. The owners are putting in a ton of hours, and even loaning money to the company to meet payroll. Meanwhile, this person sees employees on social media doing things like painting their house. He’s frustrated because it looks like they aren’t doing their share, and the whole burden is on him and the other owners.
Is the perception true? Maybe or maybe not, but it’s how this individual feels right now. There is a breakdown of trust. And I’m hearing similar frustrations from other leaders as people settle into … Continue reading
If, as a leader, you made every accommodation, made available all resources needed to get at the work, defined and had agreement on expectations, opened communication channels, coached them to fully understand that they needed to do to “up their game” for the greater good of the team and what it would mean to the business, you included compassion about daily distractions by family and children at home, and then the employee still didn’t meet your minimum expectations, what should you do?
In business terms, this employee didn’t increase their Discretionary Effort at all, it actually fell below minimum requirements. We should always be tracking what team members do that’s “going the extra mile.” Especially during rare and extreme circumstances like this pandemic. Who on your team went “Above the Call of Duty” on their own without you having to suggest anything or endlessly having to push them and who didn’t make an effort?
Clearly this equates to a lack of respect for you, your practice, the rest of the team, and/or they don’t value your loyalty to them. Now might be a perfect time to let them go and clean house. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How much have they contributed during the crisis?
- If you let them go:
- Will you need to replace them right away or can their work be absorbed comfortably by the rest of the team? At least for a while. Those who did “step-up” may actually be very happy to see that person gone and have a few ideas about new-found efficiencies. Their loyalty should also be rewarded once the practice is financially stable again.
- If you have to replace them, remember, you control the timing. Find the replacement before you let them go. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s just good business practices. Rest assured, they are in this only for the paycheck and they will be leaving at the next opportunity anyway. Be sure to follow your HR guidelines for terminations though (document, document, document).
MedCV Tips & Updates 