Eyeworld

69 OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS August 2017 by Corinne Wohl, MHSA, COE, and John B. Pinto 2. Delayed implementation of work, from small to large tasks. Using the lists you have pre- pared, prioritize the tasks and redistribute the work. You may be surprised to find that delegating tasks is not received by the rest of the team as being "dumped on" them but rather as an opportunity for mid-level managers to grow in their roles. Present the assign- ments positively, with apprecia- tion and without apology. 3. Delayed or inept employee recruitment. One of the most important skills that goes missing when you lose a leader is their recruitment ability. Strong hiring skills are often limited to a few people within a practice. The more you interview, the better your skills become. It takes years of practice to be really good at this. If in reading this you recognize that your team is inexperienced in this area, offer educational opportu- nities online, purchase books, and role play these skills during meetings before you lose your next leader. Hiring the right person is a challenge, even for the most expe- rienced interviewers. Offset this by involving a deeper cross-section of your staff in the interviewing process. In the most common one or two physician practices, this may include having every staff- er interview finalists for critical positions. 4. Decreased staff productivity. When the boss is away, the staff —being human—will play. If a mid-level manager's position is vacant, an acting manager should be appointed, or the administra- tor should step in and provide a stronger daily presence. You can also temporarily empower man- agers from other departments to keep an eye on things. 5. Reduced levels of employee morale. If you had an inspiring leader and now they are gone, be sure to be attentive to the employ- ees missing that leadership the most. They may be missing the Here is a list of the typical gaps we've observed over the years in cli- ent practices and ways to offset the dilemma of management gaps until you replace the missing leadership. 1. Not anticipating and identifying the potential gaps. What we're describing here applies whether the vacancy is your administrator or a mid-level manager. If possible, review the position description with the outgoing leader and update as needed. Review the top 20 tasks that he or she performs on a monthly basis. Take detailed notes, including where the files are stored and who the key con- tacts are. Keep a separate ledger for the rest of the tasks they perform each month and plan to either outsource or purposefully put them on hold. Get this organized even if you and the affected leader have strained communications; if you are barely on speaking terms, request the details in writing. Gaps like this fracture and weaken your management infra- structure over extended periods of time. Especially with administrator vacancies, there is a tendency for the remaining managers or doctor leaders to attend to the easier, more comfortable-to-fix issues. It is an easy trap to fall into. It can appear that the team is busy and fruitfully solving problems, and they may be. But the issues being addressed may not have been prior- itized for the benefit of the whole organization. With limited time to commit to completing tasks left by a vacant role, because everyone still has their own full-time job to do, the broader and usually more diffi- cult tasks need to be tackled first. For the remaining work, outsourcing on a temporary basis to experts is cost effective in the long run. Creden- tialing, billing and revenue cycle management, facilities and project management are examples that work well as out-sourced services. "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." —Rahm Emanual "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." —Winston Churchill O rganizations falter without strong leadership. Practic- es are especially vulnerable to the loss of leadership and management because the ambulatory healthcare industry tends to run a comparatively lean management structure compared to other businesses and yet is a pro- foundly complex environment. So, when an administrator or mid-level manager exits the practice, it can create a proportionately larger gap than in other settings. How to address leadership gaps To the point: Simple practice tune-ups for complex times continued on page 70

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