Personnel

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

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

One crucial piece of effective self-management is the ability to have access to information at any location. This starts with very simple concepts and is very well supported by tools readily available now. The major shift can be between your ears, as is true of many types of new approaches. The key idea is to keep everything electronic and to set up a system so you can remotely access your information. Communications All of your contact information should be housed in your main computer. This can be a desktop or a laptop, depending on your preference. This should be the main workstation … [Read more...] about Managing Yourself Part 2

Our workplaces have become progressively less rigid and structured over the past few decades, but particularly over the past several years. Our time is chopped up into smaller units, and the demands on our attention and energy grow exponentially. Self management becomes  a progressively more important skill set in this type of environment, approaching your primary skill set. One powerful and necessary practice is to read outside your immediate field, and allow the concepts of others to stimulate your imagination. One of my favorite resources for this is the Harvard Business Review. There … [Read more...] about Managing Yourself Part 1