In last month’s “From the College,” we began looking at a management cycle, called the Five Rs of physician leadership, designed to help physician leaders move from being managing-managers to coaching-leaders.
We started with a look at the first two Rs—recruitment and realization. This month, we will take a look at the rest of the cycle, and how each of these can help you successfully lead employees in your practice, department, or institution.
Recognition
Everyone wants to be recognized for his or her work—it’s human nature. Unfortunately, many employees feel that they only hear from their leaders when something is wrong. Savvy physician leaders will recognize and openly praise their employees for hard work and great accomplishments because they understand that this is a low-cost way of motivating employees to maximize performance.
At the same time, it is important for physician leaders to understand that, although we all appreciate recognition, we don’t all appreciate receiving it in the same way. Stephen Paul Robbins, author of The Truth About Managing People…and Nothing But the Truth, advises leaders to use multiple ways of recognizing their employees: verbal and written, public and private, and individual and team. The following are some cost-effective, simple, and fun ways of recognizing employees:
- Offer praise—verbally and written; publicly or privately. Calling an employee into your office and offering praise (without discussing anything else) is a great way to boost morale.
- Share praise from others. If you receive a note from a patient regarding the quality care they received, post it for your staff to enjoy and feel proud of. If a patient’s praise specifically mentions an employee, make time to specifically mention that employee for his or her quality work.
- Provide a staff breakfast or lunch. There is always something special about taking time to break bread with your staff. It gives you the opportunity to socialize and show appreciation.
- Establish traditions. Holiday and summer parties and other traditions give employees something exciting to look forward to and gives you the opportunity to create a fun work environment.
- Provide employee awards and gifts, and find a fun way to present them to employees. Gifts engraved with your practice’s or institution’s logo and awards (such as employee of the month) allow you to offer a token of appreciation and give employees the opportunity to display a tangible sign of their hard work.
- Offer opportunities for growth, training, and cross-training. Encourage and praise continuing education, and provide opportunities for employees to put new skills to use. When an employee shows the effort to increase his or her skill set, it is important to find a way to allow him or her to grow in the position. This doesn’t always come in the form of a promotion. It could be as simple as asking an employee to sit in an important meeting or handle a new task.
Ultimately, recognition comes down to encouraging and empowering your employees. Providing opportunities to have some fun at work and showing that you see the effort an employee is putting in really goes a long way.
Finding the Coach: Managers might feel that the act of praising employees is too “touchy-feely” for the workplace. Skilled leaders understand that this is vital to the success of their practices, institutions, and departments. They do this often, they do it in multiple ways, and they do it well. By understanding the importance of saying, “I see the good things you have done, I value you and your work here, and I want you to feel appreciated,” skilled coaches re-assert themselves as leaders, while validating the work of their staff.
Redirection
One major difference between a manager and a leader is how they give feedback. A manager might allow an employee to go through the entire year with little to no feedback—only providing this at the official annual review. A leader, on the other hand, will use the fourth R—redirection—to revisit job expectancies and provide feedback and guidance to encourage positive work and behavior, discourage and correct negative work and behavior, and identify new opportunities. This is beneficial not only to the employee, but to the physician leader as well. Taking this approach will help maximize performance and make it easier to manage a marginal performer.
Redirection allows you to coach your staff to the next level, and is arguably the most effective way of managing a marginal performer, or someone who is struggling to meet expectations. In his article, “Coaching … A Management Tool for a More Effective Work Performance,” G. Eric Allenbaugh explains that, by receiving ongoing feedback, “employees know where they stand with their supervisor and are generally more receptive to interactions of a developmental nature.” Redirection can come in many forms, but the two most common forms are:
- Ongoing Feedback: This is the answer to waiting until an annual review to discuss issues that may arise with an employee. By offering an open-door policy and providing feedback and instruction in real time, you are able to work with an employee to make sure he or she is moving in the right direction throughout the year.
- Official Annual Review: Just because you are providing ongoing feedback doesn’t mean you should cease your official annual reviews. This is your time to discuss both the positives and negatives of an employee’s previous year of service; plus, the review offers the employee the opportunity to communicate with you regarding his or her position as well as his or her future in your practice, department, or institution. Finally, the annual review will give you both a chance to plan and set goals to move forward in the coming year.
Finding the Coach: Managers often perform annual reviews by providing feedback on areas for improvement, and this feedback is often based on “what you are doing wrong.” A skilled coach will provide both positive feedback and feedback on areas for improvement. He or she will also be respectful of the employee’s feelings and point of view because doing this will help in creating buy-in.
Retention
If you are consistently working through recruitment, realization, recognition, and redirection, you will enjoy the fruit of your labor—employee retention.
In their book, The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value, Frederick F. Reichheld and Thomas Teal discuss the benefits of having long-term employees, including:
- Lower hiring costs;
- Lower training costs;
- Higher efficiency;
- Better customer recruiting;
- Higher customer retention;
- Higher customer referrals; and
- Higher employee referrals.
Employee retention is the return on investment in the other four Rs. Putting time and effort into your staff makes good business sense. It will save you time and money when you have a fully trained, fully functioning staff member who can take initiative and help you grow your business.
When you have long-term employee retention, you will see the merging of values, goals, and objectives. These employees often become ingrained into the culture of their practices, departments, and institutions because a good leader has created buy-in, loyalty, and—ultimately—has given them something to which they have connected.
Finding the Coach: Managers might feel that moving an employee to the retention part of the cycle means their work is done. Skilled leaders never assume that a long-term employee knows everything and is completely satisfied. These leaders will continue to take time with these faithful staffers, knowing that they must continue good leadership to keep good employees.
Mastering the Five Rs of physician leadership is the springboard to a happy, lucrative business. Following the tips presented in the Five Rs, and seeking additional advice on good leadership skills, will help you build strong, initiative-taking, loyal, long-term employees, and your practice, department, or institution will benefit greatly.
References
- Robbins SP. The Truth About Managing People…and Nothing But the Truth. FT Press, 2003.
- Allenbaugh GE. Coaching … A Management Tool for a More Effective Work Performance. Manage Rev. 1983;72:21-26.
- Reichheld FF, Teal T. The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value. Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
