Physicians are often asked to lead—but are rarely prepared for the role. Promotions can happen overnight, often with no formal training and little support.…
Getting to a culture of always is an elusive outcome for organizations. Achieving excellence with every process, behavior, and customer interaction—is hard. It separates great organizations…
How employees perceive things often depends on their leader. I often speak to organizations that are undergoing a merger or consolidation. (This is happening…
Like most other healthcare organizations, post acute staffing shortages have created real challenges. Abby Spence, who has been a nursing home administrator for the…
It’s great getting to work with different types of people. Diversity is a wonderful thing. If we all worked and thought the same way, and had the same strengths, weaknesses, temperaments, and preferences, the workplace would be unbalanced. Imagine if everyone brainstormed nonstop and there was nobody to sit down and execute a plan. Or if you had an organization full of “executers” and no creative types to infuse fresh ideas. It’s crucial to understand…
The Great Resignation is still going on, and many individuals and business owners are dealing with job change. Whether one is thinking of leaving a job or is a leader dealing with the loss of a good employee, these are often complicated, emotional issues. It can be hard to know what to do. This past week I experienced three situations that involved career decisions. While they were all different, they were also similar in some…
How we “show up” at work matters. It matters for everyone, but especially for leaders as we are in a position to influence so many others. Are we fully present and engaged…or distracted? Are we calm, centered, and focused…or scattered? Positive and optimistic…or skeptical? Open and accessible…or unapproachable? Energized and ready to work…or passive? As leaders, everything we do and say is amplified. Our words and actions have a tremendous impact on the daily experience…
It is hard to believe 2022 is half over already. Yet here we are in the middle of June. That means at Studer Family of Companies (SFOC), it is time for mid-year reviews. Many times, companies schedule annual performance reviews. They have one-on-one meetings, and they have department meetings. This column is about adding a mid-year conversation. Employees are hard to come by these days. We need to do everything possible to engage and retain…
My writings are based on experiences, either my own or those I hear about from others. Today I’d like to write about that ability one achieves to be able to not confuse effort with results. Yes, I admire effort. Yes, effort often leads to results. Effort can be a very good thing. However, it is possible to put forth a lot of effort and still fall short on the desired outcome. This does not mean…
All jobs have their good points and their moments of challenge. To me, one of the most challenging roles of all is done by those who work in middle management. A middle manager is not in the senior role and not in the hourly role. They are sandwiched in between and are expected to meet the needs of both groups. As discussed in this column a few years ago, the best organizations tend to be…
When can we start holding people accountable again? This is a question I frequently receive. It does not mean that there is no accountability. What it does mean is that due to staff shortages, leaders are tending to lower the bar on expectations and accountability. It makes sense. If there are not enough staff to provide service, the business may need to reduce hours. This can lead to not having enough revenue to keep the doors…
I read lots of research. That means I regularly see formulas like N=500 or N=600 or N=1,000. The N stands for number, and the number afterward stands for how many people are included in the data. In essence, for research purposes, the larger the number the better in most cases. Statistics is very interesting to me. For instance, there is a certain number at which the results are considered reliable. The higher the N, the better the…
We learn by doing. Recently a personal situation came up that I did not know how to handle. I called someone to ask for advice. The advice I received was to be compliant with the process that people with expertise were recommending. It seems the more experience I get, the easier it is to break what I once made complex down to simple steps. I believe that is true for many people. My father was…
This column is about how to lead change. I am starting with a story on traffic roundabouts. They are a great example of leading change due to people’s initial reaction to them. I live in Pensacola, Florida. I live close to 17th Street. It intersects with Main Street (Bayfront), which is a major thoroughfare for people going to and from Pensacola to Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach. When a new bridge was announced, the plans included…