One of my very good friends, a VHMA member from the East Coast, gave me some sage advice a few years ago that, unfortunately, I did not heed and ultimately paid the price for.
While attending a VHMA Annual Conference I was generally lamenting about problems with my staff, specifically noting our high staff turnover. My friend said to me "It sounds to me like your biggest opportunity to make a significant difference in your practice is to go back and really get to know your team members." At the time, I didn't exactly dismiss his recommendation but I didn't fully embrace it either.
After that meeting we continued to experience high staff turnover. Most recently, one of our doctors left and then a few months later opened a practice not too far away. Within a period of one month, we had lost another doctor and three technicians to that practice. This came at a time when we were already short-staffed and doctors were already feeling very frustrated without adequate support. Through these tough times, I took it upon myself to become more engaged in the hiring and training process and worked directly with our department leaders and HR Director, to recruit and train new employees to fill the open positions. What I learned from managing this crisis is that our team members, who I thought were disinterested, were actually very much interested in being a part of the solution when they felt engaged in the problem solving process, and most importantly felt appreciated from the top level of leadership.
One by one, with the help of our existing team members—who exhibited some extreme creativity in shift coverage, we found capable and experienced candidates to fill those open positions.
When you are managing a large practice, we now have 170 employees, you spend most of your time flying in the clouds at a 30,000 ft. management level. Unfortunately, at that level you are somewhat disconnected from the team members that are driving the practice daily—you’ll find them about 5 or 6 feet above the ground. Throughout the process I have become more thankful for our supportive staff and I have been reenergized to remain more connected to our staff members through better communication and interaction.
Jon Cunnington, MBA, CVPM
VHMA President