Article Outline
Having a hard time saying no to employees? Should the optometrist maintain a proper distance, or be “one of the guys”? Effective management skills often impact the bottom line.
Few optometrists choose to get into eye care because they necessarily enjoy managing people. In fact, many rate it low on the scale of things they like doing most or feel they do best. Dealing with the whims and complaints of staff can be tiresome and annoying and distract at times from the most important things, like patient care.
Yet, handling staff effectively often impacts the bottom line of a business. The ability to deal well with staff can pay dividends in terms of employee retention, morale, and incentive. There usually is a reason why successful and profitable practices have strong staffs—part of it is certainly the result of effective training, but it also comes down to being able to recruit and retain good people, keep them happy, and motivate them to be as productive as possible. People who are protective of the boss, who feel a sense of loyalty to the practice, and are prepared to go the extra mile, generally make for a more successful operation than employees who are always grumbling, are on the lookout for their next job, and are content to do the absolute minimum.
Although good people skills are often innate, there are some that can be learned. Here are a few things to consider:
1.Go to the manual. Although it would be nice to think that all staffers revel in their jobs so much that they never ask for a raise or an extra week of vacation time, this is hardly reality. Employees tend to want what is best for them—which, at times, can be in conflict with the best interests of the practice. Instead of feeling the need to agree with or deny an employee's demand for time-and-a-half pay on the day before July 4 (“My last boss always did this, so I simply assumed you would too”) or time off during your back-to-school promotion because her mother has suddenly come to town, the practitioner should be able to simply point the employee to an operations manual that spells out policies and procedures. Although it may not mention that “all employees are to be paid in full if the practice closes due to a power outage in any month that starts with ‘A,’” it should attempt to plan for most contingencies. Specifically, this would include policies regarding topics such as vacation time, pay increases, medical benefits, continuing education, dress code, personal days/sick days off, and paid holidays. The more information covered, the less the need for the boss to play the part of the hero or villain. It takes the onus off of anyone complaining about so-and-so getting preferential treatment or that “just this time” is okay. All procedures and steps on the clinical care side of the business should also be outlined in this manual.
2.Keep it professional. Bosses are better off, I believe, being on friendly terms with staff rather than hoping to motivate through intimidation or harsh methods. At the same time, however, going out to lunch with employees every day and being “one of the guys” rarely works either. There is a large middle ground that allows for one to be friendly and yet maintain an authoritative position. In running any business, tough decisions need to be made, many of which will affect staff. Keeping a distance and having everything written down saves doctors the difficulty of always having to address employees' personal issues.
3.Maintain a balance between acting as the chief executive officer and the chief bottle washer. Should the practitioner dispense eyeglasses or answer phones when there is a shortage of available staff around to do these tasks? Should patient files be put away or the magazine rack straightened out by the optometrist? There is always a delicate balance between acting as a leader and as part of the team. Bosses should be prepared to pitch in when necessary to maintain schedules or image (e.g., so phones are not left ringing). The best leaders do pitch in; they should not act like they are above it all because, after all, the buck does stop with them. Yet, they also need to question the staff about what can be done next time to make sure someone is available to help the patient choose her frames or answer the phones.
No one ever said it was easy managing people. Yet, doing it effectively can be as important as anything in running a successful and profitable practice.
