"Staff It "

Question: I work at the local hospital office as a Manager. I supervise approximately 20 employees on a rotating shift (12 hour). Anyway, I follow the hospital policies. There are 500 hundred employees at the hospital. I have confidence in my staff to do the job that they get paid to do. My problem is they complain about everything. From why a person called in sick to writing nasty comments about other staff in the log book. When I'm away, I leave another staff member in charge from the next department. The staff continue to make complaints to my immediate Supervisor (executive director) indicating they don't know where I am (which they do, because I e-mail them and tell the day shift staff.) They also claim they do not know where I am or when my vacation time is scheduled. They tell my immediate supervisor I don't come into work or tell them of my daily activities. I give my immediate supervisor and the board a copy of my monthly activities every month. I always let the hospital know. It appears my management skills and time away is being questioned. I believe some of my staff or co-workers have too much time on their hands. What do you think? The hospital hired me to do a job and I believe I'm doing a fine job at it. Any feedback or suggestions? I have been travelling to other communities and it's important to have that capacity building. My job is also promoting positive relations to aboriginal people in the surronding area. But now I feel they want a pencil pusher, behind the desk and looking good.

Hard Worker

Dear Hard Worker,

You've identified a couple of issues, but the main concern appears to be that your staff are not functioning as a team. The culture of complaint that you mention, the sniping about your management abilities and lack of availability, all indicate that your staff need to spend some time working at working together.

Team building can happen through special programs, retreats and workshops. There are lots of providers of such services. The first place to look would be your own Human Resources Department. They may have someone in house, or access to a trainer they have used in the past.

Another thought is to do some reading in the area. Visit the business section of your local bookstore. There are numerous books with easy to follow strategies for improving the relationships between co-workers. Perhaps there are workshops that you might take as well, to polish your skills, or learn new ones.

You mention that part of your job involves building positive relations with aboriginal people, which means some time away from the hospital. If you are to be successful with that initiative, you need to be sure that your staff are with you all the way. Your good work in building relationships can quickly be sabotaged by a staff that is not supporting you.

I'd recommend making staff team development a high priority.

Good luck and thanks for writing.

Dr. John

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