It happens every day. A manager has a crucial conversation with an employee, presents a business plan to hospital executives, or flexes staffing levels because volume is down... only to find out the E.D. was swamped and there were three rapid response calls, four traumas and two codes. The same manager that made decisions the day before that were confident, concise, and without equivocation, now finds himself asking the questions: What could I have done better? What was I thinking? Where did I come up with that idea?

Football fans across the country do this every week. It's called the Monday Morning Quarterback. With the outcome of the game in mind, it's easy for fans to scrutinize play calling or decision making.  As they say, hindsight is 20/20. Great managers do the same thing, only they're questioning and scrutinizing their own decisions to learn from them and get better. 

Management is not for the faint of heart. It's not easy making decisions that impact the lives of the staff you serve. From decisions on salaries, to schedules, to work assignments and terminations, your decisions are scrutinized by all whose lives you affect. Rarely are your decisions popular. Just the connotation of the word "manager" will often times create a division between you and your subordinates.

The Monday Morning Manager will reflect on the differences between management and leadership, addressing many of the challenges faced by managers today.  Whether you're an up-and-coming manager recently hired into your position or an experienced manager wanting to stay current on new management concepts facing the profession, it is the hope that we'll learn from each other in our journey to become the best manager we - and our staff - want us to be.  Armed with current information on management issues facing the profession today, Monday morning's hopefully won't be so rough anymore.

"Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing."     - Warren G. Bennis

Doug Laher is the Director of Respiratory Care Services at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to Fairview, he held similar positions as Administrative Director of both Respiratory Care and the Sleep Center at Lutheran Hospital, also in Cleveland. In addition, Doug spent nine years working at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in their Cardio-Thoracic ICU as a staff respiratory therapist and clinical coordinator.

As a member of the AARC, Doug currently resides on the national membership sub-committee and the AARC Mass Casualty Logistics Workgroup. He attended the 2007 PACT meeting in Washington, D.C. and is an OSRC district representative in Ohio. In 2004, he was appointed by the president of the AARC as chair of the COPD Awareness committee. Doug is an active member of the AARC Management Specialty Section and serves as a reviewer for the Management SWAP Shop.