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In My Opinion

Making Successful Changes in the Workplace

Published October 1, 2009 9:59 AM by Jimmy Thacker

Every once in a while, we all need some change. Individuals do, departments do and hospitals do. Everything changes. We get older, time passes more quickly and the things we used to love eventually go away, giving way to something new and more modern.

How we make the change is much more important than the change itself.

A lot of hospitals at which I have worked do it exactly backwards. The changes come from the top and trickle down, rather than having active participation from employees at the start. The board of directors or maybe even the CEO decides a change is needed.

Rather than poll employees about how to approach the change, they just "order it" and expect it to be done. Even within a department, changes often come from the supervisor or a higher up, while suggestions from the working folks go ignored.

This is how foolish, untalented people manage departments and hospitals. They do it, not to be mean or arrogant, I believe, but because they don't know how to manage.

To me, change is good; but how the change is made is more important than who suggested it or what it is. Enlist your people. Get their ideas.

You may be surprised to find out how much they know, what they think about and how inventive they can be in helping you do your job. You'll gain their trust, make them feel worth something. In return, they will bend over backwards to ensure you are a success.

That's just my opinion.

5 comments

I read a balance here!  It's called team work.  Team work and change will always prevail!

Autumn, cardiopulmonary - Director, Wayne General Hospital October 24, 2009 3:07 PM
Waynesboro MS

I could not agree more, Kenny. Thanks for your comment.

Jim Thacker October 15, 2009 5:03 PM

Wow! I have a degree in management (not that it makes me an expert) and ALL my instructors pushed for collaborative management albeit it takes a little more time upfront. The payoff is at the back end when the entire crew buys in and runs with the ball, leaving the manager to manage. Managing is different from leadership in that management is mostly paper and leadership is primarily people. People like being managed in that paperwork is minimized. People like being led because it helps them learn. Great managers can be taught in school. Great leaders are all OJT.

kenny,kenny kellar,kellar October 5, 2009 5:21 PM

Doug, I'm not sure what you read, but your aggressive and unwarranted attack on me makes me certain you are one of the managers of whom I speak. I have ran a department. It wasn't that difficult for me. It was also a small department and I realize that the larger the department, the larger the headache. I think I do know more than alot of managers because I have paid my time in the field, unlike many I work for and with. That's why they often come to me for advice. Perhaps you are one of them. At any rate, the blog was about making changes, not a diss on anyone in particular. If you saw something other than that, perhaps you should re-read the blog and see what you missed. As for making changes to ourselves and our departments, if you disagree with that and take exception when someone points out the very obvious, as you seem to have with me, then perhaps it should be taken as a diss. You may be one of those managers, at whatever level you are at, who is doing it all wrong and frustrating the heck out of the rest of us. Just a thought.

Jim Thacker, RT - CRT, AE-C, LRHC October 5, 2009 12:53 PM
Lexington MO

Jimmy,

While your blog reeks of smugness from the perverbial therapist that always knows how to do things better than the boss, you hit the nail on the head.  Supervisors, and often times managers are promoted into leadership roles... not because they possess leadership abilities, but because they were great clinicians/employees who consistently performed above the mean.  When doing this, they're merely being set up to fail because they're not being provided with the tools to succeed.  Training and succession planning needs to take place in advance of these promotions to prepare future leaders of tomorrow. I would encourage you to take a seat on "the other side of the desk" and find out for yourself how difficult management really is.  It's not nearly as easy as those who have never tried it thinks that it is.

Doug October 1, 2009 9:31 PM
OH

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