February and March, 2008
When I reviewed last year, I found out that we grew our revenues by 19%. I don’t know how that happened, because it felt like it was such a struggle for the better part of the year. There was growth in some departments and not in others. I have to figure out what to do about that. [One thing I found out that I had to do was change a salary – as in reduce a salary - to be appropriate to the amount of money that we could earn in that department. (I don’t know how that slipped past me last year. I thought I was looking at everything so carefully. How could I have missed such a glaring mistake?) Needless to say, reducing a salary is an unpleasant and risky task, considering the employee is very good, and the work is very good. (It was just a bad set-up with me to blame.)]
Adding to the challenge of staff management, I fired the new business development employee at the beginning of March, and it was a bona fide drama at UHI. She acted out, in front of other staff and patients. To top it off, she has filed for unemployment, despite the fact that she had many chances to up her game. I don’t want my unemployment insurance to go up, so I’m in the ring. The challenge of it doesn’t bother me at all, but the time it takes to handle does. The good news is that I hired two part time people in her place, and they are off to respectable starts. They seem to be more organized and professional, and equally enthusiastic as she was. It is a second round of “hire” in a department I’ve never had, and I know my sense of who to bring in is much more refined.
Working full-time while the other doc took off three weeks (sick, then vacation) reminded me of how much I love the doctoring work. I had no time to pay attention to management, so I just let it go. Besides the helpless feeling of work piling up in the background, I was so happy just to see patients and work with the staff as a clinician only. It seems so much easier than the administrative and executive work! I remember back – now 18ish years ago – to how exhausted and overwhelmed I used to be seeing patients (very few of them, too). Now it seems like riding a bike – so familiar and almost freeing. I hope that I get that same comfort level being an executive. Despite the fact that I have owned this business and worked as the administrator and executive for all of these years, I don’t think that I really mindfully worked at it until after I won the M3 award in 2005. So, I figure something is going to click any minute. So far, it is getting more familiar and less overwhelming; however, no less cumbersome.
At the end of February, the investor deal fell apart. I did get all of my legal ducks in a row as I was instructed, yet it tanked. I found out that the woman who was helping me (representing me, as she would put it), was lying, and that was the end of it. I regret that I put all of my eggs in that basket for nearly three months. I must have had a sign on my head that read S-u-c-k-e-r. A deal isn’t a deal until it’s a deal. My mistake. Do over.
This week I go to work on understanding this first quarter’s statistics. They are not strong. I am going to put some definition to what went “wrong” this year so far. Distractions. Bad prioritizing. Poor leadership. I have my work cut out for me.
Adding to the challenge of staff management, I fired the new business development employee at the beginning of March, and it was a bona fide drama at UHI. She acted out, in front of other staff and patients. To top it off, she has filed for unemployment, despite the fact that she had many chances to up her game. I don’t want my unemployment insurance to go up, so I’m in the ring. The challenge of it doesn’t bother me at all, but the time it takes to handle does. The good news is that I hired two part time people in her place, and they are off to respectable starts. They seem to be more organized and professional, and equally enthusiastic as she was. It is a second round of “hire” in a department I’ve never had, and I know my sense of who to bring in is much more refined.
Working full-time while the other doc took off three weeks (sick, then vacation) reminded me of how much I love the doctoring work. I had no time to pay attention to management, so I just let it go. Besides the helpless feeling of work piling up in the background, I was so happy just to see patients and work with the staff as a clinician only. It seems so much easier than the administrative and executive work! I remember back – now 18ish years ago – to how exhausted and overwhelmed I used to be seeing patients (very few of them, too). Now it seems like riding a bike – so familiar and almost freeing. I hope that I get that same comfort level being an executive. Despite the fact that I have owned this business and worked as the administrator and executive for all of these years, I don’t think that I really mindfully worked at it until after I won the M3 award in 2005. So, I figure something is going to click any minute. So far, it is getting more familiar and less overwhelming; however, no less cumbersome.
At the end of February, the investor deal fell apart. I did get all of my legal ducks in a row as I was instructed, yet it tanked. I found out that the woman who was helping me (representing me, as she would put it), was lying, and that was the end of it. I regret that I put all of my eggs in that basket for nearly three months. I must have had a sign on my head that read S-u-c-k-e-r. A deal isn’t a deal until it’s a deal. My mistake. Do over.
This week I go to work on understanding this first quarter’s statistics. They are not strong. I am going to put some definition to what went “wrong” this year so far. Distractions. Bad prioritizing. Poor leadership. I have my work cut out for me.
posted by Dr. Amelia Case at Monday, April 07, 2008
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