BLUF:
I have just taken over as Manager of a team of health care professionals. The team has worked together for a long time, but I am new to the group, but experienced as a Manager in other areas of the organization. What are some of the key things you would cover or how would you proceed with the very first staff meeting that you held?
Details:
I have 5 years experience as a Health Care Manager, in the area of outpatient rehabilitation/therapy programs. My clinical background is in the area of Exercise Physiology. I have recently taken over as Manager of a team of health care professionals (Cardiology technologists and Sonographers). I have 39 direct reports and my units hours of operation are 24/7. I do not possess the clinical skills, abilities or knowledge that my direct reports have. In my previous Manager role, I was recognized as being a strong leader, excellent communicator and problem solver, and sound strategic thinker. The Unit I have taken over has seen huge turnover in Managers (5 Managers in 6 years) and is well known within the organization for it's employee infighting, poor morale and operational inefficiencies, and generally being a "difficult group to work with".
Staff are asking for a meeting and they have presented me with 23 items that need to be discussed. They range from operational issues, scheduling greviances, equipment, literally the whole gamut.
If you were in my situation, how would you proceed with the very first staff meeting?
I have been a faithful listener to the Manager Tools podcasts, which have helped me immensely, and I will use some of those tools, but I am interested in hearing how others would proceed with given the above circumstances.
Thanks
First Staff meetingas new Manager of already existing team
I would do a lot of listening.
Of the 23 items, pick the top 3 to act on now. Find the right 3 folks to brief those issues in the staff meeting... either the submitter of the issue or a logical owner. Prewire ownership of briefing the issue with them one on one. "Stacy, you had suggested we discuss equipment issues as soon as possible. Will you own briefing that in our upcoming staff meeting?". Then: "Here is what I'd like you to cover: Brief description of the issues, impact, background, proposed actions." Then publish an agenda with those 3 items, owners, and time window for discussion. In the meeting, listen, ask questions, assign follow-ups, don't take on all the follow ups yourself.
Leave some time at the beginning of the meeting for intros and rapport building if you haven't already done that in one-on-ones. The keys will be listening, and finding some things you can follow up on, as a team, and fix, to build your credibility with your new team as a leader of action.
Keys to success:
Don't try to take on the whole list... just fix a few and then take on 3 more a week or two later.
Don't take it all on yourself. Make sure the team briefs the issue, discusses it, and takes as many as possible of the follow-up actions. You take on holding them accountable on the follow-up actions.
You take ownership of one or two of the follow-up actions.
Build credibility by actually following up. Be persistent and creative in solving problems, as a team, that were roadblocks for them in the past. Be open when the roadblock is too big for now, and commit to future follow-up (example... budget issues... commit to following up during budget planning for next year).
Good luck!!
Counterpoint
Don't make any changes, and don't promise to make any changes. Fit in. For the first three months, fit in (there's a cast for that). Get to know your directs, the workload, your boss(es), your peers, your customers, etc.
In your first staff meeting don't address any of the 23 items. Set ground rules (yes, there's a cast), explain how you expect them to work as a team with common goals that require cooperation to achieve, and explain the agenda for your staff meetings (there's a cast for that too). Ask if anyone has questions about the topics covered in the meeting, and end on time.
Once you've done this, follow the advice of JNUTTALL above, and have patience.
--Michael
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh