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Lately I have been getting my ideas for articles from the responses I get from my previous articles. Especially, the ones that disagree with me. This week one of the responses got me thinking about what one of my jobs as a manager is.
Along with my job of ensuring my unit is staffed, providing my staff with the tools they need to perform their jobs and being a liaison between the staff and upper management….I feel one of my most important jobs is to be an advocate for my staff.
If administration does something that I feel is not fair to my staff, I will speak up for them. If a family member is being abusive to a staff member, I will put an immediate stop to. If a physician or a mid-level tries to push my staff around, treats them with disrespect or push work on to them that is clearly their job, I will most definitely dig in my heels and stand up for my staff.
Don’t get me wrong, if one of my staff members makes a mistake, I will ensure they take responsibility for that. I will back up the individual that brought the mistake to me, and I will do what I can to ensure that doesn’t happen again. That can mean education, reassignment, or even termination of the staff member that just doesn’t get it.
I feel that it is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that their staff is doing their job effectively, and that they are safe in their work place. My expectations of my staff is very clear, be professional, be responsible for your actions, be accountable for your actions and provide excellent patient care. If you do that every time you work, I will back you up every time.
