Bad Managers

Back in my computer days, the one thing my company got right was meetings. We were all in "pay bands" and you knew who was in what pay band by what equipment they could order. We were told if we called a meeting, and let's say it broke down to 2 $30/hr, 3 $40/hr, and 1 $90/hr contractor, you'd better show that you were trying to save at least that much money in time/equipment/process, or they wouldn't release a meeting room to you. The BS "sitting up air, taking in a meeting" garbage stopped cold after a few people were called on the carpet and told to show their savings. Our productivity went sky high. The only people who could initiate projects were people who actually could prove to a group of their peers that what they were going to try had a shot of working, not execs who got a brain wave on a plane from a vendor....

Of course, then we were sold since we were so profitable, and they stopped all the things that made us profitable, and I got out of Dodge; 12 months later, they were out of business....

Our manager (who had been out of floor nursing for years) will write us up if any patient or family member has a complaint, and tell us we have to accomodate whatever they want, yet if we break a policy to make a patient/guest happy, she will write you up for that; and then turn around and write you up again if you did not follow the policy. She has only been on our unit 4 months and we all don't know what we should be doing.

To be fair we have a nurse administrator who is constantly breathing down everyone's neck and more worried about Picker Scores and patient surveys than retaining her nurses.

My manager is the king of non-confrontation. It is his objective to make everyone else the bad guy. He looks like the caring person and we function as his henchmen! It is very frustrating. Nothing ever gets taken care of.

I feel for all who suffer!

Boy this is all very encouraging.

We have the same manager!!

Well I did have a manager that worked from approx. 10am -2pm and would sleep during meetings. But she was fired after less than 6 months. But what's great about these managers is that they always seem to land on their feet in a hospital close by, making better money with better benefits!

In my experience this is what it means. She has kissed all the right butts. She has friends in high places. She comes in under budget. She knows exactly what she is doing wrong. However, she is well aware that one does not get into trouble for mistreating underlings- one gets in trouble for displeasing one's superiors. Oh by the way, it is possible that some of her superiors are quite aware of her negative behaviors but as long as she says all the right things (yes boss, you are so brilliant boss) and does what they want her to do she is in like Flynn. This sort of corporation management behavior is the bane of business in the US and probably has something to do with the current collaspe of our economic system.

I agree completely.

I have been very fortunate in my career to have had great mentors in my nursing career. From my first job on, I only had one manager that I could not work for (she left and I got her job). I feel that I must have been doing something right because as I got promoted and moved on to other facilities the nurses would often follow me.

I have learned a lot the hard way. But that goes with any job. I always tried to set an example for the staff. The rules applied to everyone. Staff knew that when we did social things together that it was apart from the job. I tried to be fair with everyone. I did not fly off the handle. I tried to investigate and to work out a plan of corrective action with an employee every time I could. I always tried to work with and save the employee if at all possible. It is expensive to terminate an employee and to have to fill the spot with someone new.

I always came in in the middle of the night when called. I tried to reward employees in every way that I could. I tried to arrange for them to get the best ongoing education that I could provide and afford and to give them orientation that was long enough to make them comfortable with the new job. I never got in the middle of he said/ she said. If employees were having a conflict we all came together to discuss it until we could work it out. The most difficult times where when I had to deal with sexual harassment issues.

I loved being a manager but I was burned out after a while. I got more and more responsibility with less help (one management job I had gave me 7 departments, three of which were off site and NO SECRETARY). It was just too much. They has squeezed the life out of me. I had lost my drive to do the job the way I knew it had to be done.

I now work 3-11 4 days a week on a medsurg unit and I love it. I gives me some management responsibility but I don't have to take it home with me. I really love management and it was always a good fit for me. I have a manager now that is wonderful and I work very hard to make her job as easy as I can for her. I take care of the little stuff so she won't have to. But I always keep her informed.

What kills me is when you've got a unit like mine, where people are running for the door, you can't staff a shift unless there's OT or borrowing from another floor involved, and upper management does nothing. I sorta picture them with their fingers in their ears, going "la-la-la-la" to ignore our repeated concerns.

But when somebody dies because the nurse didn't have time to look at labs and notice a major potassium or mag imbalance, or a heart rhythm going bad, because they've got 8 patients and 3 of them are actively trying to die at the same time, management's not going to be johnny on the spot, blaming the bottom of the food chain, not the top.

So far, I really have enjoyed working for our managers. Now, when I was an orientee on the unit, they seemed sort of crappy to me, but now I think that I've stuck it out and proven myself a bit, they have really come around and treat me quite well. I actually really enjoy them as bosses and as people -- and I respect the HECK out of our PCD especially both for her management ability and for her clinical knowledge.

Ours have taken a start up unit and gotten it up and running -- not an easy task. WE have hired some 22 new grads this year, all having to be precepted. We've set up policies, etc. -- I see how hard and how dedicated they are. Oh, I do get irritated with how much they expect of us, and how they tow that nutty upper management line --but so far they have stood on my side through most of my difficult learning experiences and have gently corrected me many, many times.

I hope it lasts. The only bad thing I hear is that once they hear you're trying to leave the unit, they start to find reasons to write you up -- but it could all be rumor.

I agree with CathyLew.

Having been moved from staff to management in the same hospital, I can attest to the lack of managerial training, mentoring and support that most new managers experience.

I busted my butt to keep up on the things that were necessary to the functioning of the unit (schedule, evals, staff meetings, education, P&P, etc.) none of which my supervisors gave a darn about. All they wanted was my warm body at numerous meaningless meetings, my signature on disciplinary actions and my budgets, which I was never trained to do. I worked 8 hours per day in the unit and then stayed another 4 hours to get the paperwork done, on most days. Salaried, of course, so not a dime of OT.

My staff was supportive, for the most part, because they saw that I was working hard. It was a thankless job, one I did not keep for long.

Nurses aspire to management because there are so few opportunities for daytime hours in nursing. But very few nurses have the education and experience necessary to be successful managers, a skill set vastly different than bedside nursing.

OMG- did we work in management together at the same place? :chuckle

Seriously though- I agree with you wholeheartedly. The nurse-is-a-nurse mentality carries over to nursing management as well. I got more perks when I went back to the bedside in the same facility.