I have a 1:1 meeting with my hospital's Vice President tomorrow

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Hi all. It's been a while.

A little background: I have been at the same facility for a couple of years and am involved in Unit Council/Shared Governance. I just took over the Chair position for my hospital for Shared Governance, and it is a big responsibility. There are several hours of meetings per week. I am also still a bedside nurse and am in school for my MSN in Leadership.

The hospital has progressively worsened as far as workload, sticking to policies/procedures and employee satisfaction. There has been high turnover. Many units have a new manager, including my own. This manager is very abrasive, and it is their way or the highway. I have sat down to speak with her many times regarding what we have come up with in unit council, only for her to shut down all ideas. I even met with her prior to taking on my shared governance position to see if she would help me modify my schedule so that I can keep up and succeed. She appeared very excited at the time for me. However, she is now refusing to help me when it comes to modifying my schedule. The way it is now, I will have a ton of overtime that I honestly will not have time for.

This manager has been on upper leadership's radar for a while. The manager has stripped our ANMs of all supervisory tasks, denies our PTOs when requested, etc. It's a negative, miserable environment. I am meeting with the hospital's VP tomorrow about Shared Governance things, but following that, I will be having a 1:1 with her regarding my situation.

I don't want it to come off as a complaining fest. I really do want to help our unit and help decrease our turnover. Because we've lost so many, our unit is full of new grads, and we are severely understaffed.

It does not help that the staff morale is very negative. No one feels that Unit Council or Shared Governance is important. I have been fighting this battle for over a year...and if I give up now I will feel like I've failed...but I am so tired.

How should I approach this meeting? Sometimes I have trouble with words in stressful situations. I don't want to come off like I am complaining about said manager. But I need to get my point across.

Any ideas on boosting staff morale and involvement would be awesome as well.

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A couple of things to keep in mind:

5 hours ago, grae said:

I don't want it to come off as a complaining fest. I really do want to help our unit and help decrease our turnover. Because we've lost so many, our unit is full of new grads, and we are severely understaffed.

If this VP has the slightest idea about what is going on with the nursing service line, they already know about the turnover, the new grads and the poor staffing (and the manager and the poor morale and all the rest of it).

People already know about the things that are concerning you and your peers; it's rather likely that the manager is right on track, the turnover is right on track, and the staffing is too. If business wasn't on track it would have changed already.

I would meet with this person, thank them for their time, report what your SG council is working on. Beyond that (whether during the formal meeting or the informal after-meeting) I would refuse to mention any opinions regarding the other stuff you posted about. Keep everything pleasant or even cordial...but absolutely business-like.

Don't be tempted to alter course even for a second no matter what kind of freedom-to-speak you are offered.

5 hours ago, grae said:

I don't want to come off like I am complaining about said manager. But I need to get my point across.

Don't do it.

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I have to agree. I have been in a similar situation. Either don't do it at all, or be very careful in what and how you say things and present yourself. If you have fought this for a year and yet to see changes, they probably are not going to happen. Admin usually stick together tightly. Don't feel like you have lost the battle, sounds like you have a full plate.

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Made the mistake one time of giving detailed and ample constructive feedback when requested, and all I accomplished was to seal my own casket shut and put the coffin on a conveyor belt out of the organization. They really don’t want to hear what you have to say and will gladly use any info offered against you. Be very careful.

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On 1/6/2020 at 2:04 PM, guest676920 said:

I am meeting with the hospital's VP tomorrow about Shared Governance things, but following that, I will be having a 1:1 with her regarding my situation.

Big question: did the VP set up a 1:1 with you to discuss staff morale and problems with your unit manager, or are you intending on just to stay after a scheduled meeting on shared govt issues and initiating a talk about these subjects on your own?

If its the former, you basically have to feel the situation out and figure out how open the VP is to your feedback and ideas. Play the conversation by ear.

If it's the latter, I'm all for speaking truth to power, but I strongly recommend building up some actual leverage before telling the VP that his hospital stinks, his managers stink, and everyone is mad, when he's expressed no interest so far in hearing about it.

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although I don't have any experience with hospital admin, I do with business. I'm sure they are all too familiar with the fact that there is high turnover in staff so I would not bring that up. Their priorities are going to be financial in nature to say the least. Rather than present a list of grievances, I would prepare some well thought out solutions to the problems. That will get their attention more readily, and make you look like a problem solver rather than a complainer. In the best scenario, you can get some things changed.

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