My new director is driving me crazy! She had a meltdown at the last staff mtg; came in yelling at us and said we had lowered the bar for professionalism so far we'd never get it back, told us we were all getting a written corrective action in our personnel folders for an anonymous letter that one of our new nurses found in their locker (supposedly) that told them to get out of the dept. She slammed the stack of papers she was holding in her hands down on the table twice and told us there was a core group of staff who were undermining her and bringing the dept down. Lots more derogatory comments were made suggesting that every nurse was horrible. At this point I walked out of the meeting and went to personnel to request a transfer. My co-workers told me later that I missed the best part of the mtg. Evidently she became so overwhelmed with emotion, she had to leave the room twice because she was sobbing! Any advice on how to handle her? I love ed nursing but can't work for someone like this. She doesn't want any input from staff on what works or doesn't. Said we were going to "no wait triage" to improve throughput times but did nothing about any of the things that bottleneck the dept. and thinks that no pt will have to wait if we just put them all into beds immediately. Of course she had no answer when I asked what to do when there aren't beds as is always the case at 7pm when I come to work. Lots of other annoying habits from her and she seems to have gone out of her way to alienate the staff. Help
If the manager wants help from her staff she should try asking for it and then actually listening to her staff (when does that ever happen). The idea that staff should put up with being screamed at by a manager is just plain nonesense. If staff screamed at the manager like this they would be fired right quick. Same should apply for manager. Perhaps lunatic would be a better word for this manager.
PS: It isn't only managers that can write letters to be placed in personel folders. All of those staff members can also write letters and describe this managers conduct. "We all have melt downs." Please, give me a breack. What staff member would ever yell at a manager like that in a staff meeting and expect to keep their job?
To me, this looks like situation in which both "sides" are in the wrong. The manager is clearly in over her head, not responding to problems in a productive way.
However, it sounds as if the staff is also in the wrong. It sounds as if they are engaging in horrendous behavior and they need to be held accountable for that.
"Someone", not all the staff, wrote a threatening letter and that "Someone" should be fired and, perhaps, reported to the law. This letter is no excuse for the manager to be screaming in a staff meeting, and threatening to punish all the staff. No reason for staff to put up with abuse for any reason. This manager needs her butt kicked out the door. In abusive work places, the abuse usually starts at the top and sets the tone for the workplace. The staff members have the power to stop the abuse by kicking a little...
Sometimes you gotta kick a little ...-Little Texas, 1994
tennnurse, you are not the lone dissenter. i'm not sure why this should be such an offensive word and i am personally sick of political correctness and having to walk on eggshells with everyone. i wish we could just say what we mean and mean what we say without having to worry that we are offending someone when absolutely no offense is meant. i'm weeping because i know that isn't going to happen any time soon in most places i frequent.
i have much larger issues to reserve for weeping. i say what i mean the difference is when i say something that hurts someone then i apoligize to them sincerely for what it was that i said that hurt them.
to me, "nazi" means a megalomaniacal dictator who targets a certain population, creates a war that kills and maims millions upon millions of civilians and combatants, and all so a particular race will have enough living space. "nazi" means complete lack of regard for god or for anyone other than me and my own race or group, it means torture, degradation, and the worst possible terror.
can anyone actually explain to me why the word "nazi" is offensive to them?
your definition of nazi, although incorrect, is reason enough why no one should call another person a nazi.
nazism was not a monolithic movement, but rather a mainly german combination of various ideologies and groups, sparked by anger at the treaty of versallis and what was considered to have been a jewish conspiracy to humiliate germany at the end of the wwi. the national socialist german workers party members did not refer to themselves as nazi's. the term nazi came from opponents of the party. adolf hitler joined the party in 1919 and when he took power in 1921 he removed the word from the german language but it continued to be used by opponents. in his early years, hitler greatly admired the united states. he praised the united states for its race-based laws and for the subordination of the "inferior" black population.
"races without homelands", hitler said were parasites. hitler believed that a master race could easily strengthen itself by eliminating the parasitic races from their homeland. this idea was the given rationalization and elimination of jews, gypsies, the mentally handicapped, the physically handicapped, homosexuals, jehovah witnesses and others began resulting in the holocaust. the german soldiers were responsible for the deaths of an estimated eleven million men, women, and children in concentration camps, prisoner of war camps, labor camps, and death camps such as auschwitz and treblinka. 11 million people were exterminated from this earth just for being who they were.
my mothers family, who were jewish, were all exterminated in death camps minus a set of 10 year old twin girl cousins who were made a part of human experiments. the german doctors attempted to change their eye color by injecting their iris' with blue dye which left them both permanently blind and they were then marked for extermination but were saved by the british and american soldiers when the building was raided. they told of their hands being hit with hammers whenever they cried. the doctors also attempted to sterilize the girls which left them physically handicapped. these experiments were carried out without the benefit of any anesthetic.
my father, although not jewish, was picked up and placed in a work camp where he was forced to bury the charred bodies from the gas chamber as well of those who had starved to death. my father got potato peels to eat, no shoes on his feet and there was snow on the ground. he contracted tuberculosis and had lice on his entire body. he actually escaped from the death camp by climbing into the back of a red cross truck. after the war he was placed in a rest home for 4 years until he could regain his health. we won't even go into what my mother went through except that she wore a yellow star on her clothes and her parents had never practiced judism and she had never seen the inside of a synogue.
this is why the word "nazi" to me is a word that should not ever be used except in the context to which it is forever linked.
Wow! Certainly didn't mean to offend as many as I did. For that I do apologize. I compared her to a Nazi because of her dictatorial leadership style not because I am insensitive to the plight of millions persecuted by this group. That being said, I do appreciate the support and suggestions. I have actually attempted to befriend her and offer support; I know she stepped into a dept. in turmoil as our last director had been gone for over 6 months and our interim was actually the line admin. for nursing (read very busy and not able to run our dept. so we were left to our own devices.) She has taken 2-3 nurses into her confidence and doesn't even pretend to listen to anyone else's concerns/comments/suggestions. My main question that probably got lost in my initial diatribe was how to handle her infamous staff mtg? Should I let it go or follow the chain of command which is weak at this facility. I just can't forget how 9 yrs old she made me feel by yelling and slamming her papers down. I had already sat through a similar staff mtg 2 months ago and left feeling rather humiliated. I just don't think that's the way to motivate people to do better. I'm of the "lead by example" school and I think she acted worse than the people she's accusing. I did not storm out of the meeting, rather left before I became too angry and said things I would be fired for. I also called her later and explained my actions and how I felt about the public flogging we all received. I explained that I would expect her to pull me into her office for private discipline if I was one of her "core group" of troublemakers, at which point she assured me I wasn't. So why was I there? Why were most of us there? Don't get me wrong; I know she has a tough job. It just seems like she's trying to alienate herself from her staff and that only makes her job harder.
Thanks for the clarifications olddog. Is this woman going through menopause? She does sound labile. I've been a little more emotional lately myself I notice. She sounds like she's in over her head.
Just for the record you didn't offend me, with the word Nazi. I understood the way you used it, and am more suprised at the response you got from other alleged ER Nurses.
Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
It sounds to me like the new director is overwhelmed by the out of control culture and behavior of the ER which she just started managing. If it's anything like the ER where I work, there are some extremely strong personalities. Sometimes, units have been poorly managed in the past, are in a state of anarchy with mob rule, staff have gotten their way forever and a day, and a new manager is confronted with a united front of mutaneers who who have a lynchmob mentality.
equally there are managers put into units to try and 'sort out' teams who are too competent and too powerful for senior management to influence , or even where the team shows up other teams in the organisation....
you also didn't offend me .i too understand how you were using the word .its sounds like she is out of control and you have done the best you can .if its intolerable situation then maybe you need to look for a new position.
janettalinda
35 Posts
If the manager wants help from her staff she should try asking for it and then actually listening to her staff (when does that ever happen). The idea that staff should put up with being screamed at by a manager is just plain nonesense. If staff screamed at the manager like this they would be fired right quick. Same should apply for manager. Perhaps lunatic would be a better word for this manager.