New Managers - unit split to two

When I was hired we had 2 units that were both med-surg but one was ortho and the other oncology/dialysis. One clinical manager was covering both units. We split them, each of us taking one. It was a difficult, rocky transition. The manager I was working with is great and everyone loved her, I of course was the unknown. Our greatest difficulty was staff wanting to go to the old manager rather then me. With the support of our Director and my co-manager we made it a firm rule that we would always direct staff to the their manager and the three of us met regularly to be sure we were on the same page. The staff will try to divide and conquer, so there needs to be a united front. We also started to have our monthly meetings that we would rotate, odd months was a joint meeting with both units together we would go over items that were pertienet to both. The even months were just our unit to go over our specific concerns that applied to our individual units. We also made a "Spirit Club" with reps from both units that helped plan fun activities for both units to socialize. We also made sure that we stanardized everything we could so staff could easily float from one to the other without difficulty. Hope that helps, good luck!