ServantLeader

ServantLeader has 25 years experience and specializes in Administrator inspired by nurses.

ServantLeader's Latest Activity

1. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: It's Not a Problem Until it Blows Up Big

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Your experience is the manifestation of the difference between command-and-control leaders and servant leaders. Unfortunately, servant leadership is the exception, rather than the rule. A pity, as my experience is that servant leadership is the easie...

2. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: It's Not a Problem Until it Blows Up Big

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Buyer Beware - I have never been happier at work in a hospital as when I was successful being a Servant Leader. Every metric that matters to hospital boards got better - often world-class. I loved getting up and going to work in the morning and so d...

3. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: It's Not a Problem Until it Blows Up Big

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Great point HouTX. I agree that administrators don't think about nursing licenses. This is why it's always a good idea to ask the frontline people who do the work for a solution to a problem. This, as opposed, to administration coming up with the ans...

4. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: It's Not a Problem Until it Blows Up Big

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Thank you for this clarification Asystole, it was remiss of me to mention the disagreement around the health benefits. Your point about positioning is also well taken. This is what happens when leaders do not know how to create an inspired workplace...

5. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: It's Not a Problem Until it Blows Up Big

   ServantLeader posted a topic in General Nursing

   At a healthcare conference earlier this year where I was reporting for a client, I met a few of the senior managers at Allina Health from Minneapolis. They were nice folks and were realizing some cutting-edge technology accomplishments. So, when they...

6. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Hi Sally - I understand your frustration. I worked as a senior manager for a large for-profit hospital for nine years and the CEO (my mentor) was very sensitive to treating the staff with respect and appreciation. I worked in a large not-for-profit w...

7. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Here' what I learned working most of my career in hospitals: There is never money to correct a safety issue until something bad happens. Then money can't be spent fast enough.

8. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   Ha - very smart counter strategy - well done.

9. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

   ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

   I have occasionally come across clinicians who provided lousy or even negligent care and this is truly shocking. The main character in my novel "Medical Necessity" is such a person. However, most medical errors I investigated as an administrator were...

10. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

    And administrators wonder why when charts get pulled during a regulatory inspection (JC, state) or a there is noncompliance. Or they wonder why medical errors (meds, testing, etc). Inadequate floor staffing is stepping over dollars to save dimes.

11. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

    Well said - it's the staffing, stupid. From my own experience, I have found that balance between what administrators want to control labor costs (the biggest expense in hospitals) and what nurses feel they need to work safely and sanely, is possible....

12. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

    Or unionization. I worked with unions in two hospitals, including a nurses union, and we got along fine. Staff turn to union and lawsuits when they feel they have no other options. It's a shame for both sides, because when leadership creates a grea...

13. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

    Oh yes, it is illegal. But I have seen cases were doing something illegal was not enough to motivate executives to make changes - they had to get caught, first (this is not widespread, but I have seen it first hand). I had such circumstances brough...

14. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

    When I started as a hospital administrator in 2000, an older guy explained to me about how hospitals were becoming more complex to management: "You know, it used to be in the old days you counted the money in the morning, played golf with the doctors...

15. Confessions of a Hospital Administrator: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    ServantLeader replied to ServantLeader's topic in General Nursing

    All of your feedback: lack of nursing input; poor work processes (including info overload); inadequate pay, etc all come down to poor workplace culture. As many of you know, I've talked about this topic in other posts. If hospital administrators want...