I am curious as to how nurses feel about their managers, and what constitutes an effective manager in your opinion.
I feel that a manager should be able to run circles around the staff-meaning that they should not only be able to DO your job, but be a confident and reliable resource when you get into the weeds. I believe that managers should LEAD their staff when they have the desire to learn more (meaning sitting down and discussing educational offerings when you as a staff nurse express an interest in further learning, like trauma conferences, charge nurse classes, CEUs). I think that managers should give feedback when they know you have had a terrible day, and give you pointers on how to make your day to day job more organized.
We have all experienced what it is like to have a bad manager...and I don't want to focus on that. What I want to hear from y'all is how a GOOD manager impacted your day to day life.
While this example does not stem from management experience, I learned a valuable lesson from a surgical tech long ago. I noticed that after a case, this tech would use negative body language and tone of voice. When I asked her what was wrong, she said "nothing." A few days later, I asked her pointedly, "What can I do to help make this case easier for you?" She immediately ticked off a few things that I could do. At first, my knee jerk reaction was "well why didn't you tell me this earlier?!?" and then I figured out that she was was hesitant to ASK for help and was waiting on me to ask her what I could do to help. This lesson was a valuable one for me, because I now know that I must ask clear and directed questions instead of "what's wrong".
So my question to all of you is what makes a manager effective in your eyes? What do you wish they would do more or less of? What do you value most about them?
The 2 managers that I have the most respect for have one thing in common....they are not afraid to do the job they "manage". One I could call at 2 am to say they were holding patients in the ED and she would put scrubs on and come in to work as staff til more nurses could come in.
Not being above working is a huge part of effective management, just my opinion...
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
Managers must know the delicacies of delegating work tasks to enrich their staff members and improve efficiency rather than pawning off tasks to avoid work.
This one hit home with me. Thank you, Guy for responding in such a concise manner.
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
A good manager doesn't micromanage a person as they are trying to do their job. There is more than one right way to do things.
A good manager uses good common sense when making decisions.
A good manager will not make you feel like they are just out to get you when they do your evaluations.
Treating you like a professional. (My current job is like this. It makes me want to do a better job for them.)
I'm not a nurse, but these items and all the previous items seem pretty standard across industries.
I think what you are trying to say is that a good manager will trust in the capabilities of their staff to do things according to policy and with care.
I agree with you wholeheartedly when you say that positive feedback from a manager will make you strive that much harder to do your job well. This is so important, and I was wondering if the nurses here were driven by positive feedback, or if they felt that negative feedback "stunted" their drive.
I have always felt that treating others with respect will garner you respect in return. I would love to see more of that among management and staff.
I think what you are trying to say is that a good manager will trust in the capabilities of their staff to do things according to policy and with care.
I agree with you wholeheartedly when you say that positive feedback from a manager will make you strive that much harder to do your job well. This is so important, and I was wondering if the nurses here were driven by positive feedback, or if they felt that negative feedback "stunted" their drive.
I have always felt that treating others with respect will garner you respect in return. I would love to see more of that among management and staff.
Yes, that is what I was trying to say. If you want my best work then treat me like I know how to do a good job. I work so hard to do my best work because my boss isn't checking up behind me and treats me like a person who knows how to do the job. I don't want to let her down. She works just as hard as I do if not harder and I feel that it would be unfair for her to do her job and then have to either check up on me or pick up my slack.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
It's taken 35 years, but I have finally had the incredible fortune to work for a manager who brings out the very best in me. He's not a nurse, but he was a paramedic for 20 years before beginning his career as an administrator, and at the relatively tender age of 44 he is wiser in the ways of human nature than almost anyone I know.
Even when he's having a bad day, he rarely, if ever, takes it out on his employees. His personal belief system does not include throwing people under a bus when the effluent collides with the oscillatory ventilation system, nor does he blame others when he makes a mistake. He gets in there and works shoulder-to-shoulder with all departments when we're short-staffed---even housekeeping and dietary if need be. I have never seen him pawn off work on anyone (sometimes we have to ask HIM if we can be of help) or become angry if we can't get to an assignment immediately.
He also is the world's biggest cheerleader and gives credit where credit is due. Even when we make mistakes, he sits us down privately, talks to us like intelligent adults, and points out everything we did right first. By the time he gets to the negatives, we've usually gained some valuable insight, instead of feeling defensive and putting up walls that shut out learning. I don't know where he got his knowledge of how to handle people, but he is a master at it, and I've learned more from this man in six months than I did in YEARS of working for bosses who managed in the traditional way. He is also the only supervisor I've ever had whom I trust with something almost as valuable to me as my life, and that's my nursing license! My boss ROCKS!!!
Specializes in Gastro, ICU - US nurse moved to UK.
I've seen many comments that a manager should "get in there" and help out, such as working as a staff nurse if a unit is short staffed.
I personally don't want my manager filling in for a staff nurse, I want her to be on the phone with the staffing office to get us another nurse! Her roles and responsibilities are different than mine as a staff nurse. I want to know my manager knows how to do my job (and has done so in the past), but I don't expect her to be doing my job if we're short staffed.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
my manager could once run circles around the rest of us in the unit, but time management and skill level deteriorate after a few months away from the bedside. i know she'd be lost trying to take care of a patient assignment for 12 hours now. however she can and does come out of her office and help when the fecal material hits the rotary air movement device . . . can't figure out the computer charting we use these days, but she's a whiz with the patients.
a good manager shouldn't have to be able to cover your assignment for 12 hours if she can and does cover it for a hour while you go to the er for a needle stick, run home to make sure your kids are safe when the neighbor calls to tell you your house is on fire and the fire trucks ran over her roses, or when you go into labor at the bedside and the on call person is an hour away.
a good manager makes an effort to hire good staff, to train them well and then to let them do their jobs.
a good manager stands up for her staff. she may ream you privately later, after the crazy family has left, but she staunchly defends you to that crazy family, to the intern who complained that you were disrespectful to him when you tried to keep him from pushing 40 meq of kcl, to the chief resident who complained that you were disrespectful to the intern when you corrected him, or to anyone else.
a good manager wants to hear your side of the story before she disciplines you for that screaming match with the lab supervisor. (ok, so maybe you shouldn't have screamed, but that lab tech shouldn't have thrown your speciment down the sink, either. especially when it took you two hours to get it.)
a good manager has your back.
a good manager is fair -- if her best friend is wrong and you're right, she'll say so.
a good manager follows whatever rules are in place -- for payroll, for staffing, for scheduling -- and enforces them equally among her staff. if all staff are supposed to rotate to nights 50%, all staff do rotate to nights 50% including the next door neighbor she carpools with. etc.
a good manager takes your concerns up the line to management, and brings theirs back down the line. she's between a rock and a hard place and knows she cannot make everyone happy, so if she has to force you to follow some damnfool management directive, she also explains the rationale to you.
a good manager does what she says she'll do -- or explains why she cannot.
damrcngrl95
207 Posts
A good manager doesn't micromanage a person as they are trying to do their job. There is more than one right way to do things.
A good manager uses good common sense when making decisions.
A good manager will not make you feel like they are just out to get you when they do your evaluations.
Treating you like a professional. (My current job is like this. It makes me want to do a better job for them.)
I'm not a nurse, but these items and all the previous items seem pretty standard across industries.