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How Hospital Leaders Can Address Relayed Messages and Complaints

  • Publication: Becker's Hospital Review
  • Release Date: August 8, 2013
Hospital leaders often receive relayed messages and employee complaints from third party individuals. There are several tips that can help leaders address this including make employee own their message and dig deeper into complaints.

If a manager or leader tries to relay a message, for example, "our managers are overwhelmed," Studer suggests addressing only the person that brought up the concern. Ask if they personally are overwhelmed and ask that they not carry the message for others. Global statements such as "our managers are overwhelmed," implies that every single manager is overwhelmed when in reality, it's maybe only a handful.

When people come carrying a message they expect their supervisor, manager or executive to take higher, leaders must push back and empower employees to carry the message themselves. "You have to say, 'I will teach you how to do that. I will tell you how to carry that,'" said Mr. Studer.

Furthermore, if complaints are mentioned to leaders, Studer suggests digging deeper. A frequently heard complaint is that the organization is short-staffed. By digging deeper, hospital leaders can look into the real cause for that feeling, such as frequent absences, flow issues, and so on.

"One of the biggest issues in healthcare is people say we don't have enough resources. But here's the reality: There's not going to be more resources," said Mr. Studer. "We have to accept this and then talk about how we can be more efficient and more effective. Get people away from thinking they can get something they will not, and focus on what you can change."

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