What Are You Doing To Stress Out Your Employees?

Every day, healthcare staff become stressed out while working with difficult patients.  But are you another source of stress for your colleagues, subordinates, and managers?  Here are 3 areas to consider:

1. Are you providing lousy customer service to your colleagues, subordinates, and managers? More than ever, healthcare professionals are asked to provide great customer service along with outstanding clinical outcomes. Can you commit to treating your team members with the same courtesy you offer your patients and their caregivers? 
2. Does your workplace have poor boundaries?  Work and personal lives often bleed into each other because of technology, but it’s important to remember that healthcare professionals need to recharge during their time off.  Can you commit to only contacting colleagues who are not “on call” if it’s a true emergency?
3. Do you make assumptions when there is a mistake, or something does not go as planned?  When we assess a patient’s health or mental health, we ask lots of questions, so we know how to proceed to help them.  It’s important to do the same when something does not go right at work.  Sure, it could be that an employee is incompetent.  But often when there is a mistake or something does not go as planned, it’s because procedures and policies need to be revisited.  
4. Are you, as a leader, burned out? Lingering burnout and compassion fatigue from the nightmare of the pandemic could still be plaguing you. It’s important to look at how you are feeling and to address any challenges by taking time off, going to a support group, or even talking to a psychotherapist. If you are burned out and experiencing compassion fatigue, communication with your team is likely lacking. It’s crucial to address these issues, not just for your own well-being, but also so the workplace is more peaceful.