Physicians Practice - April 2008 - (Page 35)

MANAGEMENT YOU’RE WEARING THAT? That includes telling people what to wear. An ofﬁce’s dress code is likely not at the top of a busy physician’s list of concerns. But staff may very well perceive hastily written memos regarding new ofﬁce dress rules as arbitrary edicts or even personal attacks on a speciﬁc employee’s mode of self-expression. Nancy Becker, a practice management consultant in Westchester, Pa., relays one memorable experience she had in which she walked into a practice and was greeted by a young man with six visible piercings on his face. He was a valued employee, and the practice did not want to lose him; but they had strong objections to his appearance. Becker approached the situation by explaining to the young man that patients who came into the ofﬁce may be from a different generation and could be offended by his appearance. Still, the employee put up some resistance to removing all of his piercings for fear they would close up. So Becker worked out a compromise in which he was permitted to wear a few “less grotesque” earrings and wear ﬂesh-colored piercings on the rest of his face. “Now he looked like he had pimples on his face,” laughs Becker, “but it was no longer painful to look at him.” Becker even enlisted the help of his coworkers, who liked him and didn’t want to see him go, to encourage the young man’s transformation. “As he gradually got these flesh-colored goes a long way. People may not be thrilled with the ﬁnal result, but at least they understand.” Merrilee Severino, a practice management consultant in Seminole, Fla., adds that when implementing policy changes, no matter how small, it’s crucial to emphasize the positive COMFORT COUNTS It’s human nature to want to stay within the confines of one’s comfort level, especially in the workplace. READ MORE ABOUT IT! Visit PhysiciansPractice.com to learn more about how to ease your staff into new office policies and changes: •Learn how to combat poor office morale by typing “Winning the Office Culture Wars” in our Search Articles box. •Read Senior Editor Pam Moore’s take on helping staff manage change by typing “Attitude Adjustment” in our Search Articles box. •Get Pam Moore’s insight into how to quell a quarreling staff by typing “Like Cats and Dogs” in our Search Q&A box. earrings, other staff members would comment, ‘That looks really good, Jake.’ And even management — even the physicians — said, ‘Hey Jake, those are great earrings.’ So he was feeling that he was looking good and his appearance improved, and he didn’t fear his piercings would close.” That may seem like a lot of effort to expend on one employee, but Becker knew that good front-desk staff aren’t easy to come by, and eliciting the young man’s input on how to solve the problem did not arouse unnecessary resentment. Robin Richman, MD, the chief medical ofﬁcer of Fallon Clinic, one of central Massachusetts’s largest private, multispecialty practices, agrees that taking an approach that encourages communication when making ofﬁce policy changes greatly encourages employee buy-in. “Try to have a dialogue when complaints arise,” she suggests. “You may not change your policy, but get back to the person who ventured the suggestion, and say, ‘We looked at it, we pulled a group together, we’re actually going to stick with what our original policy was, and this is why.’ Be transparent about your thinking process. That — even if you have to dig deep. For example, if an ofﬁce is transitioning from business casual dress to uniforms that the ofﬁce will pay for, highlight the fact that employees will no longer have to invest time and money into their workplace wardrobe. If it’s a change that is made in consideration of worker safety, such as banning open-toed shoes, stress that the practice is making the change to protect their employees. “Even if it’s just, ‘People will approach you with a more professional attitude if we project a more professional appearance,’ try to ﬁnd some sort of positive in the change, and use that approach,” advises Severino. Wishon-Powell also likes to stress the positive in such situations. She acknowledges that enforcing professional dress codes, particularly among younger staff, is a “major problem” in the practices with which she’s worked. So she advises her clients to establish their expectations right from the start. “Tell employees that they are professionals, that they are in a customer-service industry, and that they are expected to treat the APRIL 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM 35 http://PhysiciansPractice.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - April 2008

Physicians Practice - April 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Medicare Decision Time Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Outsource Your Pain Noteworthy Cover Story: Trial Lawyers Tell All Management: When It’s Time to Change Ask the Experts Technology: Do You Know Where Your Data Is? The Tech Doctor: Are Your Discarded PCs Really Clean? Billing & Collections: Playing Hardball The Administrator's Desk: Recruiting for Patient Satisfaction Start It Up: Finance - Mastering the Numbers Game Coding The Great Practice Makeover: Taking Care of Business Associates Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - April 2008

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