I would have to admit a sick source of enjoyment for me in management is observing how others manage themselves. No, I do not sit with my feet up and my index finger to my cheek on a daily basis, but I can assure you this IS the cartooned "bubble" above my head from time-to-time. I am an absolute silent gawker of how my staff and physicians manage-on an individual level and personal level (as personal as is appropriate) balance their lives because as much as we would like to say that our personal lives should not affect our professional lives; it does. More than that is being a keen observer of the individuals I manage as well as those I report to gives helps create new knowledge.
I cannot get through my mail stack at work or logging onto my computer without seeing something about work-life balance, work-family or work-life-family balance. There are many names for the issue, but I'm sure you get the idea. So, I want to stream the part of my brain here on work-life-family balance within the frame of medical executive management. At the heart of this discussion is the conflict between balancing the home and work responsibilities, as well as creating the environment to the best of our abilities in enhancing those lives of our staff and physicians. Does your practice allow telecommuting? Do you “dial in” to work? Is this a good alternative for you or your staff? Last year was the first testing year for initial E/M codes for virtual consultations and this will create a whole new set of challenges for those of us who manage practices utilizing this new type of medicine.
So, what is at stake if we, as individuals do not balance our home and family life as well as provide the environment to the best of our ability for a balanced home and life environment? Quick, Henley and Quick (2004) wrote a very good article on the topic and include absenteeism, depression, increased use in alcohol or other drugs as partial consequences, and you and I see this laid out in front of us on a daily basis in the people we manage in the daily business of our practices. In fact, some of must deal with the overlap in the absence of controlling work/family/life balance with many staff and physicians on a daily basis. Lest we think that balancing the home life is “women’s work”, I beg to differ and I am willing to bet that many of you would agree with me. Most meetings I schedule with the governing physicians, who are male, and myself in the group is contingent on whether or not they can obtain a babysitter-because their spouses work.
The authors point to understanding the sources of work-family conflict as the key to conflict management. Sometimes however, we have no idea where the imbalance is coming from with our staff and physicians, right? That is where our managerial Gestalt kicks in. Instead of looking of what has been written extensively on the subject which is a time management issue, these authors offer reframing the conflict in terms of “energy, attention, and engagement”. In other words, if time management is where the conflict sits, then it is a simple mathematical problem. I recently had an employee who happens to work from home, make errors where there were never, or rarely ever errors. I was determined to figure out how the big shift in the quality of her work came to be. Was there a life change in her home? Was there a conflict with another co-worker? A problem with a vendor? Answer: simple math. She was working too late and not organizing her day appropriately. Late night hours=more errors and after an hour long conversation with her…we finally had a plan and solution. If it wasn’t that simple i.e. a math issue, then I would have turned to the human issue, although I did ask if it was a human or energy issue.
Our modern tools of our trade (email, PDAs, etc.) should make our jobs easier, however it is our choice if we decide to allow these tools to run our lives. Showing up to our kids’ soccer game or swim meet is great; but if we are returning calls, texts and emails while we “watch” the game, is not a good use of our human energy (note: substitution of the word “time”).
As we make decisions in our practices that affect our staff, physicians, and their families and ultimately the patients we care for, consider what work environment you have been able to create. Are you providing leadership in the area of work/life/home balance? Research has shown that employees who receive more autonomy and flexibility in their positions; their level of work-family conflict significantly decreases (Quick, Henley and Quick, 2004). Can we provide this in any way in our practices, as it becomes more and more difficult to attract and retain good talent?
I, for one, will start looking at managing my energy instead of looking at my day as a math equation. Loehr and Schwartz found that managing energy, not time, is the “key to higher performance and personal renewal.” So, I plan on looking at my self-imposed expectations very closely followed by how I choose to use my human energy. Or, more simply put, make sure I work hard as well as play hard and I might just put my feet on my desk every once in a while!
References:
Quick, J., Henley, A., Quick, J. (2004). The balancing act-At work and at home. Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 426-438.
Loehr, J. and Schwartz, T. The Power of Full Engagement. (New York: Free Press, 2003).