The Trap

One of our clients was hired as a high-level administrator to oversee the nursing staff at a local hospital. Her manager enticed her to the hospital from out-of-state, promising that she could make big changes in the way nurses interacted with patients and each other. The interviewing process was extremely thorough, and all agreed that my client was a highly qualified administrator and domain expert. Two months later it was obvious to everyone that the new administrator’s contract would not be renewed for the following year.

What happened? The manager painted an inspiring vision of what could be, but failed to tell the administrator that there were really no incentives for the nurses to change. Many of these nurses had been at the hospital for decades and had their own power base. This very same manager later put the new administrator on a performance plan and accused her of bullying the staff. In fact, all the administrator was doing was fulfilling what she thought was her promise to the manager to change tired old processes and procedures and improve the department.

There are many books and articles giving managers advice on how to assimilate into a new job. Good advice like take your time before making big changes, don’t underestimate the power of peers to help you succeed (or fail), don’t overestimate the importance of the technical part of the job, etc. However, none of these warn against a major trap – the wrong turns taken by simply following your own manager’s advice. While this advice is very important, it should not be the ultimate counsel. It is only one part of whole picture – one that needs be considered carefully, but also questioned thoughtfully and not followed blindly!

Co-authored with Linda Keegan (lindakeeganconsulting@gmail.com)