Debra Phairas > President, Practice and Liability Consultants, LLC
Managing your Manager Physicians find it challenging to supervise practice managers as they often fail to adequately assess their abilities during the initial hiring process. As a result, many physicians engage the help of consultants when recruiting and hiring for this position. “Managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it, not hard enough and it flies away.” —Tommy Lasorda TRAITS OF AN EFFECTIVE MANAGER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Debra Phairas is President of Practice & Liability Consultants, LLC a nationally recognized firm specializing in practice management and malpractice prevention. Her background includes medical clinic administration and loss prevention management for NORCAL Mutual. Debra Phairas is the president of Practice & Liability Consultants and has over 35 years of healthcare administration and consulting experience. www.practiceconsultants.net
42 CENTRAL VALLEY PHYSICIANS
An effective manager is a leader; someone who has the capacity to monitor the various facets of managing a practice. This person: • Should possess a sound understanding of practice operations, • Must be driven to accomplish practice goals and • Must have a vision. In addition to these attributes, an effective manager is an excellent relationship builder and communicator: one who can facilitate information exchange and partnerships throughout all facets of the practice. While managers cannot be expected to be adept in all the areas they manage, they should be able to lead the team to perform optimally, while creating a cohesive work environment. Hence the most important attribute of a good manager is being a good leader: someone who inspires the team to perform to their fullest. HIRE THE BEST!
Good managers must have managerial talent, mutually respectful staff relationships and the ability to “manage up” effectively with their physicians. A skilled and effective manager can “pay” for their salary many times over by saving or making the practice money, so invest wisely. Often, practice managers start in other areas of a practice, such as in the clinic, in billing or at the front desk. Some practices have successfully promoted individuals from within the organization into management positions, while others have not. This is called “The Peter Principle” or rising to the level of highest incompetence. For this reason, careful consideration and evaluation of the potential candidate and their skills must be made. Furthermore, reevaluation of practice needs must be made periodically, as
Spring 2021
