Practice Management Alert

Question: As practice manager I don’t really get much feedback about whether I am being a good leader for the practice. I get feedback from the physician owners, but not really from the employees. Is there a way I can find out how I am doing as a personnel manager?

Idaho Subscriber

Answer: One way to improve is to ask your workers for feedback. But if you informally solicit feedback via a memo or suggestion box, you’ll probably receive scattershot results. Discover these more effective ways of requesting comments:

Several times a year, ask for anonymous answers to the following four questions:

1. What am I doing as your boss that you’d like to see me do more of?
2. What am I doing that you’d like me to stop doing or do less of?
3. What am I not doing that I should be doing?
4. Prepare specific questions about your management style, then ask employees to rate you on each from a scale of one to five. Hand these questions out at meetings and then collect them to ensure the best response.

Whichever method you choose, you’ll gain credibility simply by showing your workers you care about their opinions and genuinely want to be a better manager.