As if you haven’t heard the words “let it go” enough from the Idina Menzel song of the same name either on the radio, on DVD, or from any 6-year old child, you will hear it a few more times in my blog. Hopefully, you don’t react to my version of the words in the same way as you might the overplayed song (interpretive and dramatic dance is okay…turning the channel is not).
In my 10 years at The Ohio State University Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, I have been witness to and part of expansion and dramatic changes in operations. In fact, as type this blog I am waiting for construction workers to finish in one of our chemotherapy infusion pharmacies, one that has moved 4 times in 10 years. I have designed and opened 2 new infusion pharmacies (not counting the one we’ve moved 4 times), led the implementation and workflow design for an EMR implementation in the ambulatory infusion centers, directly hired almost 50% of the 133 people in the department, and have probably made every mistake…and learned from them. So, yeah, I feel like the inpatient and the outpatient pharmacy departments are my children, like Elsa and Anna of the movie.
It was clear in 2011 that my child had outgrown me, the department that I joined after finishing residency now had 3 times as many employees, a drug budget approaching 100 million dollars, and was in the planning stages for the late-2014 opening of a new, 21 story hospital. I was promoted to associate director and an assistant director was hired to manage the inpatient operations and prepare for the move to a new inpatient facility, including a brand new central pharmacy operation. This was an easy transition for me because inpatient had been more like Elsa of Frozen, the less favored, isolated child. At OSU, The James inpatient beds had always received their medications from the University Hospital central pharmacy, so while I was involved in inpatient operations, another assistant director managed the day-to-day operations. In 2013, another assistant director was on-boarded, but this time to take over responsibility for the ambulatory infusion operations, my baby. I was suddenly faced with the need for succession/ transition planning and, more importantly, to give up direct control of the area where I had built my career, the pharmacies that I had opened, moved and optimized, and the reporting of all the personnel I had hired. I had to “let it go.”
There are many articles written in pharmacy and other professional fields about succession planning when leaving an organization (e.g. retirement, relocation, or transfer), but the harder transition is when your scope expands and a new position is created to fill some of the gaps. Fewer resources are available to help the developing leader in those transitions learn how to manage a manager. Darren Dahl, in an article titled “How to Manage Managers” in INC. magazine provides several strategies for the new manager of managers. Among these strategies are to set the vision, document the details and communicate, measure tasks, manage behavior, and to be a coach, not a referee. Inherent in these strategies is the need to establish boundaries and scope of responsibilities during the vision setting and communication. While these strategies are effective at helping develop a new manager, they do not help the more experienced leader learn how to “let it go.”
While attempting to lead through this transition, I started researching several management styles and techniques, and was particularly interested in the concept of laissez-faire versus micromanagement. I now believe that the balance of these two management styles should be on the forefront of any manager who has recently hired a leader to assist them in their role. Just like laissez-faire economics, laissez-faire management is a hands-off approach to leadership which supports the independence and autonomy of the employee and is best used for more experienced, educated teams or employees who have a high amount of creativity, drive, and self-assurance. It relies much more on delegation of tasks compared to execution of the tasks. Micromanagement, in contrast, is a more hands-on approach (or a death grip at its worst) with more direct control of every aspect of the work done by those you oversee. While micromanagement may deliver the results you want for a particular initiative, it is unsustainable for both the leader and the new manager because no one style will be appropriate for all situations. A perfect balance must be struck based on the needs of the department as well as the leadership team.
Because the new managers were hired to fill gaps that the expanding operation had created, one of our first steps was to establish clear areas of responsibility and communicate them to staff. Establishing boundaries is easy. Respecting them is much more difficult (unfortunately, Ukraine is a current example of this in a geopolitical sense). It is important to allow the new leader to have autonomy over their area and make their own decisions, even if they are not the same decisions or choices you would have made in that role. That is not to suggest, however, that you cannot or should not guide and inform those decisions with your knowledge of the past, other similar decisions which have been made, and the deeper understanding of personalities and the organizational culture that you may have. When one of my managers approaches me with a particular scenario, I have been careful to listen to the situation fully before speaking. I believe that life, and management is a series of options, and we ALWAYS have a choice. But, there are consequences, both good and bad, for each of those choices. I have come to believe that my role is not to tell my managers which are the right decision to make, but rather it is to help them see how to make the right decisions on their own and then just “let it go.”
Perhaps even harder than relinquishing control of operational decisions is recognizing and accepting the need to distance myself from the team and the personnel issues that arise. Just shortly after my new managers started, members of the team tested to see if they could come to me with issues instead their new leader. In some cases, these issues were even directly related to the decision that was made by the manager. It was difficult because I had worked for 8-10 years developing a good working relationship with many in the pharmacy getting them to trust me (as much anyone can trust their boss) and to come to me with their ideas, problems, concerns, frustrations, and needs. I was tempted to respond to them with MY answer and move on to the next situation requiring my focus. I had to realizing that MY answer was no longer the RIGHT answer. The right answer was the one that came from the new manager, and anything else would undermine his authority and ability to build a relationship with the team. For my team I had to remember to “let it go”.
There is no silver bullet in learning how to make an effective transition of duties and responsibilities to a new manager. There are strategies that can prove useful, but these strategies must be consistently applied and boundaries established. Not allowing autonomy and independent decision-making, is a surefire way to sabotage the success of your new manager. When faced with the impulse to make a decision for your manager or overrule theirs, stop for a moment, channel your inner Disney fan, and remember to “let it go.”
Selected Resources:
- Cohn JM, Khurana R, Reeves L. Growing talent as if your business depended on it. Harv Bus Rev. 2005 Oct;83(10):62-70,155.
- Conger JA, Fulmer RM. Developing your leadership pipeline. Harv Bus Rev. 2003 Dec;81(12):76-84, 125.
- Dahl D. How to manage managers. Inc. Magazine. 23 August 2010. http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/how-to-manage-managers.html (Accessed 4 April 2014).
- Farthing, K. Succession Planning: The Right People in the Right Positions at the Right Time. Hosp Pharm. Mar 2013; 48(3): 175–176.
- Mind Tools. “Laissez Faire” versus Micromanagement: Getting the Balance Right. Mind Tools Club. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_47.htm ( Accessed 7 April 2014).
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