CorrectCare

Leadership Principles for Correctional Health Managers

by Todd Schwartz, MPA, CCHP, and Guy Smith, MS

Managing and leading staff can be difficult in any setting. Corrections presents its own unique twists, made more complicated by the role division between security and health care. However, the principles of effective leadership remain the same regardless of setting. By putting these principles into practice, managers of all levels can develop skills that will make them and their operation more successful.

This article presents some of the fundamentals along with practice tips. These tips are also helpful for all staff members who wish to help create a more productive and cooperative work culture.

Leading From Possibility
Gone are the days of the notion that the leader is all-knowing boss who rules with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Businesses and staff demand more. To remain competitive, leaders can no longer accept incremental improvements. Today’s effective leader seeks breakthrough results. With all the low-hanging fruit gone, the leader and the staff must consider areas that weren’t even thought of five years ago. Today’s successful leader leads from possibility.

But it’s not an easy task. And not everyone has a “possibility” mind-set. Imagine this scenario:

Two shoe sales representatives land in Africa. Upon seeing hundreds of people walking around barefoot, one rep sends a message back to the home office: “No sales here…no one wears shoes.” The other rep’s message: “Huge market, everyone needs shoes.”

In this classic story, it’s obvious that some people see the glass as half full while others see it as half empty. The goal is to get the team to see possibilities.

While most would say they want their staff to think about what’s possible, that’s not how it plays out at the work site. Some managers actually discourage possibility, raising obstacles through policies that emphasize what you can’t do or dismissing creative suggestions from staff. This may simplify their management duties in the short term but it can lead to stagnation in the long run.

The biggest challenge to seeing possibilities is our own success. Through our maturation with an organization, coupled with success and recognition, we develop a success pattern. This is good. It gets us promotions, pay increases, special assignments, even employment. But this success pattern is a double-edged sword: It discourages us from trying anything new. It creates barriers such as fear, doubt and overconfidence.

So how do we break our success pattern? There are a number of methods, but two simple approaches are to turn off our auto-pilot and to change our “I already know” attitudes. An example of being on auto-pilot is when you arrive home from work, taking a route that you take every day, and you do not remember driving past streets that you know you had to have passed. It’s a safe state to be in, but it’s automatic and not attuned to what’s happening.

Leading from possibility is being present. It is recognizing that you may not know and that you are open to better alternatives.

Management and Leadership Principles
Much has been written on the principles of leadership in recent decades, but for the wisdom of a master we can look to the 16th president of the United States. In his excellent book Lincoln on Leadership, author Donald T. Phillips shares the following gems:

• Character: Honesty and integrity are the best policies

• Never act out of vengeance or spite

• Have the courage to handle unjust criticism

• Be a master of paradox

• Avoid major conflict in the form of quarrels

• Lead by being led

As to the basics of good management, Steven Covey nailed it with his blockbuster book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In brief, these habits are as follows:

1. Be proactive

2. Begin with the end in mind

3. Put first things first

4. Think win/win

5. Seek first to understand

6. Synergize

7. Sharpen the saw daily

Smart advice, but good habits shouldn’t stop there. Here are some other tips for correctional health managers.

• Never forget where you came from. – Nobody started at the top; have empathy for your staff and don’t develop a superioristic attitude.

• Manage by wandering around. – There is no substitute for observation and interaction to understand your operation and staff. You will recognize minor problems before they mushroom into major ones.

• When presenting a problem, bring a solution. – Criticism serves no purpose and only breeds negativity. Instead, always propose a solution—even if it needs tweaking—and encourage your staff to do the same.

• “Every day is audit day.” – The NCCHC standards are meant to be guidance for daily practice, not a CliffsNotes cram session to prepare for an accreditation survey.

• Accreditation standards are your fallback. – Follow the standards routinely and you will prevent many problems.

• Do the routine things well and emergencies will not be handled as a crisis. – Consistent use of quality, standards-based practices will create the professional discipline to react appropriately when emergencies occur.

Critical Leadership Competencies
No matter how brilliant or technically skillful a manager is, leadership will be lacking without strong communication and interpersonal skills. One core competency in building interpersonal relationships is having emotional intelligence. That is, you must learn to identify, understand and manage the feelings, impulses and motivations in yourself and others. Connect to your emotions, communicate nonverbally and diffuse conflicts with confidence and self-assurance. Awareness of cultural diversity is essential, as well. In conversation, be an active listener and provide feedback, both negative and positive, with empathy.

Written communication takes many forms, but in a work context, there is no place for sloppy or overly casual writing, even in e-mails. Always be clear and concise, with a smooth flow of words and ideas. Consider the reader’s comprehension level when choosing vocabulary. Don’t forget to check grammar and spelling: Mistakes create the impression of unprofessionalism.

Take care with the timing, temperature and tone of e-mails. People tend to “dash off” messages, which can be a big mistake, especially during emotional stress. Take a lesson from Abraham Lincoln and set the message aside until you can rewrite it with a cool, clear head. If the stakes are high or the matter complex, don’t use e-mail at all. Instead, call or chat in person to deal with the issue together.

Management and Morale
Management style has a direct influence on staff morale, so it is important to be attentive to nuances in your own actions and interactions with others. First, you must gain people’s trust. Be honest. Be consistent in how you treat staff and don’t show favoritism. Always follow through when you say you will. Attend to staff complaints, but don’t get caught up in rumors. Never divulge confidential information.

Strengthen staff morale by serving as a coach to influence—not demand—desired behavior. Be consistent with policy implementation. In public, always be supportive. Provide positive feedback to let employees know when they do a good job. If the feedback is negative, deliver this in private. Public negativity is damaging not only for the person on the receiving end but also for staff as a whole.

Other management tips that have an impact not only on morale but also on your own performance:

• Make a good first impression

• Be hands on

• Be proactive, not reactive

• Trust but verify

• Train = retain = maintain

• Know the available resources and use them appropriately

Rewarding Performance
Employees expect work to be positive and motivating, and they tend to respond well to rewards. But here, too, a good manager will take extra care in how this is done.

Rewards should be based on demonstrated achievements, so put measurements in place. Measurement is essential in communicating direction, establishing accountability, tracking performance and allocating time and energy. People want to know how they are doing, and performance actually improves when they know how their work is being measured.

Informal rewards can include personal notes or public recognition, even celebrations and small gifts. As a rule of thumb, for every four informal rewards there should be a more formal reward, such as sending the employee to a training seminar, assigning greater responsibilities or giving a promotion.

To keep thing interesting, the reward program should encompass variety and be changed frequently. Avoid “jelly bean” motivation, giving the same reward to every member of the organization. Instead, match the reward to the person and to the specific achievement in a timely manner. A caution: You want to promote rewards, but don’t oversell them.

Common Pitfalls
Management is rife with pitfalls, but staying alert to them can help you avoid them. Here are some to watch for:

• Controlling staff. Instead engineer powerful processes.

• Choosing the wrong battles. Spend your effort where it can make a difference and get positive results.

• Providing unnecessary information. Don’t hoard vital information, but be judicious in what you share.

• Behaving like a “bull in a china shop.“ Instead, get staff buy-in and roll out changes over time.

• Avoiding problems. The sooner you face and address them, the better your operation will be.

• Pretending to have all the answers. If you don’t know, say “I don’t know.” Just find the answer and report back timely.

Make the Commitment

— About the authors: Todd Schwartz, MPA, CCHP, is senior vice president of operations and Guy Smith, MS, is vice president of people development for Correct Care Solutions, Nashville, TN. This article is based on a presentation they gave in April at the Updates in Correctional Health Care conference in Nashville.

[This article first appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of CorrectCare.]