Dealing with Difficult Faculty Members
Dealing with Difficult Faculty Members
Dealing with Difficult Faculty Members
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<strong>Dealing</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>Difficult</strong><br />
<strong>Faculty</strong> <strong>Members</strong><br />
Barbara Schuster, MD, MACP<br />
Campus Dean<br />
MCG/UGA Medical Partnership Campus
Just Remember<br />
You did not choose to be<br />
a leader because you<br />
wanted to be loved! If<br />
you did, you might<br />
reconsider your options!
Position Description<br />
• Develop new 4 year partnership campus<br />
• Balance politics of two institutions<br />
• Hire faculty and staff<br />
• Start <strong>with</strong> a temporary office, no assistant<br />
What skill must this candidate possess?
WANTED<br />
• Leader <strong>with</strong> past management<br />
experience<br />
• Extensive experience <strong>with</strong> gifted adults<br />
• Able to advise and mentor<br />
• Superb skills in giving feedback and<br />
evaluation
The ability to<br />
work <strong>with</strong><br />
difficult<br />
people!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who might be difficult?<br />
“Our tradition infers that there are<br />
different kinds of people. To each we<br />
respond in a different manner,<br />
according to the question, the<br />
situation, and the need.’<br />
A Passover Haggadah, p.30
Four Types of People<br />
Wise<br />
Wicked
Four Types of People<br />
Simple<br />
One unable to ask
How might these manifest in faculty?<br />
• The Highly Gifted<br />
• The Narcissist<br />
• The Underperformer<br />
• The Traveler
Good <strong>Faculty</strong> Become <strong>Difficult</strong><br />
Differential Diagnosis<br />
• Personal issues<br />
• Lifecycle Issues<br />
• Unfulfilled expectations<br />
• Unrecognized illness
Manifestations<br />
• Change in behavior<br />
• Mood swings<br />
• Evidence of substance abuse<br />
• Unfulfilled responsibilities<br />
• Sleep deprivation
The Scientific Physician
Case Discussions<br />
• How do you begin?<br />
• What do you need to know?<br />
• What can you do/not do?
Doctors are always complicated!<br />
Cases:<br />
1. Loved by patients – staff frustrated<br />
2. Multiple complaints – little data<br />
3. “I I only care for patients who do<br />
what I say.”<br />
4. Who am I today?
Approach <strong>Difficult</strong> <strong>Faculty</strong> like a<br />
Clinician<br />
• Presenting complaints<br />
• Take the history<br />
• Synthesize the data<br />
• Consider the differential<br />
• Develop the intervention
Pearls in Personnel Management<br />
• Set and model the parameters<br />
• Make job descriptions explicit when hiring<br />
• Make daily work transparent – keeping open<br />
calendars<br />
• Gather feedback – keep your ears open<br />
• Give feedback – positive and negative<br />
• Evaluation in person minimally yearly<br />
• Personal development/remediation plan
Yearly Evaluations<br />
• Self Evaluation:<br />
What were your proudest accomplishments?<br />
What did you not accomplish?<br />
What do you wish to accomplish next year?<br />
What do you need to accomplish your goals?<br />
What would you change/keep in your job?<br />
• Teaching Feedback<br />
• 360 Feedback when appropriate<br />
• Set the agenda for the ‘next year’
Concluding Remarks<br />
• A Chief’s s success and reward comes from the<br />
success of the Division<br />
• Clarity of values and standards helps all faculty<br />
• Personnel IS a responsibility of the Division<br />
Chief – it should not be ‘punted’ or ignored<br />
• Practice develops skill; HR departments and<br />
others can help
Final Lesson<br />
It’s s all about people!<br />
Harvard Course for Clinical Chairs
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