Working World

The new administrator of our medical clinic is a bean-counting micro-manager. She's asking me to set a weekly schedule every Monday morning, and to stick to it. Despite the fact that I am on call 24/7 for emergency help to patients, she wants to cut off my cell phone. If I could find a job with the same amount of patient contact, without the bureaucratic hassles, I’d walk. On the other hand, I do have clout with some board members and with the docs, who volunteer their time. Should I invoke the powers that be or figure out how to slide out the door? Last week she gave me a letter detailing the changes she wants to make, and asked me to sign and date a statement saying I understand and will comply. What should I do?

Resist the temptation to do everything at once. Sequence your responses so that you respond directly to her at first, and invoke your connections later. Establish the paper trail of your reply, responding point by point to the issues she's asking you to sign off on. As you do so, recognize that your letter will eventually serve as a summary document about what's reasonable and what isn't in her requests, and will inevitably get forwarded to everyone in the decision chain, including your potential advocates. Say it now the way you want to be heard.

For each item (e.g. flexible schedule or 24/7 cell phone), state what she's asking, and reply with a bulleted list of information and your proposed recommendations. Imagine a page of lists, not dense text. Explain your responses in terms of how the clinic actually functions. Resist fancy words or attachments. Use key words like patient safety. Cite the mission of the organization.

See how she responds. If you need to invoke the docs and board members, do so judiciously for one or two issues. Save your clout with them for good references, as you'll need them to get the new job you should also start browsing for.