Performance Appraisals and Problem Employees

I expected this class to be simple. Just call the employee in and fire them! I thought that performance appraisals would be similarly easy. I am not sure I have had a manager or supervisor put that much effort into any of my appraisals. My last one for my 90 day review was left in my box at work. I didn't speak to my manager or even know it had occurred. In my previous experiences I had at least spoken to my supervisor about how I was doing or if I was getting a raise or not.

I actually learned in this class about the legal issues surrounding employee termination. It is interesting to hear about the employed at will law and the requirements that have to be met if there is cause to discipline an employee.  The process is much more complex and requires careful thought and consideration about all the different steps in the process. I like the idea of the paper trail that is created by the verbal and written warnings. It is always good to be able to follow the paper when you can't remember what has been happening with an employee. It's even better to have that trail when lawyers get involved. Performance appraisals are interesting as well. The most interesting thing to me was that I could see how I could improve my performance at work just by learning about how appraisals are completed.  I previously mentioned my last review at work. I received a two on a one to three scale in all areas but two. Both of those areas I would have rated as strengths in my practice had I been rating myself. It was good to see that someone else had noticed that as well. I work nights and weekends so I do not see my supervisors often. Additionally, after receiving those marks I am motivated to keep them. If I were a supervisor, hopefully I would be able to notice good qualities in my employees and point them out so I could build them into high quality assets.

After this class, I am paying more attention to what happens with problem employees and performance appraisals at my facility. I am feeling more motivated to be involved when I see something happening at work that is not appropriate. Usually I keep to myself to stay out of any kind of drama but I can see how that is harmful when something is truly wrong. I need to speak up and give some employee to employee feedback to help make my facility into a better place to work.

Team Building

This class has been my favorite one so far. I thought coming into this day that we would be doing a different kind of team building. In the past, I have done activities that were less challenging and didn't truly require any kind of teamwork or leadership. The activities today allowed us to work together as a team to come up with solutions and then enact them together. I also thought that we wouldn't work well together, as we had not really interacted in that way before.

I actually learned that a team feeling is something that is gained through shared experiences more than sitting next to people in class. It was fun to see the different ways that we interacted with each other in this situation. We encouraged each other to do things that seemed difficult and solved problems as they came up. I can see how this would be beneficial in the workplace, especially if a unit were having difficulties working together. It may be difficult to actually implement but I think it would be worth it to promote teamwork. In my current facility, nursing staff and floor staff (everyday patient care) are separated by several factors and often have miscommunications and issues at work. I think that if the facility had us train together or work in teams we may have fewer communication issues and we would be able to provide better patient care.

Personally, I felt like this was a very valuable experience for me. I think it will be easier to work with my team for the rest of the semester and will help to incorporate our team members who were not in our cohort for the past five semesters. Additionally, it has given me ideas to pass on to my supervisors at work to solve a real problem.

Hiring

Today was an interesting class. I have always considered hiring from the perspective of a job seeker not as an employer. Before class, I had some preconceived notions about how interviews were conducted. In reality, hiring is much more complex and expensive than I had initially thought. I was interested to hear about how expensive the entire hiring/orientation process becomes. It helps me to think about turnover in a different light. A prospective employer must be careful about who they hire in order to keep costs reasonable.

Conducting interviews is much more complicated than I had originally thought. I can come up with great behavioral based questions but I didn't think about what I wanted to learn by asking the question. I also learned about how to prepare an outline for questions so that I could find out what I need to know and then ask the same questions to each applicant. Hopefully I can use these new skills eventually in a manager or leadership role. It also helps me to answer questions in interviews. I can see both sides of the process and hopefully use that to my advantage in the future.

Anything that gives me an edge in the interview process is a good thing for me to learn. I like my current position but I am not going to stay there forever. It's awesome to go to school and learn skills that are immediately applicable to your life. My facility has been discussing allowing staff nurses to help with the interviews. After this class I feel like I can recommend myself to help with that process.

Mock Job Interview

I met with Mr. Felps for my mock job interview on Friday, September 6. I was surprised to learn that it was a group interview format but that was definitely helpful for me. The interview I had for my current position was low key and was not very helpful in preparing me for future interviews. This experience taught me about how to handle myself in a group interview and also helped me realize how to answer questions that were difficult for me. Additionally, it was great to have the instant feedback from Dan so that I could start working on my mistakes immediately. He mentioned that he saw significant improvement in my interview from the beginning of the session to the end. Hopefully this will help me when it is time to find a different position.

Leadership Reflective Journal

Yesterday in class we talked about leadership and leadership theories. As directed, I spoke with my manager about what her expectations were before she started working in her new role. She expected that the hours would be better, she would work less, and that it would be an easy job after working on the floor for so long. The reality was a bit different but she says that she enjoys her job and doesn't regret moving to a leadership role.

I had expected this class to be similar to our Nursing Theory class where we would discuss different theories about leadership. I thought we would talk about specific people and theories about leadership. I actually learned more valuable information about what my own personal leadership style is and how to use the strengths of my own style and improve the weaknesses. I was a little surprised about my leadership styles (I had two only one point apart). I have always thought of myself as a autocratic leader but that was my lowest score. I think I am different at home than I am at work. I tend to be more autocratic at home and more democratic at school or work.

I can use this information in my practice by trying to recognize the weaknesses of my leadership style and working to improve those areas. I can also try to make sure I am using the appropriate style for the occasion. I already have opportunities to lead in my job so I can work on my skills as we learn them in class.

Personally, I am excited about this class. I have been told before that I would make a good leader and I am not really sure that is true. It will be good to learn about this subject and increase my confidence in my leadership abilities. Hopefully it will open up opportunities for me to advance my career in the future.