Explain the potential impact of each pitfall on the organization and on the team.

Training that Considers the Pitfalls of Leadership

In this week’s required reading, The Value of Valuing Employees, the author states that there are six pitfalls that a leader can fall into—poor behaviors that can make employees or followers feel as if they don’t matter. Comaford (2013) states that “When employees are made to feel that they don’t matter, it happens on an emotional level, not an intellectual one” (para. 6).

You have been hired to prepare training materials to help entry level managers identify and understand pitfalls of leadership and how to prevent them.

Think about each of the pitfalls mentioned in the reading.
For each of the six pitfalls, provide a strategy that new managers can use to not fall victim to the pitfalls of leadership.
Offer an example of what each strategy would look like in an example organization.
Explain the potential impact of each pitfall on the organization and on the team.
Support your statements with two outside academic sources other than the textbook, course materials, or other information provided as part of the course materials.
Support your statements with two outside academic sources other than the course material.

Write a 3 page paper, using each pitfall as a separate heading in your paper.

TEXTBOOK CHUNK ON VALUE OF VALUING EMPLOYEES:
Leadership Pitfalls, And How to Avoid Them
Following are the top six leadership pitfalls that can lead to employees feeling they don‘t matter, along with Comaford’s advice to avoid those pitfalls.
Pitfall No. 1: Failing to Respond to Employee Emails
Leaders and manager are busy, and employees know that, but the critter state doesn’t spring from the rational part of the brain, Comaford says. So, when employees send an email and don’t get a response, instead of thinking, “Oh, the boss will get back to me
when she has a moment,” they think, “She doesn’t like my idea. She doesn’t like me. I feel rejected. I don’t matter.”
Avoiding this pitfall is simple: Take time to respond to employee emails. “When an employee emails the boss, especially when that email asks for your approval or contains sensitive content, she’s putting herself out there,” Comaford explains. “Always respond, even if it’s just to say, ‘I need a little time to think about that but I’ll get back to you in a day or two.’”
Pitfall No. 2: Failing to Provide Feedback—Positive or Negative
When people matter to us, we want them to know they’ve done a good job. If they haven’t done a good job, we want them to know that too, so they can improve. To an employee’s critter brain, silence means we don’t care enough to let them know either way.
Although leaders typically offer formal feedback through performance evaluations, Comaford urges leaders to also focus on providing employees with informal feedback. Further, she advises leaders to provide positive and negative feedback alike.
While a simple, “Good job,” means a lot, employees also will value feedback on areas in which they can improve. The reason, Comaford explains, is that the employee then has direction and a focus and “when your employee starts getting better results, he’ll know you cared enough to speak up.”
“It feels un-PC to make this comparison, but consider how well children respond to being consis- tently held accountable,” she adds. “Rules and bound- aries make people feel loved. It’s true for employees and leaders, too. In the critter brain, we’re all two-year-olds.”
Pitfall No. 3: Acknowledging People Only When They Make Mistakes
While employees will value leaders who make the time to tell them what they are doing well and where they can improve, those who only receive negative feedback can make them feel like a faulty cog who doesn’t matter to the organization.
To let employees know they matter, Comaford urges leaders to make a positive personal connection with employees as often as possible. Be specific about what you like and let employees know their unique contri- bution makes a real difference to the organization.
“Better yet, make a point of praising them pub- licly,” Comaford notes. “Social rewards are extremely
Pitfall No. 5: Showing Favoritism
Inadvertent or otherwise, in many organizations, there are certain team members who are perceived as “above the law” or in the “in crowd.” These employees tend not to be held accountable for any lack of per- formance, and yet they often get the lion’s share of raises, promotions, or perks, even if they don’t deserve them. Other employees notice.
“People think lovability isn’t an issue in business, but I’m here to tell you it is,” Comaford says. “Feeling that others are more ‘loved’ triggers safety, belonging, and mattering issues in those on the outside.”
To avoid this pitfall, avoid favoring employees to the greatest extent possible. “Absolute equality may not be possible in an imperfect world,” Comaford notes, “but it’s critical to aim for it.”
Pitfall No. 6: Burning Out Employees
Do your employees slog away like slaves, working long hours and completing one high-stress task after another, day after day after day? Not only will they feel that you don’t care about their well-being, they’ll burn out.
Choosing the Right Strategy …
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Approaches to Patient Estimation
Enhanced pricing transparency can improve the financial performance of hospitals and health systems by giving revenue cycle staff the tools with which to prepare accurate estimates and the confidence to request payment from patients at the point of service. It also can lead to improved satisfaction for patients and staff.
A June 2011 survey of health care finance profes- sionals at ANI: The HFMA National Institute found that point-of-service collections—and, consequently, a hospital’s bottom line—are greatly compromised by a lack of preparedness and awareness on both sides of the payment equation.
Seven out of 10 health care finance professionals who were surveyed reported that their hospitals or health systems collect less than 30 percent of patient balances up front. According to survey respondents, the biggest challenges for collecting payments at
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powerful—far more powerful than cash rewards, in fact.”
Pitfall No. 4: Failing to Celebrate Victories
Getting paid is not reward enough for a doing a great job. Indeed, a paycheck can seem like oil for the cog—necessary, but not meaningful. Celebrating a great job, on the other hand, brings people together and builds teams. Comaford notes the celebrations may be simple, but they are not insignificant.
“Team victory celebrations foster a sense of belong- ing and camaraderie,” Comaford explains, which go hand in hand with demonstrating to employees that they matter.
From time to time, all employees in any organi- zation have to exert extra effort. No one, however, can sustain such a pace forever. Yet, this dynamic often persists, particularly when leaders “self-sacrifice,” Comaford says. Then, even when leaders tell employees they don’t have to work late every day, they see leaders doing it and feel the same is expected of them. No one benefits, however, creating a lose-lose situation.
“Sustainability is about creating win-win agreements with ourselves and others,” Comaford says. “We all need a good blend of people, activities, and things that excite and energize us in order to balance out those (inevitable) things that drain us. If your employees matter to you, you’ll help them strike that balance.”
Summary
For many leaders, paying so much attention to what goes on inside employees’ heads is a foreign notion. When Comaford’s clients see the astonishing results outlined earlier in this article, however, they are more than willing to change the way they lead.
“When we’re able to break the mental patterns that hold us—and those around us—back, we can reach heights of performance we never thought possible,” according to Comaford. “And the best part is, it’s more rewarding for everyone. It can take work from being drudgery to being fun and exciting and meaningful.” ■