INSIDE THE CURRENT ISSUE

July 2008

Baseline

Black and white, but not gray

by Fred W. Crans

I have always respected the job done by the people who do the work at the hospital — the folks who work in food service, SPD, the mailroom, environmental services, the nursing assistants — people who labor tirelessly behind the scenes, never receiving credit for their efforts. Likewise, I have always encouraged the folks that work directly with me to let me know what they really think about the issues in the organization — without fear of retribution or retaliation.

Once, at Timken Mercy Medical Center in Canton, OH, the organization faced a two-year financial crisis and had to reduce FTEs. As we looked for ways to deal with the crisis, we in materials management held regular brainstorming sessions where we would try to figure out how we could get more done with fewer resources. During one of our huddles we decided that we were "over-serving" the hospital by making two complete mail delivery runs per day. Summarily we, the "brain trust," decided that one delivery per day would be adequate and that if anyone needed anything else, they could just walk down to the mailroom and pick up their own mail, or send out their own letters.

After a week or so of the new schedule I made the mistake one morning of asking Carolyn, the mail clerk, how the new arrangement was working. Actually, I made two mistakes: One was asking, the second was asking in one of the busiest corridors of the hospital.

For the next five to ten minutes (it seemed like hours) Carolyn unloaded on me all the frustrations she and others had felt since the change was made. I could feel my face turning flush and reddening as person after person walked by in amusement.

Finally my embarrassment and frustration reached the boiling point. "Well, Carolyn," I blurted, "I guess I’m not good for anything!"

As I said that, Marty from the print shop happened to be passing by. He stopped, turned around, came over to us and said, "That’s not exactly true, Fred. You can always be used as a bad example."

The next day we implemented Carolyn’s ideas.

And so it has gone over the years. Much of what the organizations I have worked for have accomplished in the supply chain has been a result of empowered employees who have been encouraged to speak out.

As long as I’m breaking my arm patting myself on the back, let me bring up the issue of self-reliance. Except for the two years I abused my administrative assistant, Pam Featheringham, who typed every paper I ever wrote for graduate school, I have always "done my own work." With today’s word processing and number-crunching capabilities literally at our fingertips, there is no reason why we need to farm out most work to someone else.

I write my own stuff; I type my own e-mails, memos, letters, proposals, etc. I do my own expense reports. And I fill out my own requisitions.

Or at least I used to.

That all ended in 2002 when I ran afoul of Judy Johnson.

Judy Johnson was the purchasing supervisor at Genesis Health System in Davenport, IA. She reported to Colleen Adrian, the purchasing manager. Colleen reported to me. One day I asked Colleen what I had to do to renew my membership with AHRMM. "Have Beth (my administrative assistant) fill out the requisition and send it to Judy," she replied.

As was my wont, I didn’t think Beth should have had to do something that I could do myself so I got the requisition, filled it out and sent it to Judy Johnson. Three days later it came back with a note that I had filled it out incorrectly. I made what corrections I thought were appropriate and returned it. Three days later it was back again — same note. I once again made the corrections that I thought were needed and returned it.

Three days later it returned with this notation: According to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) you, as director, cannot requisition, receive and approve for payment. Since this is a membership, and therefore cannot be received, you must have vice presidential approval.

Which vice president? Mark Kleinschmidt (my boss), or Dick Cheney (the Vice President of the United States)?

I called Judy (who is an accountant and sees only the blackest black and the whitest white) to discuss the matter. It was Carolyn in the hallway revisited. Finally, I got so frustrated that I blurted out," I don’t care how stupid I am. The last time I looked, I’m your boss’ boss, so if I were you, I’d take care of this!"

She calmly replied, "I can’t do that without the proper procedure being followed."

I hung up and fumed for days. Finally I asked Colleen how my application was going. "Judy says she can’t do anything until you fill out the paperwork correctly," she said.

That was six years ago. Since then: Colleen has moved to Trinity Quad Cities where she is director of materials management. Judy is now the purchasing manager at Trinity Quad Cities. We have mended our fences.

And I haven’t filled out a requisition since.

Fred W. Crans serves as area vice president, north, for ECRI Institute. He lists his writing influences as Edward Abbey and H.L. Mencken, who once said, "Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking." An avid baseball fan and University of Miami (Hurricanes) stalwart, Crans can be reached via e-mail at fcrans@ecri.org.