Let It Pour: My First Assignment as Executive Assistant

Introduction

"Let It Pour: My First Assignment as Executive Assistant" follows a new employee, Chris Smith, on his first day of work as an executive assistant to chief executive officer, Pat. Immediately upon arriving to work Chris is asked to join Pat in a meeting regarding the many concerns in which Faith Community Hospital is currently facing. It is evident that the hospital is facing a downward spiral of problems commencing with the hospitals current mission statement, which is unfocused and misinterpreted by various parties of the hospital. Management and staff are a concern, management is being challenged with leading the hospital to be prosperous and staff has a lack or respect toward management and the hospitals mission and order. Communication and operational processes are in need of improvement, the staff is faced with differences of opinions determined by laws, ethics, oaths and diversity, it is essential for management to define the code of conduct, implement and enforce the carry through and repercussions. Lastly there are budget concerns, Faith Community Hospital is a non-profit organization and while costs per a patient are rising, funding is not. The hospital is faced with needing to analyze how to minimize costs or increase funds. Pat has asked Chris to start the process of identifying the problems, possible solutions and what decisions need to be implemented to put Faith Community Hospital back in stability.

Problem: Mission Statement

The hospitals current mission statement is in dire need of revision, it is as follows: "With the foundation and commitment of our spiritual heritage and values, our mission is to promote the health and well-being of the people in the communities we serve through a comprehensive continuum of services provided in collaboration with the partners who share the same vision and values." The first flaw that stands out is the mission statement is too long, due to the length of the mission statement it is difficult for the staff and others that interact with hospital to recall and work by or to associate to the hospital. Secondly, the mission statement does not have focus and is too broad, it is essential that Faith Community Hospital takes the time to narrow in on what they purpose is to those in which the hospital works with, they need to bring focus to their mission statement. Lastly there is excessive use of large buzzwords such as "spiritual heritage", "comprehensive continuum", "collaboration" and so fourth, although many of us know what these words mean or imply, there are many that do not, but the point is to simplifying the mission statement so that it is easier to recite and associate. The CEO, Pat, acknowledges to Chris that there are numerous interpretations of the mission statement, a clear sign that the mission statement needs to be modified to accommodate the hospitals current goals.

Solution: Mission Statement

The point of a mission statement is to communicate to all staff, patients, vendors, who ever may interact with Faith Community Hospital, the purpose, goals and philosophies in which the hospital aims for. The mission statement should be "a concise statement of business strategy and developed from the customer's perspective and it should fit with the vision for the business. The mission should answer three questions: 1.What do we do? 2. How do we do it? 3. For whom do we do it?" (Ebben, PhD, 2005) Faith Community Hospital needs to focus on creating a mission statement that is easy for individuals to remember, for staff to be able to easily recite and work while striving to fulfill that mission.

Problem: Management & Staff

It is a apparent that there is a problem that exists with the management team and staff. Management does not have control of the staff, which leads to the question, is the management team capable of fulfilling their job responsibilities? There is an authority issue that is a concern to the hospital as well as a moral issue. While the staff demonstrates a lack of respect towards upper management, management has not taken the necessary steps to define the roles and responsibilities of the staff. My initial concern lies with the fact the CEO has asked his executive assistant to take on such a task of analyzing what problems exist in the hospital, how to resolve and then to implement a solution. It is apparent that Pat already has a clear indication as to what problems exist and instead of delegating the work load to Chris, it should be Pat's responsibility to assess the state of the hospital and what steps of action need to be taken to reform the hospital. The executive assistant is there to support the CEO, not perform the CEO's job responsibilities. There is a sense of negativity from the CEO, which could trickle down to the staff, example being, comments such as, "... I hope it doesn't dissolve you." May have been said in good humor however there are other words that could be said with a more optimistic nature to indicate to Chris there is a challenge ahead.

Solution: Management & Staff

Suggested solution regarding management, or lack of, is to commence with performing a upper management reorganization. Although this approach may be time consuming and costly taking the time to assess which members of management are not performing or hindering the hospital and replacing them with qualified employees will in the long run, strengthen the staff at Faith Community Hospital. "Managers develop processes and ways of measuring things. They plan, set targets, budget and track numbers." (Rugger & Noa, 2006) but as further identified and more importantly, "Leaders influence people - by providing purpose, direction and motivation - while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization." (Rugger & Noa, 2006) Upon completion of the upper management reorganization, it would continue with the remainder of the staff of the hospitals, perhaps more so by departments or seniority in hopes to avoid a shortage of staff to keep the hospital running. The primary goal of the reorganization being to weed out staff that are either a liability risk to the hospital or contribute to low team moral. Once the reorganization of the hospital has been completed I would recommend defining the rules in which all staff is to abide by, rules need to be clear, concise and identify repercussions. It is management's responsibility to ensure that all staff members have signed an acknowledgement and agreement of the rules. Introduce team building activities that will strengthen teams and departments, for example, introduce a team building activity in which the employees assist