Great Manager Profile: Doug Eckman

this profile is reposted from:http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/08/12602/great-manager-profile-doug-eckman

Doug Eckman, MBA, works at the intersection of dual bureaucracies. As director of operations for UCSF School of Medicine, Dean’s Office at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH), Eckman must navigate both the university and the city’s Department of Public Health, which oversees patient care and operations at the public hospital.

Despite the complexity and perhaps because of it, Eckman loves his work. He excels at helping people find common ground and at bringing out the best in his team. “I think it is important that people enjoy what they do,” he says. “Also, I think it should be challenging, as people do better when they are challenged.”


Eckman has been honored for his strong commitment to encouraging his staff to reach their fullest potential, receiving the 2005 Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional University Management.

Born and raised in Grand Forks, ND, Eckman is the son of a locomotive engineer and a non-practicing nurse. When he was 17, Eckman, the oldest of seven kids, won a full scholarship to Columbia College and moved to New York to study philosophy. Following a series of “adventures” that included stays in Hawaii, Colorado and Minnesota, his migrations ended in 1976, when he came to San Francisco and got a job at the former Children’s Hospital (now part of California Pacific Medical Center).

From there, Eckman moved to SFGH, where he worked as a respiratory therapist on the night shift and eventually became the manager of the department – a place where he says he made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. He worked in the emergency department and in intensive care units, which served as an excellent training ground for Eckman’s operational and people management skills. He also earned an MBA in Management from San Francisco State University.

On-the-Job Development Encourages Creative Solutions

During the recent Employee Engagement Survey, Eckman’s team scored highest in the area of learning and growing on the job. Notes Eckman: “I’m a big fan of education. If there are courses or classes or professional meetings they want to go to, I don’t say no. I will even suggest, and sometimes insist, they attend these activities in their performance appraisal for professional development.”

Guide for Great Managers

A Great Manager Resource Guide outlining some strategies for setting expectations and providing feedback and recognition is available here [PDF].

But true learning takes more than courses or conferences; it requires on-the-job development. And it is this aspect of Eckman’s management that’s most often cited by his team members as the source of their growth. Eckman says “people should be allowed to make mistakes because that is how we learn.”

Mark Addis, director of biomedical engineering who came to SFGH over three years ago and was new to both UCSF and his role as a manager, has benefited from Eckman’s management style. “He takes a mistake I’ve made and offers suggestions about how to do better in the future,” Addis says. “He doesn’t tell me what to do, but offers some examples of how people have done it effectively.”

As a result of this approach, Addis has grown a great deal. He’s gone from heading a department regularly threatened with outsourcing to running a successful and cost-effective unit with highly trained employees.
And the benefits continue on to the hospital and its patients. Back when the anesthesia machine servicing was outsourced, the contractor wouldn’t report the machines during a procedure. Now that the work is being done in-house, the team can work with the anesthesiologist during an operation and “technicians are getting feedback about what a great job they are doing,” Addis says.

Eckman describes it this way: “If people can figure out how to get their needs met and serve the goals of others, it is amazing the creativity they can tap into. As a manager, it is my job is to be sure that creative solutions on one side do not have negative effects on others down the road.”

To further challenge his team and support its growth, Eckman engages them in group problem-solving activities. “If people are complaining about something, I say OK, let’s get a small group together to examine the problem.” After allowing them time to truly analyze the problem and develop recommendations, Eckman observes that “they come back with ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of and because they came up with them they supported the [resulting] change.”

Eckman is deeply committed to the learning and professional growth of his team. “To the extent possible, let them [your staff] pursue their interests. Don’t put constraints on that. [There] should be a really good operational reason to say no. To the extent possible, let people create their job, by building on the foundation of the original job description. If you restrict them to the minimum, the job description, then you are only going to be getting the minimum from them,” he said.

Theme of Respect, Trust and Support

The same philosophy is held by Eckman’s manager, Cathryn Thurow, MHA, the School of Medicine’s Assistant Dean of Administration and Finance for SFGH. She sees her role as supporting Eckman in his professional interests and growing his responsibilities. Since they have been working together, Eckman has become a mediator and a hearing officer and more recently was asked to provide administrative oversight for the clinical labs.

Equally important to Thurow is supporting Eckman as a person. She ensures the Dean’s Office is a supportive work environment and provides flexibility, when possible, to accommodate personal needs. “Doug really appreciates that,” says Thurow, who adds with a smile, “I let him do his job. I am not a micromanager.”

This theme of respect, trust and support is repeated over and over in the Dean’s Office. The key ingredients being: managers who respect one another’s skills, trust one another to do their jobs effectively, and support and encourage their teams to apply their interests and talents in new ways.

Sue Carlisle, MD, PhD, the School of Medicine’s vice dean for SFGH, sees the benefits that trust and respect have on the overall operations at the public hospital. “We are an interesting intermesh of city and university. Because he [Eckman] is trusted, the people who report to him see him as a role model of how to do their work. The trickle-down effect both from trust and modeling in the staff makes us a much more cohesive team with the city staff and much more effective in achieving our goals.”

Mary Clancy, clinical laboratory manager at SFGH, outlines the successful elements of Eckman’s management style. “Doug is very fair and thoughtful. He gives guidance and lets you follow up. I trust him very much. If I need help, he’ll be right there.”

When asked how Eckman’s management style affects the results of his direct reports, Andy Brunner, UCSF Risk Manager at SFGH, says “he has enough confidence in my abilities to let me work independently, but he is always available for advice and ensures that I have the resources I need to do my job.  He recognizes me as a professional and is more result- than process-oriented, which I appreciate.”

As Curt Denham, director of finance and a member of the dean’s office management team, describes it: “Everyone is treated well. Everyone is considerate and appreciative.”

Perhaps the key to Eckman’s effectiveness as a manager is that he measures his own success by the level of enjoyment his team members have in the work they do. He believes that his role is to cultivate the sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment that comes from being engaged. He says his years of experience have taught him that “good problem-solving doesn’t come from unhappy people.”  

Photo by Susan Merrell 

Great Mananger Profile: Deborah Yano-Fong

this profile is reposted from: http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/05/12037/great-manager-profile-deborah-yano-fong

By Aja Couchois Duncan on May 17, 2012

Understanding her staff’s needs and helping them achieve their goals is one of Deborah Yano-Fong’s greatest strengths as a manager.

Deborah Yano-Fong

Coming from a Japanese-American family, Yano-Fong says her parents put a lot of emphasis on education. They tried to steer her toward medicine, but Yano-Fong had wanted to be a nurse since elementary school. “Nursing is about the patient,” Yano-Fong says, and that compassionate focus on the wellbeing of another is the basis of Yano-Fong’s  management style.

The connection between her training as a nurse and her expertise as a manager does not end there. “Nurses help educate patients, and teach and mentor new nurses. These are all key skills for new managers, for supervising people.” In addition to these skills, Yano-Fong has added serving as a role model and a coach.

The daughter of Mary Yano and Yukio Yano — a research chemist at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab whose work led to the development of the isotopes that are still used in PET scans today — Yano-Fong went to school in El Cerrito and from there to UC Berkley, her father and mother’s professional home. After beginning coursework in premed, Yano-Fong transferred to UCSF to complete a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Eventually, she completed her graduate degree in nursing at UCSF as well.

“Nursing has been wonderful for me,” says Yano-Fong. “It has provided me with the opportunity to do clinical nursing, to be a nurse manager, to go to graduate  school, to have a child, and, while parenting, creating a job share with another nurse, Susan Alves-Rankin, to serve as the first ever co-directors of Patient Relations.”

According to Yano-Fong, the concept of job sharing was new to UCSF. But as a result of its success, Yano-Fong and Alves-Rankin served as examples of how two nurses could balance their professional lives and family responsibilities. Yano-Fong served in this role, and several others at 50 percent time, until the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed and then Chancellor J. Michael Bishop and Mark Laret, chief executive officer of UCSF Medical Center, appointed her to the position of Chief Privacy Officer for UCSF. Since then, the Fishbon Medical Library and the Patient Health Library have come under her auspices as well.

Applying Lessons Learned in Nursing

Over the years, Yano-Fong has become a nationally recognized leader in the emerging field of patient privacy, one that involves a great deal of legal and policy analysis and high stakes decision-making. She has become a key advisor to other UC privacy officers and has been involved with the state of California’s privacy steering committee and CalOHII (California Office of Health Information Integrity) the oversight body for enforcement of state privacy laws.

A Great Manager Resource Guide outlining some strategies for setting expectations and providing feedback and recognition is available here [PDF].

In addition to becoming an expert in her field, Yano-Fong has continued to focus on management skills that she honed as a nurse: clear communication, high standards and strong organizational skills. These are the hallmarks of Yano-Fong’s ongoing success. She explains that she learned over the years the key to managing people is to do it on a person-by-person basis. “Know their strengths and weaknesses,” she says, “and also what their goals are for their professional career growth.”

Yano-Fong’s first experience managing people was as an assistant nurse manager role on 8 North South at UCSF Medical Center on the Parnassus campus.  Soon after, she became the nurse manager for the neurosurgery/neurology unit on 8 Long Hospital. “It was a lot,” she says, but she felt prepared. “Nursing requires a cohesive team. From shift to shift, hour to hour the priorities change based on the needs of the patients. The worst night is bearable with a strong team; collaboration and teamwork is how people survive getting through rough spots.”

Using key concepts from the health care and nursing profession, Yano-Fong has flourished as a manager. “My role,” she says, “is in helping an individual know where they want to go and helping them build the skills to get there.” But her value as a manager is not only in supporting the development of her staff, Yano-Fong also ensures that the key values and goals of the organization are incorporated into everyone’s job description. “Our organization has been very clear about mission and values,” says Yano-Fong. “It is very important that my managers know the goals for the year, where we are going, and what we are marching to.”

Providing Feedback and Recognition

How she does this is by setting clear, inspirational standards and providing regular feedback and recognition. When a team member handles a difficult situation well, Yano-Fong sends a note to the individual acknowledging their success. Also, if her team has gone through a difficult time or experience, Yano-Fong will take the group out to lunch — to celebrate together and to acknowledge their hard work. “Real time recognition is really important to me,” Yano-Fong says, “also recognition beyond the group.” To that end, she has started a monthly academy award for staff recognition.

During the last Employee Engagement Survey, Yano-Fong’s team scored highest in the area of feedback and recognition. Notes Yano-Fong, “you hear all the time that the people in an organization are the critical element. I really do believe that. I transmit this to everyone I work with. Being valued ensures teamwork and that we can be successful.” Providing feedback and recognition ensures her group is motivated, guided, and acknowledged for their accomplishments. 

Vicky Kirby Martin, PhD, associate privacy officer for UCSF, notes the impact of Yano-Fong’s management practices. “Deborah supports us in a way that ensures we can express opinions and think ahead. She allows the team to evolve: we participate, contribute and innovate.” This is critical. “Everyone wants innovation, but often we reward the one and ignore the rest,” Kirby Martin says. “Deborah creates trust so the whole group feels safe to contribute.”

Yano-Fong cites Leader as Coach, as a useful resource for managers interested in building their feedback and recognition skills and learning to coach their employees. For Yano-Fong, the key to being a successful manager coach is to “pick coachable moments.” It is not, she says, simply “telling someone what to do but helping them define their pathway.”

Yano-Fong acknowledges, it isn’t always easy. “Sometimes there are challenges, but I find the greatest benefit comes from focusing on my team’s success.”

 

To maintain this positive focus, Yano-Fong puts a high value on ensuring her team takes the time to break bread together and to gather around cultural events. Notes Yano-Fong, “diversity is a key value at UCSF and a key value for being a leader.”

Yano-Fong is a long standing member of UCSF’s Council of Minority Organizations (COMO) and served for many years as the co-chair of UCSF’s Asian Pacific American Systemwide Alliance (APASA). She has also participated in the MLK Commemoration Planning Committee, which plans UCSF’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Celebration.

Building Relationships with People

“A key component of being a leader and manager is building and maintaining one-on-one relationships,” she says. “Having the background and expertise of working with different people — understanding there are cultural and personal differences — enables me to better support and work with others. Through this, I understand how to recognize individual preferences and support people to ensure they can do their best.”

For Victoria Kleemann, longtime director of Volunteer Services for UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Yano-Fong’s strength is in her ability to establish and communicate an underlying sense of respect. It is also Yano-Fong’s commitment to giving time and attention to each member of her team that makes everyone understand their importance to the mission. “It is a simple form of acknowledgement,” says Kleemann, “but it is the basic foundation for creating collaboration and a strong team.”

Susan Alves-Rankin, RN, MS, assistant director of Patient Services and Service Excellence, sums up Yano-Fong’s abilities like this: “Deborah has a high level of personal and professional integrity which is visible in everything she does. She has very high standards, serves as an excellent role model, and expects of others only what she herself would do. She is also infamous for always supplying grazing snacks and comfort foods to nourish her team’s spirit. What else could you ask for in a manager?”

David Odato, associate vice chancellor of Human Resources and chief administrative officer of the UCSF Medical Center and Yano-Fong’s manager, notes that cites Yano-Fong’s practice of recognizing staff as central to her success as a manager. “Just this week she told me about someone who had done something well.” As a result, Odato explains, he wrote a thank you note and the individual was so pleased, “she was grinning from ear to ear.”

Odato has seen the impact of Yano-Fong’s attention to her staff. “Her strengths are developing people, being an excellent listener, engaging her staff and helping them come up with their own solutions.” As a result, many of her staff members have been promoted through the ranks at the medical center.

Yano-Fong echoes this as a core value for her. When asked how her staff would describe her as a manager, Yano-Fong responds, “I think staff would say I am supportive both professionally and personally. I would hope that they say that I help to provide opportunities for them as well.”

Her hopes have come to fruition. Through her practice of setting inspirational expectations, providing feedback and recognition and coaching her team for development, Yano-Fong serves as an exceptional role model for other managers. She lays the foundation for those who work with her to be effective in their current roles and helps them hone their skills for professional growth and enduring success. 

Photo by Susan Merrell

Great Manager Profile: Kevin Souza

reposted from http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/02/11482/great-manager-profile-kevin-souza

by Aja Couchois Duncan

Kevin Souza is not new to managing people. His first experience was 25 years ago as a manager of a basic science research lab in endocrinology.

Kevin Souza

Now, in his current role as the assistant dean of Medical Education in the UCSF School of Medicine, he is responsible for unifying the geographically dispersed medical education administration, with approximately 60 staff members making up the team.

But it is not Souza’s years of experience or the breadth of his role that makes him such a great manager, it is his commitment to inclusivity, fairness and innovation. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional University Performance. It is not a honor that Souza takes lightly. “It was the greatest moment of my professional career,” he says.
Born in Clarksville, a small town on Tennessee’s northern border, Souza grew up on a 400-acre family farm. “We grew cash crops like corn and much of our own food,” he says. “We slaughtered our own pigs and chickens.”

From these rural beginnings he embarked on a career in science, earning his B.S. degree in Biology at Austin Peay State University and an M.S. degree in Biology from Vanderbilt University. After earning his graduate degree, he taught biology at Vanderbilt and at Chancellor College in Malawi, Africa, as a US Peace Corps volunteer. Souza then returned to Vanderbilt before coming to UCSF in 1993.
While at UCSF, he has served as a lab manager in the Department of Psychiatry and an information officer in medical education. In 2000, Souza became director of Educational Technologies and then in 2008, the first assistant dean for Medical Education.

 

Responding to Employee Survey

“The position [of Assistant Dean] was created as a result of a 2007 employee satisfaction survey,” Souza says. The survey results indicated that medical education scored below the rest of the campus in several areas. Staff identified inequitable pay and poor communication throughout medical education as areas that needed to be addressed. As a result, equity reviews were held for all medical education; these reviews have become standard practice occurring every two years.

Also, a communications committee was formed which resulted in the creation of the medical education blog, website, and other communication vehicles. In addition, to those changes, the position of assistant dean position was created, a role that would serve to unite medical education across the University. Souza notes with both modesty and a sense of satisfaction, “the most recent employee engagement survey results showed us that we have been successful in improving in these areas.”

The results of the recent employee engagement survey brought some other things to light as well.
“Our lowest score was in `having a best friend at work’,” Souza says. While many in the group were critical of the question and wondered about the value of the results, Souza saw it as an opportunity. Taking up the Chancellor’s mandate to review the results and develop a plan, Souza notes in his quietly passionate way that Medical Education launched a wiki site with team survey results and resources, unit managers facilitated discussions of the results within their teams, and all staff came together for a workshop to develop engagement strategies.

At the beginning of February, the entire staff came together again to create a plan using Gallup’s engagement pyramid of four key areas: basic needs, individual contribution, teamwork and growth. The strategies that emerged from this process were:

• Develop skills in all staff to cope with an ever-changing environment (basic needs)
• Develop robust staff profiles to educate other about what each of us contributes (individual contribution)
• Develop personal mission statements aligned to medical education at UCSF (teamwork)
• Develop a buddy system for new and continuing staff (growth)

Bonnie Hellevig, assistant director of Educational Data, notes that the group really embraced the opportunity to look at teamwork and engagement. She attributes much of this to Souza’s leadership.
“He has a great way of envisioning what could be,” she says. “Something good always comes out of it.”

Hellevig sees the highly focused and inclusive process as one that ensured both positive outcomes and the empowerment of the entire medical education group. “Everyone is included and hopefully will be more engaged with each other as a result.”

Chandler Mayfield, director of Tech Enabled Learning, notes that the campus set forth very basic expectations for the engagement survey results. Instead, Souza took the opportunity to address something that was important. “He embarked on a very ambitious plan and process, focusing resources — in a time of compressed resources – to create the best possible outcome, one that staff really owned.”

Creating an Environment Where People Succeed

For Christina Cicoletti, director of the Clinical Learning Unit, the process reflected the culture of medical education under Souza’s leadership. “Medical education is amazing and such an inspiring place to be,” she says. “Having an assistant dean that isn’t a PhD or an MD is inspirational because it makes us feel that with hard work and dedication any of the staff could achieve a leadership position of that level someday."

But the most important element to Cicoletti is the mentorship and authenticity that Souza brings to the group. “He is one of the best teachers I ever met in my life. He can explain what is going on at a very high level in a way that enables all to understand. Transparency is really important to him; it is one of his guiding principles. This helps us know what is going on and we feel connected.”
When asked what he learned as a result of the engagement survey, Souza says, “What was reinforced is that I don’t know everything; I really rely on the talent of my team. And too, I learned that we are doing a lot of things right.”

What drives Souza’s commitment to his staff is the same thing that drives his commitment to UCSF. “When I think of UCSF, I think of the most innovative health care institution in the world,” Souza says. “In medical education, I try to support this innovation by honoring what motivates my staff and giving them the room to take their careers in new directions. To me this is directly connected to creating and sustaining an innovative healthcare environment.”

For Cynthia Ashe, manager of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, the source of Souza’s success and that of his team is quite simple. “Kevin leads by example,” she says. “He maintains an open mind and a goal-oriented forward focus. He hires good people and mentors them. He is creating an environment in which people succeed.”
No matter what the goals are for the organization, Souza says, the greatest impact comes from honoring people and their skills. “It goes a long way to creating a happy, healthy, productive, innovative environment.”

Photo by Susan Merrell