Billing Department Supervisor Gets a Handle on Open-Door Policy When she took the position in charge of a hospital's billing department, a supervisor well call Jeannie wanted to promote upward communication from her employees. So Jeannie instituted a policy that her "door is always open." Employees were invited to stop in her office to check with her whenever they ran into a problem, thought of a question, or simply wanted encouragement. To her surprise, Jeannie quickly discovered that at least for her, there is such a thing as too much communication. She would settle down to work on a report, and the interruptions would begin almost immediately. During one 20-minute period, four different people stopped in with questions. Her days began to feel chaotic, and Jeannie wanted to put some limits on her open-door policy. Jeannie decided to be strict about refusing to become engaged in conversations she considers "time wasters." For example, when employees try to share their horror stories about how difficult a client or insurer is being, Jeannie says she doesn't have time to hear it. In her opinion, swapping these stories does not serve a useful purpose. When Jeannie thought further about how to reduce the number of interruptions, she realized that some of her employees were using her knowledge as a substitute for thinking through problems themselves. She decided that she could help her staff develop if she made it harder for them to simply "delegate problems upward" to her. She set aside afternoon hours for employee questions and began to require that whenever employees come to her seeking help with a problem, they must be prepared to suggest at least one possible solution. She developed a set of questions to ask whenever an employee tells her about a problem:

• Do you have examples of this issue—descriptions of when a similar situation arose and how it was handled then?

• Do you have all of the information about the account in question?

• In your notes about the question, have you included a summary of the issue?

• Have you drafted at least one solution? Until the answer to all the questions is "yes,' Jeannie asks the employees not to come to her. She explained that she wanted them to prepare fully before they bring the problem to her. When employees are prepared and Jeannie helps them with problems, she makes sure to play a supporting role, rather than taking over a case. For example, if an employee has difficulty collecting an amount and has run through all the options identified, Jeannie might set up meetings with insurers and employees in other departments. She shares these plans with the employees handling the accounts, and she keeps track of all the deadlines she has set for action. She regularly reviews these plans and uses them as a basis for keeping in touch with employees about their progress. With these limits in place, Jeannie finds that she has fewer interruptions, but she doesn't want to lose touch with her employees. So, following the example of doctors, who go on daily rounds to visit their hospitalized patients, Jeannie goes on rounds through the office to see her employees each day. During her rounds, Jeannie asks employees how they are, how their work is coming along, and whether they have all the resources they need. She also compliments employees who have excelled in some way, and she asks what she can do better as their supervisor. She keeps notes of employee requests, promises to do her best to help, and later reviews her notes to make sure she is following through on promises.

What strategies for communicating effectively does Jeannie use? What other strategies would help her communicate more effectively?