EP. 141: Q&A with Renee: How Leaders Address Disrespect, Feedback Resistance, and Workplace Culture

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Coffee Break: Breaking the Cycle of Bullying in Healthcare, One Cup at a Time 26 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 1 month ago
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Dr. Renée Thompson 0:02
Plants thrive and grow in a peaceful, nourished environment, right? Well, it's the same with human beings. But what if that environment is not so peaceful? What if it's toxic? Welcome to Coffee Break, breaking the cycle of bullying in healthcare one cup at a time. In this podcast, you'll get practical, evidence-based strategies to help you cultivate and sustain a healthy and respectful work culture by tackling an age-old problem in healthcare, bullying and incivility. I am your host, Dr. Renee Thompson.
Dr. Renée Thompson 0:46
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Coffee Break Podcast. It is time for Q&A with Renee. I haven't recorded one of these types of episodes for a while. And let's just say I have been speaking so much over the last couple of months that I have plenty of questions to answer for all of you today. So what I'm going to do is share a couple of questions that people have asked me when I've been doing these workshops. And I don't really do a lot of Q&A for a keynote, but a workshop, oh yeah, it's sort of my favorite thing to do or answer people's questions. And there's a lot more time to do that. So let's start with the first one. Okay, somebody had asked me, What do I do when during my staff meeting?
Dr. Renée Thompson 1:40
So this was a manager during my staff meetings.

Why do leaders need to address disruptive phone use in meetings right away?

Dr. Renée Thompson 1:43
I look over and I have some of my people in my, you know, in the room on their phones. I'm so sick and tired of people being on their phones. It's disrespectful. I'm like, OK, let's talk about this. So I want you to think about how many of us have complained about our nurses, support staff being on their phones instead of paying attention. Well, a couple of things. So I guess the question I'm going to ask you is what do you do when during a meeting one of your team members pulls out their phone and starts texting or something? Okay. Do you address it? Ask yourself, do I address this? Do you ignore it? Or, you know, I always say with human behavior, it's very complex. It's not always black and white. So is your answer, well, it depends.
Dr. Renée Thompson 2:34
Okay, so let's unpack this. Again, this situation comes up frequently when I'm doing any type of leadership workshop. And I want to share some of my strategies with you. So let's first explore common reasons why someone might be on their phone.

What are the step‑by‑step strategies for confronting someone using their phone during a staff meeting?

Dr. Renée Thompson 2:51
I always like to think, why? Why would somebody be on their phone? Well, they may be waiting for a text message back from one of the physicians about their patient. They may have a sick child at home. And it's their mom or it's their neighbor, whoever's watching them, or their spouse letting them know that they're okay or they're not okay. This person might be getting a text message from someone who's maybe watching their patients and couldn't come to the meeting for whatever reason. Or they might be scrolling on Instagram, okay? I had a leader once tell me that nurses were complaining about being so busy, and she looks over at the nurse's station, and three of them were sitting there ordering clothes and sheets for their bed on either Macy's or one of those shopping sites.
Dr. Renée Thompson 3:41
Okay, how busy can you be? So sometimes people are just on Instagram. They're shopping. they're, you know, planning, texting their friends to plan what they're going to do that weekend. So sometimes it is inappropriate. And so, all right, there's usually a reason why someone's on their phone. When I'm speaking and I notice somebody's on their phone, it's a distraction for me because my first thought is they're bored. They don't like what I'm saying. I'm going to get a bad review.

How can leaders set clear expectations and ground rules for phone use before a meeting starts?

Dr. Renée Thompson 4:13
So, you know, again, it's a perception, but it is a distraction to the person who's speaking. OK, so let's just be clear about that. It is a distraction, especially, you know, what if you're having a meeting and you have a guest speaker? People are on their phone. It's a distraction to the speaker. So you don't know why they're on their phone. It doesn't matter why they're on their phone, really. Here's the strategy. Here's what I want you to do. First of all, do not ignore it. It's the worst thing that you can do.

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