Motivating middle managers. How to develop their mission potential

Today's unstable healthcare environment is prompting not-for-profit hospitals to explore ways to preserve a fading altruistic posture. Holy Cross Hospital, Salt Lake City, sees middle management as a key to preserving a mission-oriented commitment to the delivery of healthcare. It is tapping the potential of its middle managers through a specialized management development program linked to mission objectives that attempts to assess and enhance individual abilities. The hospital formed a management development committee to identify several managerial characteristics that could have the greatest positive impact on preserving the hospital's mission objectives. The committee identified six major categories for focus: mission and philosophy; leadership style and influence; staffing, coaching, and developing employees; implementation functions; decision-making functions; and quality assurance issues. The hospital developed a self-assessment questionnaire for middle managers. As a self-evaluation tool, the questionnaire may not accurately represent each manager's specific level of knowledge, but it shows each manager's perceived needs and provides a basis for the development of instructional resources. It has also been useful in raising managers' consciousness of their performance.