A Resident's Journal Entry

As part of their administrative residency experiences, Trinity HCAD students complete monthly journal entries in which they reflect upon their past experiences and look ahead to the future.  Our students are doing great and exciting things throughout their residencies, and from time to time we like to share with others what they've shared with us as they document their lives as administrative residents.  The following is an account of one of our students, Wil, and his experiences this past October as a resident at a major Texas hospital system.

The first week of October was my last week at one of our system's facilities. This was bittersweet, because though I thoroughly enjoyed my rotation at this facility, I know that my next rotation will be beneficial and educational as well. One of my main goals of this week was to successfully hand off my project to the facilities manager. I read an article which stated the mark of a successful leader is when someone else can come in and replicate what they have done. Developing a successor is something a truly skilled leader does. This requires the leader to have long term vision and humility. It can be easy for people in power to lose sight of the organization and want to keep their legacy. Some mistakenly think that if their successor fails, this failure will reflect positively on them. In their mind, the current failure shows just how important and vital they were to the success of the organization. What a completely perverted mindset! 

I wanted this transition process to go as smoothly as possible. If the new project leader came on board and had a plethora of issues to take care of, it would appear that I did not have everything as organized as I made it seem. Therefore, before my last meeting I had a one-on-one with my successor and gave him everything I had as well as a status update on all the moving pieces. I then led the meeting the following day and explained at the end the he will be taking over as team lead from now on. This way he knew exactly what I was doing (and what had been done), how the meetings were structured, and the rest of the team knew he was the new lead.

Before my one-on-one with the successor, I scheduled two brief meetings with the COO and facilities director. There was a meeting scheduled for the next day. I asked if I should lead the last meeting or if I should just let the new manager lead it and I sit back and observe. The answer to this would reveal how I had been doing these past few months. If I was told go ahead and let him lead, the underlying message would be that I could learn from watching him and that I could use some much needed improvement. On the other hand, if I was told to lead the last meeting, just the opposite would be true. I was given the same response from both the COO and facilities director. They told me to go ahead and run my meeting one last time! One even told me it would be good for the successor to be able to see how an effective meeting was run, how an agenda is set up, and how I lead the discussion. Needless to say, I felt about 10 feet tall when I left work that day. 

That evening, I reflected back to my time at Trinity. I remember being terrified about presenting in front of the entire class...absolutely terrified. Last thing I wanted to do was look bad in front of my classmates. “What if I stutter?” “What if I forget my train of thought?” “What if what I’m saying is completely wrong?” “How will I remember all this information now that Dr. Kaissi has told us we can no longer use index cards?!” These were common thoughts that raced through my head before almost every presentation, though I never dared admit this to anyone. “What kind of future CEO would share such weakness?” I thought. 

I can see now how much I have grown since then. I didn’t realize it then, but every presentation made me better. Every presentation made me sharper, more articulate. From obvious things like tone of voice to subtle things such as hand gestures, every presentation sharpened these skills. I remember almost walking out of the classroom when classmates and I were presenting together. I thought they would cover for me and I would be fine leaving and getting some simple job somewhere else because this was too difficult. It’s funny looking back now and remembering how nervous I was. I was almost willing to drop the program, though my pride and competitive nature kept me from doing so. I also learned to harness these emotions and refuse to surrender to sudden impulses, regardless of their strength and magnitude. I told myself if I had spoken in front of an entire church before, I can speak in front of my classmates. If I had acted out skits in front of hundreds of college students, I can speak in front of my classmates. I can speak in front of my classmates... 

After reminiscing about the fear I had in grad school, I thought about how I felt while I was leading the meeting. Though I was a little nervous, I was excited to be there. I’m learning something about myself. I like being in charge and leading a team- a lot more than I ever thought I would. I especially like leading smart, intelligent individuals. This is the first time I have led adults (some many times my senior) and I found I enjoy it. And I seem fairly good at it. Less than a year ago I contemplated bailing on my team while giving a presentation in front of my classmates and professors. Now I am thriving off the excitement from leading a meeting in front of executives, directors, and managers. Some of these people have literally been working longer than I have been alive! And here I am, leading a meeting and telling them what I needed from them...and they are listening and responding to it! 

There’s a difference between confidence and arrogance, and I’m trying hard to make sure I don’t lean towards the latter. Not many people like an arrogant person. No one likes an arrogant person who is young enough to be their grandchild. No one likes a haughty, young college grad but people look up to a rising young professional. Finding the balance is key to gaining the respect and cooperation of ones coworkers. At my first location, I micromanaged way too much but I learned from it. At the next location I failed at inviting all the necessary parties to a meeting simply because I didn’t even know they were a part of the process. However, I have since learned from that too. I am learning to balance the enjoyment of giving to others, while at the same time being respectful, learning how to be part of a team, and finding out what motivates others. Some people love it when I talk about their kids who are close to my age. Others find it weird. Some enjoy sports. Others just want to talk business. Some enjoy bringing up a little work while eating. Others just want to have 30 short minutes a day to discuss anything but work. Some like to complain and have everyone hear their story. Others will keep quiet but will welcome a one-on-one discussion if initiated by the person they’re upset with. Once I found out how my team ticked, everything became smoother. People came into the meetings legitimately interested in hearing what I had to say and what progress we had made since the last meeting. And more importantly, they left with the desire to be one of the ones recognized for the progress they’re department had made when we have the next meeting. Everyone likes some type of recognition, whether it is praising them directly or the staff they oversee. When I realized this and recognized directors for the progress they made, others desired that recognition too. And how do you get recognized? Be a high performer. If you’re a high performer, significant progress is made. If significant progress is made, recognition follows.