Workplace culture: Reader Input Needed
A cardiologists switches universities and no one shows up, what is going on?
Recently, a colleague of mine switched institutions. He works as a faculty in cardiology, and attends on service with fellows. Over the course of the year, he gives scattered lectures on the interpretation of clinical trials. I think it is fair to say he has similarities to John Mandrola— a consummate cardiologist and clear evidence based thinker.
When my colleague switched institutions he noticed some differences in culture. At his old institution, there were in-person lectures, every Friday, for the fellows, and faculty were encouraged to join (he did)— in the new one, these were on zoom, and faculty were not invited. At the old institution, faculty would come to the office and sit and work on their computers, when not in clinic or on service— now, they worked remotely. At the old institution, there were quarterly dinners or barbecues or potlucks at one faculty member’s house, where the entire division was invited, at the new institution these did not occur.
A few other differences:
At fellows graduation dinner: The old institution had near 100% attendance from other fellows (of different years), and near 100% attendance of faculty in the division. At the new institution this was ~20% of fellows not graduating and 20% of faculty.
At fellows graduation: Each fellow typically had a faculty member they worked with most closely, and these faculty gave speeches for the graduate. At the old place, 100% of speeches were in person. At the new place 50% of faculty emailed a zoom recorded video and were not present.
At the old institution, there were division wide grand rounds with invited speakers, and faculty would take turns going out to dinner the night before with the speaker— at the new place there was no such grand rounds series and naturally no dinners.
At the old place, there was a single fellows room with couch and refrigerator, and faculty would occasionally stop by to chat. At the new place, there was no such room, but moreover, fellows would not be at work unless in clinic or in lab— otherwise it was work from home.
At the new institution, the net promoter score was -100
My colleague doesn’t know what accounts for this. One possibility is pay— the new institution pays slightly less than the older one, but it is a modest difference. Another possibility is metrics— the new institution more slavishly adheres to boosting RVUs. Another is leadership, the old institution had a well liked chief, and the new one has someone who exhibits traits of narcissism.
I am truly not sure. While it is clear to me there is a pattern of differences, and it appears cultural, I am not sure if it can be boiled down to a single factor. Moreover, I am not sure what the solution is. Neither is my colleague.
So I turn to the wise readers of Sensible Medicine to guide him. What do you think? What accounts for workplace culture like this? What are the causes, but more importantly, what are the solutions? And, if you enjoy what we are doing with Sensible Medicine consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Man was probably deprived of such beneficial experience during his development (or isn’t aware of its importance for work culture) . He should be shown that there are other/better ways of work culture, and that it’s best for everybody, including himsef, to resign from his leading role. I don’t think this is Covid19 legacy, this is earlier, more profound. Talking about the leadership at this new institution.
I noted the same phenomenon in my own institution before I retired two years ago. COVID led to a dramatic shift of my partners, especially women with children, from being in the office when "not on service". Collegiality has been a really important element of my career in pediatric pulmonology. Changes with the pandemic led to overall institutional deference to the faculty and fellows with the explicit presumption of responsible use of professional time when not at work. This led to a dramatic change in tutelage of our fellows and less interaction among the partners. Leadership has failed to understand the value, importance, and downright essential nature of face to face interactions. The parallel with the educational assumption that the virtual classroom would be an adequate replacement for in person schoolilng.