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34 EW SHOW DAILY Sunday, April 21, 2013 ASOA News Today Addressing personnel challenges as a leader by Enette Ngoei EyeWorld Contributing Writer John Riordan urges participants not to overlook high performers. L eadership strategies to address key personnel challenges were discussed at an ASOA optional workshop titled "Maximizing Leadership Skills," led by John Riordan, Leesburg, Va., Liz Parott, Raleigh, NC, and Bob Cherewich, Hatboro, Pa. In a morning of interactive exercises, case studies, and sharing of insights and best practices, the workshop touched on various themes, which included balancing empathy with business, giving good feedback, fostering good teamwork, calibrating expectations, and working with difficult personalities. Mr. Riordan framed a simple model that separated employees into non-performers, potential performers, and high performers in order for practice administrators to employ effective leadership strategies. He said it was a leadership choice to eliminate non-performers in a practice. While potential performers on the lower end of the scale may require a lot of time and energy to nurture, he urged practice administrators not to overlook their high performers. Mr. Riordan spent time discussing perception of employee performance and the importance of testing the perceptions in various ways. He encouraged participants in the workshop to leverage and build on an employee's strengths while concentrating on strengthening weaknesses. Practices should have a specific stepwise process to deal with personnel issues, Mr. Riordan said. He highlighted major issues that must be addressed at the formal level immediately. They included issues like harassment, violence, inappropriate behavior, fraud, and social media use. Mr. Riordan went over the fundamentals of addressing performance challenges. He urged participants to test perspectives by addressing performance issues based on behaviors that they see, not on characteristics of the employee's personality. Conveying performance issues when they first see them, and being specific in conveying what they see and consider to be a performance problem is also important, he said. Practice administrators should be supportive, as long as the issue is not egregious, and they might ask the employee his or her perspective on the situation. Practice managers should be willing to manage their leadership style and not let it be part of the problem, Mr. Riordan said. He also discussed the importance of defining the problem in order to resolve issues. The program included discussion on the accountability continuum where effective feedback is given to address personnel problems. Toward the end of the session, participants drew on the various tools described in the workshop and developed strategies for addressing different personnel challenges. EW Editors' note: Mr. Riordan has no financial interests related to this article. Take advantage of face-to-face time with colleagues in ASOA's Networking Room by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Writer M any people attend annual professional meetings not only for the helpful courses but also for the chance to network with colleagues. This year ASOA's Networking Room will give ophthalmic administrators the chance to mingle with and learn from fellow administrators. In the ASOA Networking Room, you can hear practice management pearls, ask questions of consultants during Consultants on Call, take part in Colleague-to-Colleague Dialogues, scan the career board, sign up as an ASOA volunteer, and more. The ASOA Networking Room is located in the Nob Hill room of the Marriott Marquis. It will be open today and Monday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to noon. Light refreshments will be available in the Networking Room and there will be giveaways and a suggestion box. The Colleague-to-Colleague Dialogues held today, Monday, and Tuesday will feature discussions about issues important to ophthalmic administrators. Consultants on Call gives attendees a chance to ask leading consultants in the field questions about business efficiency. EW