Dianna Graves, COMT, discusses the importance of passing on the gift of knowledge to staff.
Transcript edited for clarity.
Hi. My name is Dianna Graves, and I am a COMT. I would like to talk to you today about the gift that you can give to your staff and hopefully have your staff give that gift back to each other. Every office has a tech that's the superstar tech. I can speak to this easily because back in my earlier days I was that person. I was the only one in the clinic that did any of the A-scans. The doctors only wanted their person; they didn't want anybody to be cross-trained. The techs would only teach certain points. They would teach everything but they would leave out the most strategic point of doing the A-scan So therefore their fellow techs couldn't always shine quite as much as they could. When the learner expressed an interest to become that super tech in an area—angios, A-scans, whatever it may be—they almost became abused in the clinic because they were encroaching on somebody else's territory. What's going to happen in your office is that the techs that really want to learn are going to leave because they're bored.
Now the thing that you might not realize: is that the super techs, the superstars, they're not happy either because they get into a situation of being captive to the audience. As I mentioned, I was the one that did most of the A-scans back in the early days. It got to a point that if I wanted to take a vacation we'd have to double book me all the way through just so that there would be no patients waiting. These super techs become under challenged but the worst thing that happens in your practice is you become held hostage by only 1 person knowing that 1 skill.
So one of the things that I would like to talk to you about is what we initiated in the clinics that I had. I had managers and supervisors ask me for years and tell me: “Dianna, that can't work in my office; I only have 7 people so it's only going to be 1 person.” No, I don't agree with that. Or they would say “Dianna, I have 60 people.” I have had staffs of 60 at hospitals and private clinics. I'm going to tell you: get them to buy into the gift. Help them understand that the way that they can continue to be challenged and move along in the field is by giving that gift of knowledge to someone underneath them so that their old position is covered. The new person learns the right way, which is your way, and then you have the ability to move forward—even moving into a training role or into a junior supervisor role. Get the person to understand that when you give them a gift then it goes forward and that is a powerful, powerful teaching tool: the gift of knowledge. And I understand that tool very well because right now I'm giving you a gift: I'm giving you the gift to help your staff move forward with their skills so that you can move forward in your job to better serve your patients.
I want to thank you for being with me today. If there's anything I can do in the future please let me know. OM
