MGMA In Practice blog

Recently promoted to supervisor? Congratulations!

Now what?

Being a healthcare supervisor comes with a set of challenges you may have never faced before. Author Sheila Richmeier, MS, RN, FACMPE, knows what it's like – and memories of that time in her career prompted her to write the book The New Healthcare Supervisor's Guide: The Secrets to Success. With it, you can learn the delicate balance that being a boss requires.

We recently interviewed Richmeier about her challenges as a new supervisor and what she loves – and could live without – on the job.

MGMA: What prompted you to write about being a new healthcare supervisor? 

Richmeier: When I first became a healthcare supervisor almost 20 years ago, I wanted someone to give me a handbook about how to do this job. There was no such thing – everyone said I would learn it on the job. 

Through many hard lessons, I did learn the job, but I think I learned it the hard way. Recently I was working with a front-office supervisor who was really struggling and it refreshed my memory of those times ... I suffered through. I decided that maybe I could help.

MGMA: What was your first supervisory role?

Richmeier: My first supervisor job was as a home health supervisor in a hospital-owned home health agency.  I supervised two people. I had been a nurse for three to four years when I was asked to take on the first supervisory role. 

MGMA: What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? 

Richmeier: I faced many challenges. The first was not being aware of the rules – HR especially. We did have an HR department that I could contact as needed. This included being unfamiliar with regulations: how to handle hiring, firing, counseling, performance evaluations; how to be a boss to colleagues instead of a friend, etc. 

I overcame the challenges by doing lots of reading, going to seminars, asking lots of questions and making mistakes.  It's hard to make mistakes as a new manager but sometimes the mistakes you make are the most memorable, and they have a tendency to change behavior.

MGMA: Which aspect of being a supervisor do you love?

Richmeier: I love working with people to bring out the best they can be – finding some common ground to work with and helping them to enjoy coming to work. Life is really too short, as I learned in Hospice, and you should really enjoy what you do or find something else.

MGMA: Which portion is your least favorite?

Richmeier: My least favorite was the constant need to deal with HR issues. I didn't so much mind the counseling part if we could find a common ground to move forward. I was struck by how much effort managing people really is. I would think everything was running well and then all of a sudden something else would happen. It really wears on you after a while, and you need to refresh yourself to cope everyday.

MGMA: How much of being a healthcare supervisor is learned and how much is innate? 

Richmeier: I think there are people who are natural leaders and they relate to people very well. This is a big part of being a supervisor. However, I feel that almost anyone can learn and grow into a position. The trick is to realize early on whether supervision is good for you or not. Some people are just not a fit for a supervisory role.

MGMA: What is the difference between leadership and management, and why does the distinction matter?

Richmeier: I talk about this in the book. I don't really distinguish between the two because one cannot exist without the other. I'm not real big on identifying whether it was a leadership or management task – it was just a task. It is all about how you relate to people and motivate them to move in a different direction.

MGMA: What was your biggest challenge when writing this book?

Richmeier: My challenge was making sure that I didn't influence new supervisors in the wrong direction. I wanted this book to excite new supervisors and make them want to do a job that is often thankless. I wanted new supervisors to really become engaged in being the best they can be.

MGMA: Anything that didn't make it into this edition?

Richmeier: Lots. It was only a snapshot of a supervisor's life – not the whole story!

What was your first supervisory role like? Tell us in the comments.