Wearing Many Hats

In today’s environment, it seems that most of us are increasingly wearing more hats. Often, someone leaves the organization and instead of hiring a replacement, that person’s responsibilities are redistributed among the remaining team members. Does this sound familiar? If you find yourself wearing multiple hats, one of the best ways to acclimate yourself to your new roles is learning how to perform your new roles with proficiency. The best way to do this is to have a plan for learning. Here are a few tips:

  1. Formalize the process. Create documents that specify how a process works. You can use flow charts, checklists, or step-by-step instructions. These reference materials or guides give clear instruction instead of expecting someone to just figure it out on their own through trial and error. This is a major time-saver!
  2. Duplicate. A process must be duplicatable, or you may end up with the original problem. If only the expert knows how to do it, there is no plan in place if they take a sick day or go on vacation.
  3. Practice. Particularly with complex processes, a person must practice the new skill in the real world to become proficient. With enough practice, you might just have another expert on your team.
  4. Train. Let me repeat myself. Train. Train. Train. Having resources and opportunities for formal training help to ensure that you have duplication of skills within the organization. Provide opportunities for people to put their knowledge into practice. This helps with knowledge transfer and helps build their confidence.
  5. Use systems. Don’t recreate the wheel. Document what others have discovered so those who follow can hit the ground running instead of spinning their wheels trying to figure out the very thing that has already been discovered.
  6. Provide opportunities to share knowledge. Informal get-togethers offer people opportunities to exchange information and practice skills.

The result is a team of people who are confident and engaged in their work and have an in-depth understanding of the system and processes. You also get to skip the “freak out” stage when the expert unexpectedly leaves the organization.

If you need to learn our Softek Panther software, I have good news. All our training is free for our clients. It’s not just the organization or team training that is free, individual training is free. We are here to help and answer your questions. We want everyone who uses our software to be proficient. Contact us for training and we’ll get it on the calendar. Let us help you reach your goals.


What does Softek® do?

Softek’s mission is to help hospital systems get the most out of their investment in Oracle Cerner Millennium®. We do this by providing innovative software solutions and consulting services that can achieve more together than either can alone.

At Softek, our team of innovators and software developers brings expertise beyond the ordinary to every client. Our experts are involved with Oracle Cerner Millennium® hospitals throughout the country, consulting clients so they can optimize system performance and revenue integrity.

Softek delivers a full suite of consulting services and software solutions to assess and optimize EMR system performance, including revenue cycle integrity and patient accounting.

Softek was awarded 2021 Best in KLAS for Revenue Cycle Optimization.

Let’s talk about how you can get the most out of your Oracle Cerner Millennium® system.