High demand for U of T health leadership course proves it: MDs make bad bosses

The enthusiastic response to a new course in Advanced Health Leadership geared towards physicians and healthcare executives offered at the University of Toronto reinforces an important lesson that many in the healthcare community have been slow to learn: doctors tend to make poor managers.

According to Brian Golden, a U of T professor of organizational behaviour, who recently spoke to the Toronto Star about this issue, the February session of the course received more than five times the number of applications than they had spots available for.

The problem is, as another one of the instructors in the Advanced Health Leadership course, Joseph D'Cruz, told NRM in November, doctors simply don't get any leadership training.

"Things like teamwork and empathy are not part of the natural toolkit of the physician, particularly empathy towards co-workers. We call this emotional intelligence."

Mr D'Cruz says doctors score "quite low" in this area. "But the good news is that emotional intelligence is something that can be learned."

Doctors have immense potential as managers, he adds. "To be a good manager you need good native intelligence, and doctors have that in spades. They have the intellectual capability to be good managers — but they lack the emotional."

The first step, as with most things, is to acknowledge you have a problem. But doctors are often reluctant to admit it. "They think if they're smart as physicians, they must be smart as managers. That is a myth." says Mr D'Cruz. "Sometimes it's quite an epiphany when they're confronted with their ineptitude."

Are you as bad a boss as the Toronto doctor who reportedly expected an office employee to walk the six hours from her home in Scarborough to his office in Parkdale during the August 2003 blackout in Ontario, when public transit was out of service? Take NRM's quiz to find out:

What kind of boss are you?

1. A nurse at your clinic asks to take the next three days off work for personal reasons. You respond:

a) "Gosh, I hope it's nothing too serious. Let's try to find someone to cover for you."

b) "All leave requires one month's notice. That's the policy — or have you forgotten already?"

c) "Hm… I'll let you know tomorrow," you mumble as you hurry to your next appointment.

2. Your receptionist has overbooked your day — yet again. Patients are upset and, frankly, so are you.

a) "The only thing you're any good at is computer solitaire!" you yell in front of a shocked, full waiting room.

b) You ask to speak to the receptionist privately at the end of the day to sort out how the two of you can figure out a solution.

c) You say nothing and just try to clear through the backlog as fast as you can.

3. A young physician whom you supervise is being presented with an award for his work with underprivileged patients at a banquet on a Saturday night, but you've got hockey tickets. What do you do?

a) Pass the tickets along to a friend. Workplace solidarity takes precedence - after all, there are plenty more hockey games.

b) Make a brief appearance wearing your team's jersey beneath your suit and sneak out of the banquet hall after Dr Goody-goody has finished speaking.

c) You skip the banquet and ride the kid extra hard at the next M & M.

4. A departing staffer asks for a reference letter. You accept -- what else can you do? -- and then:

a) Dig out the forgettable, cliché-ridden letter you wrote for the last person who left, change the name and feel you fulfilled your obligation.

b) Mutter a quick prayer that he forgets he's asked you for a letter, and go on with your life.

c) Do what you promised: write a thorough and well thought-out letter.

For the answers, click here and scroll down.

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