Management - Step Up and Get Your Beatin' Now

I've said it for years. I wonder, when a person steps into a particular level of management, are they escorted into a room someplace and beaten till their common sense is completely gone?

Case in point today. My lab "boss" filled in in NICU today. Our newest trainee started with the plethora of BHTS bullshit she's required to read and sign off on before we can consider her officially trained. Reading procedure manuals will numb the brain and make the victim more malleable, you know?

Anyway, I didn't even know she was on board till I brought back a sample and found her in the lab. She'd been out on a draw with my boss. When he got called out of the lab a little later, I did what I always do - I took her with me on the next draw and began introducing her to the nurses she'd be working with eventually.

We were slow today, so the draws were few and far between. When a couple of labs did come in, Boss started instructing Trainee how to process the samples. I went out on the next draw.

When I returned, I was told that I needed to take Trainee out with me to show her the ropes.

"That's fine, Boss, but when I went to get the draw, you were showing Trainee how to run samples. And, you know she's always welcome to go with me. Just let me know if you want me to wait, then take her when she's done with the sample."

Discussion then ensued about the person who Trainee is replacing; apparently at her exit interview, Leaving Employee made a special effort to comment that she felt that she'd have done far better with her job if she'd have had one person for her primary trainer.

My comment to Boss was, "Yeah, she would have benefited from that. However, I had nothing to do with her training - I was informed that her peers would be doing her training instead of me." (See how that turned out?)

He wanted to know who had made that decision. I refused to tell him a specific name, instead stating, "You know your staff as well as I do...you should be able to figure that out without too much trouble!"

But, then, in spite of saying he feels we need consistency in training, he also hears comment to that end from an exit interview, yet he still maintains that EVERYONE should be able to train someone.

I don't disagree. I think everyone develops their own techniques in doing this work; however, I believe that one person should be the primary trainer; it's a single "go-to" person for the trainee. Give them the basics, then let them begin to learn the tricks and trades from others.

But, don't stand there and tell me you want a consistent trainer, then tell me you think everyone should train. Don't tell me you want me to be responsible, then tell me that you don't want me to be with the person unless I happen to me scheduled in NICU. It makes no sense.

How can management walk both sides of the fence without rubbing their cajones raw? Perhaps when the common sense turns up missing you don't feel your cajones anymore?